How Is Reverend Hale Guilty

Reverend Hale admits to himself that he may have started the witch trials in Salem, feeling guilty Hale strives to save anyone that he can from being hung. After some time, Reverend Hale realizes that the witch accusations are driven by ulterior motives. He feels guilty because he is the one who confirmed that the presence of the devil is in the town of Salem, causing fear to overcome many people. Hale exclaims, “There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!”(Miller 131). He believes that because he started the unjust trials he is the one to blame for the execution of innocents. Hale is convinced that if he had never gotten involved then the witch trials may have never occurred. In an attempt to fix the problem he created,

Reverend hale corrupts his power unknowingly, as he believes that Abigail and the girls are telling the truth, his image as a well educated Godly man makes him the perfect model for the towns people to mold their opinion of the witch trials from.

Over the course of the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale has changed dramatically from the start of the play to the end. At first, Hale is convinced that he is an expert of witchcraft and the truth is found in his books. He also comes into Salem putting his faith into the court. As the play goes on, Hale questions his belief because he realizes that many people are being convicted without definite evidence. In the end of the play, Hale has no faith in the court. He realizes many people innocent people have died through the courts rulings and therefore he can not be a part of it. Hale’s character has changed significantly throughout the

In this act, and with much consideration (adverb phase #2), Reverend Hale seems to be less full of himself, and more hesitant. He talks about how he has a difficult time drawing “a clear opinion of them that come accused before the court,” because he doesn’t know the people of their town (adverb phrase #3) (Miller 1169). This is only one of Hale’s problems as the play keeps moving along. Act three brings more complications and hesitance from Hale. Proctor’s wife has now been seized and taken to court, along with others accused of witchcraft. During these court sessions, Reverend Hale is beginning (gerund #2) to realize that the court really is unfair (noun clause #1). For example, even though evidence is given by Giles Corey (adjective clause #2), the judge refuses to accept (infinitive #2) it and simply asks for more evidence (Miller 1195). Now, Hale is starting to become frustrated. He’s also beginning to realize that he has made some aberrations (noun clause #2). When John Proctor is sentenced to be hanged for witchcraft, Hale respondes to the prejudice court by declaring , “I denounce these proceedings! I quit this court!” (Miller 1213), and proceeds to walk out of the courthouse. This is only the beginning of Hale’s

The major influence was the time period in which The Crucible had taken place. "In 1692, Salem was filled with Puritans who saw the world as good vs. evil, ("The Crucible")." The people of the time were completely washed over by superstition that evil was coming for them and in that fear they made many decisions that in our current day would not be justified. Hale is one of the very many who were a victim of the "Claustrophobis Puritanical-code-of-conduct-fear-of-witches nonsense of Massachusetts in the 17th Century, ("The Crucible')." Hale had the mindset, like everybody else, that he needed to do whatever possible to save Salem from the evil thought to be in it when he get the girls to confess and

Furthermore, Reverend Hale was pushed to change also. Hale came into Salem a stranger, but knew how to fix the problem the town endured. He never questioned that God had a plan and always thought that something was either good or bad, with no gray area in between. This thinking is challenged when Elizabeth, a pure person, is accused and then later when John confesses. He knows that these people are honest and leaves the court for a period of time. In the end, Hale is a desperate man, and even though knowing there is no witchcraft present, he urges John to admit that he is not the one that should be punished. He has to question all the rules he has lived by his whole life and pursue something he knows is incorrect. In essence, Reverend Hale is pushed to his limits and is turned into a man that will be permanently in suspicion of any standards he ever thought were true.

