Reverend Hale Character Analysis

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.

Truth is oftentimes glazed over or obscured by the sweet words of the manipulator, and the journey to discover it is painful in the mental aspect by challenging one’s mindset or morals. To those who have faith in truth, however, it can be a savior shining a light onto the path of righteousness. In the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the eloquent lies of a single girl by the name of Abigail expands into full-blown witch trials where minister Reverend Hale is brought in to examine the markings of those tainted by the Devil. Within his time spent in the ominous village of Salem, the lies exposed to him begin to query his life-long standings of the Bible and God. As he further uncovers the truths, Hale’s role in the Salem Witch Trials undergoes a dramatic transformation from a certain accuser, to a precarious bystander, to the defender of the tried.

Upon analyzing the events of the crucible I have come to the conclusion that Reverend John Hale is to blame for the Salem Witch trials. The details that have led me to conclude this is that prior to Hale's arrival in Salem, the idea of a witch among them was merely speculation, however, Reverend Hale with his infatuation of the supernatural secured the idea of a witch in Salem. Even with Hale's presence in the town, people began to question him about weird behaviors that allude to witchcraft, such as the scenario where the Putnams began to ask him about his opinion about the unfortunate demise of all of goody Putnam's children and where Giles Corey begins to question him about his wife reading literature that is not the bible. Additionally,

Sometimes the truth is hard to see, but if you look hard enough you can always find it. Reverend Hale’s intention was to help the town of Salem find the truth. He thought he found it quickly, but then realized that he was wrong. Coming to this realization caused him to look at the problem in a different way. Once he found this, he did everything that he could to help anyone that was accused. Reverend Hale changed from being accusatory to helping the accused.

The Salem witch trials were a time period in which there was mass chaos and very little reason. In, “The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller, there were an elect group of people that overcame this hysteria of the trials. Among the people of reason arose, Reverend Hale, who displayed both sides of the hysteria. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character as he transforms from a character following the strict law and causing the deaths of many, to a character that understands the ridiculousness of the trials.

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.

Towards the beginning of the book Reverend is focused on figuring out who is a witch and convict them of witchery, which is shown through logos. He says that powers of the dark “are gathered in monstrous attack upon this village. There is too much evidence to deny it.” (64). Miller uses this quote to show how Hale is willing to convict any person that appears to be apart of the devil, which adds details about Hale’s character. Hale is enthusiastic and determined as well as exceptionally respected in the town of Salem. As the book progresses, Reverend Hale’s viewpoints shift towards wanting and needing more time to convict witchcraft. Hale believes “you must hear the girl, sir,” (88). Hale manipulates pathos to convince Danforth to give Mary Warren a chance to explain her experience with spirits. In addition, Hale explains he must have more time to convict hangings (129). This is quite a big shift from the beginning of the book, but Miller employs pathos to explain the passion and desire Hale has to figure out who should be convicted of

     John Hale represents the voice or authority and reasoning. He appears to be strong and assured himself that there was a whole world of witches around him at any given time. He believes in the churches power to be the ultimate law in the situation at hand. This is his source of pride. He sees himself as the person come to save the lives in the New World. As the case progresses though he starts to doubt himself and realizes that he had caused many deaths. His pride is swiftly destroyed and he asks

Reverend Hale was a priest so he was all about honesty and did not want anyone to lie. Hale once said, “cleave to no faith when faith brings blood” (Miller 132). In this quote Reverend Hale warns Elizabeth and tells her that she should not lie because that is bad and it could lead to death. This connects to Reverend Hale as a tragic hero because he changed his beliefs as he left the court and left Salem. Then Reverend Hale returned to Salem because he wanted to help save the rest of the people of Salem since he was not there to directly help John Proctor. Hale went from being someone all about honesty to basically a liar. The only way to help save the people of Salem would be to tell them to lie. Reverend Hale was only able to do this because he left the court. If he was still part of the court he would have to follow what they do and he would not have a voice or a say. When it came to John Proctor’s trial, he decided to tell the truth but that unfortunately did not work out for him. This is because they sent Elizabeth into the court and asked he the same question they asked John Proctor, however, Elizabeth lied for her husband. Because he did not say the same thing as John Proctor he would most likely be killed for this. When this was happening, Reverend Hale was still part of the court so he did not have say about what would happen to John Proctor. This is one of the reasons why Reverend Hale

Quickly after Mr. Hale’s arrival in Salem, the situation regarding witchcraft escalates. Mr. Hale gets sucked into the middle of something which didn’t impact his life personally in the first place. As rumors of the devil spread around, more names known to be “seen” with him are mentioned in the court. Mr. Hale takes it upon himself to visit the houses of those who are accused of involvement in witchcraft. “No— no, I come of my own, without the court’s authority. Hear me. I know not if you are

A scholar from Beverly, Reverend Hale comes to Salem on Reverend Parris ' request to investigate supernatural causes for Betty Parris ' suspicious illness and thus instigates the rumors of witchcraft. Hale approaches the situation precisely and intellectually, believing that he can define the supernatural in definitive terms. Despite his early enthusiasm for discerning the presence of witchcraft in Salem, Hale soon grows disillusioned with the witchcraft accusations that abound and defends Proctor when he challenges Abigail. Hale does this out of guilt, for he fears that he may have caused the execution of innocent persons.

34). It states that other political inspiration other than the religion of Christianity has called out the devil and will continue to tempt the people that are all really on their own side. He explains that the outside will continue to tempt the people. He makes an inference that there is some people in Salem that worship the devil and are discovering the dark spirits. The Puritan belief clouds his judgment in the witch trails. Hale shows his resistant to believing Abigail and the girls are lying when he questions all of the towns and John Proctors Motives. He questions the innocents not the guilty. In the book, several times the testifiers are questioned whether they were innocents because they “were going again the court”. Hale uses theocracy to place fear in the town.

Reverend Hale believes in his second thoughts of the devil not being such a thing, and sees that Abigail has been setting this all up and framing John Proctor to have his love. Pointing at Abigail, Hale says, “I believe him!...This girl has always struck me false!...”(Act III, 50) After Abigail over-exaggerates and makes the girls believe the devil is in their presence, and the people of the court believe them, Reverend Hale walks out in frustration. People of the court and town don’t know what else to believe because they always thought the girls were saying the truth about what they saw. Hale begins to see that a lot of people in the town of Salem, are corrupted in result of the witchcraft trials.

One of authority figure in The Crucible, was Reverend Hale. Hale went to Salem in response in need of a “spiritual doctor” to evaluate the town. The reason he was summoned was to diagnose if there was witchcraft was present, then come up with a cure by removing the “infected people”, and the people of Salem will not be satisfied until he does. In result to all the commotion of unnatural events taking in place in Salem such as: Tituba’s ability to conjure spirits from beyond the grave, dancing in the woods, the death of the seven children who belonged to Thomas and Ann Putman, Betty’s illness, the strange book that were in possession of Martha Corey, and so on. Hale starts to become