He questions many of the people’s faith in order to pinpoint a possible cause. Unlike Salem’s pastor, Hale wants to destroy the demon for the sake of the people and not reputation. Hale becomes justified when the wife of a farmer named, John Proctor, is accused of witchcraft. Hale does not sway from his religious beliefs and ponders on John Proctor’s unwillingness to attend Church every Sunday. However, Hale tries to support Proctor and does not see that his wife could perform witchcraft, “I cannot say he is an honest man; I know him little. But in all justice, sir, a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer…” (III.99). Hale is acting upon his morals and trying to persuade the court to look toward reason. Hale’s guilt is starting to overwhelm and seeing so many people condemned without reason hurts him, “I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honor…” (III.99-100). Hale is expressing his true feelings and is torn by the guilt of persecuting an innocent old woman. Hale acts like a judge who cares about physical evidence. Hale is reasonable and persuades the court to do the

When John Hale notices the accused people of the town who tell the truth are being threatened and killed he begins to encourage the indicted ones to lie. For example, Rebecca Nurse, one of the most honored people in the town of Salem, was arraigned of witchcraft and told the truth but was still executed. On the other hand, people who didn’t actually do anything and said that they did do witchcraft when accused just had to ask for forgiveness from god and were able to continue on to their lives. In result of this, John Hale seeks to get people such as John Proctor to lie and confess even if they didn’t do anything. He tries to convince Proctor to confess so he can continue his life with his loving wife and children. To

Hale shouted, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court” (Miller, 120). This quote explains that Hale was tired of the court being so corrupt and cruel, that he decided to quit the court. Hale also decided to try and right his wrongs by helping the people accused of witchcraft avoid death if possible; such as John Proctor. At the end, Hale aspires to get Elizabeth to convince Proctor to sign to a confession in order to save his life and keep him from being hanged. Hale explains, “I would save your husband’s life, for if he is taken I count myself his murderer” (Miller, 131).

Hale, using his false knowledge of witchcraft, comes to Salem in search of who is a witch. Once Hale hears about Tituba and falsely condemns her of witchcraft, he pressures her to falsely condemn others of witchcraft by saying, “Who came with you to the Devil? Two? Three? Four? How many?”(44). He does this because he wants to get to the bottom of the problem, but really he is just retrieving false information. He then uses this false information from Tituba to get her to accuse others, then he uses the same dirty, evil trick on them too. As a result, Hale is going out on a limb in order to falsely accuse several innocent people of witchcraft, no matter the circumstances.

(120). After realizing he was wrong, Hale tries to make it up by convincing the convicted to lie and say they were witches so they will be able to live. He goes through a massive transition, similar to many people during their teenage or early adulthood years. It is extremely common to be confident in one’s beliefs until something occurs and completely changes your mind. Doubting oneself is something everyone goes through, which is a large part of Hale’s

Hale loses his faith in the law and his belief in the existence of witchcraft in Salem, but this change comes too late for the accused as the trials are out of his hand at this point. Reverend John Hale grows as he moves from an accuser, to

Hale was called into town by Reverend Parris to examine Betty’s body and determine if it was due to witchcraft. Being the expert that he is in witchcraft, he already has a great deal of power because he has the ability to to say there is witchcraft in the town or there is not witchcraft in the town. With time, Reverend Hale realizes that Abigail is deceiving the court and that John, Elizabeth, and many others were actually innocent. By the time Hale realizes this, the trials had turned into the hands of Danforth and the court, leaving Hale with nothing to do. When this happens, Hale is then a powerless character.

Upon being first introduced, Reverend Hale is described as a confident, ambitious man driven by motivation to impress others with his thorough knowledge of witchcraft. He considers himself to be an expert; a veritable beacon of intellectual light who will be able to cure Salem of its supernatural affliction. By the end of The Crucible, Hale has undergone a complete character transformation, making him one of the more dynamic characters in the play. His perception of the trials are shrouded in guilt and self-doubt as he struggles with feeling responsible for those who are condemned to hang and wanting to preserve his Puritan values.

Even if he knew what was true and what was false keeping his reputation in tact was more important. Contrasting from both of the first characters Reverend Hale was more of a guy who wanted to do right. He knew that his job was on the line but instead of worrying he tried to find justice for the people who were being hanged. His name wasn’t as important to him as getting justice was. In act four Hale finally starts to realize all what he's been doing wrong, and so was watching those innocent people getting blamed for something that wasn’t even real. When trying to give Elisabeth advice Hale says, “Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, earring gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. Beware, Goody Proctor- cleave to no faith when faith brings blood. It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. LIfe, woman, life is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God’s judgement in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that