...Through the evolution of Revered John Hale, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible shows that people must use real support and evidence and not an unfair and biased opinion based blindly on religion or faith. During Act III, Mary Warren denounces that Proctor is working with the devil and is forcing her to come to the court. Upon hearing this Judge Hathorn calls for the arrest of John Proctor, based entirely off of his religious belief in witches, and not by any other evidence. Responding to Hathorn’s orders, Reverend Hale exclaims: “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court.” Reverend Hale now realizes that the court is unfair and doubts its holiness. This leads to Hale completely losing faith in the court, since he knows that John Proctor is a respectful and innocent person. He also loses faith because he understands that the court is blindly acquitting people to death, instead of investigating, because of their religious belief. However Reverend Hale, instead of accepting that they are witches only on a religious belief like Hathorn, he actively tries to prove their innocence. He also attempts to prove that the court is corrupt,...
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...Imagine you condemned 72 innocent people to death, believing they were guilty, and then discovered that you were wrong. This is the life of Reverend Hale, a character in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, whose actions and inactions greatly impact the lives of the other characters. In Act I, Reverend Hale appears and acts very haughtily. He believes he knows everything about witches and that he is the savior of Salem. For instance, when he says, “Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated… Here are all your familiar spirits - your incubi and succubi… Have no fear now - we shall find him out and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!” he is displaying his haughtiness by bragging about his intellect (1106). Later, he uses his Reverend status to persuade the accused to confess. By saying, “The Devil can never overcome a minister” he is showing his overconfidence and ignorance by believing that ministers are invincible (1110)....
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...In any book, the transformation of characters is very important. The characters in 2 particular stories are prime examples of this. The character of Reverend Hale from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible has many similarities to the character of Fred Friendly from George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck. Miller wrote the play to convey the awfulness of the McCarthy trials, and give a warning of what can happen to societies that oppress people. Reverend Hale and Fred Friendly are both examples of people doing the right thing in the face of apathy. Although they may not have been the driving force of good in either of their respective stories, they were certainly examples of a change of heart for the better in the lives of the people around them. In The Crucible, Reverend Hale is a man who is brought into the...
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...Throughout the play The Crucible, several characters undergo change but it is Reverend Hale that changes the most from the beginning to the end. Reverend Hale was summoned from Boston to evaluate Salem and diagnose any witchcraft present. Because of his eagerness to please the town of Salem he is manipulated into doing things that he thinks is right. Notably, Reverend Hale in the end manages to try to help the accused out of the trouble he got them into. In detail, upon arriving in Salem, Reverend Hale is very optimistic and ready for a challenge. In the following quote Hale shows his control over the current situation in Salem “Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The devil is precise; the marks of his presence...
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...today’s society is to try and find your voice and your place in the world. This recurrence is a valid point that strikes everyone mind once in awhile. Reverend Hale is a great example of someone who is lost and is trying to find his voice. His judgement is clouded by what he was trained to do. He has an obligation to the court that makes him the perfect example of a person trying to find a place in the world. In the 1st Act we learned that Reverend Hale is a 40 year old man with tight skin and eager eyes. He is a cautious man and places confidence in sticking to the court system. He was very jubilant to go to Salem and help out with the trials. He has faith in justice and believe’s in the truth of a person, but since...
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...might have a change of heart and radically alter their way of thinking. Being part of a shameful situation can make a person become fully aware of the kind of person they are and prompt them to reform themselves. In The Crucible, the Reverend Hale is depicted as an honorable man caught up in a dishonorable situation. A character, Snowball, from the book, Animal Farm, similarly was in a dishonorable situation. In The Crucible, Reverend John Hale is summoned to the town of Salem to seek out and expel any signs of witchcraft within it. Hale does, however, have good intentions to help the afflicted people of Salem. Unfortunately, in his hunt to remove witchcraft from the town, Hale lets others around him, such as Abigail, manipulate him into making wrong decisions. When Hale arrives to Salem, he is overwhelmed with false accusations and evidence from Abigail and other girls who do and say whatever Abigail tells them to. The pressure from the town to diagnose witchcraft gets in Hale’s head and causes him to take the false evidence and accusations as the truth without conducting an investigation into it. Hale later realizes Abigail is a fraud...
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...Reverend Hale Reverend Hale had one of the saddest stories in The Crucible. He went to help during the Salem witch trials with good intentions but ended up hurting more people than he could help. That is why Hale is directly relatable to the song “Starting Over”, by Macklemore. Both Hale and the song are sad and miserable. In The Crucible Hale was a sad, gullible, minister who did not know who was speaking the truth. The song itself is about a sad man who relapsed with his drinking problem. The song also has a mellow sound to it, to make it more miserable. One quote from the song that is relatable to Reverend Hale is “I’m just a flawed man”. Hale messed up a lot in The Crucible and he listened to all of the wrong people....
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...blind sheep has been around for as long as time. Even with that, people eventually open their eyes to the madness and create and judge on their free will. Reverend Hale is a prime example of this. Prepared to find out if there were really witchcraft afoot, Reverend Hale eventually becomes a man trying to seek the truth and justice. Reverend Hale at first did believe that there was something wrong in Salem. He says, “I cannot tell. If she truly is in the Devil’s grip we may have to rip and tear to get her free” (Miller 1150). He says this because he doesn’t want to jump to conclusions on whether or not Betty is really bewitched. Then later on, Hale says to Tituba “Are you gathering souls for the Devil?” (Miller 1154). He...
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...through the Characterization of Reverend John Hale Throughout The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the characterization of an archetypal hero, Reverend John Hale, to reveal how when arrogant and nationalistic pride becomes involved even the most intelligent and moral man’s moral compass can be distorted. This universal truth and Hale’s archetypal characteristics were revealed by Miller to reprehend those who fell into McCarthyism and the flaws in the American society in the nineteen-fifties, which were impacts of their blinded morals. To comprehend the idea of this specific universal truth, one first must understand Hale’s characterization through Aristotle’s archetypal hero traits. The first criteria, Noble...
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...Miller’s The Crucible. Reverend Hale, a character in The Crucible, undergoes a dramatic and significant character development and change throughout the plot, which consists of being humbled because of new information and events, which changes him as a person to one who is more aware and logical. Reverend Hale’s personality changed and softened from the beginning to the end of the text. His initial mindset can be seen when he says his books are “weighted with authority” (Act I, Page 36). This metaphor implies he considers his books to be a symbol of education and, therefore, authority. With such a mindset, he likely is slightly arrogant and thinks of himself as a great religious leader. Later in the text, Hale says, “I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves” (Act IV,...
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...way lying is, wrong. Coming up with fiction when the truth needs to be told. John Proctor in The Crucible, is a farmer in a Puritan society. Proctor has a wife, Elizabeth, and three boys, but only two are baptized. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, John Proctor was a dishonest man by lying, being dishonest towards Reverend Hale, and betraying his family by being actively involved in adultery. John Proctor is a dishonorable man because he lies.This is an issue because his wife is becoming weary of him. In Act I, John Proctor was alone in a room with Abigail Williams. When Abigail asked how Proctor calls her a child, Proctor replies with, “...I may think of you softly from time to time” (Miller 146). This quote relates directly to Proctor; he states, to Elizabeth, that he does not think...
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...Coming up with fiction when the truth needs to be told. John Proctor in The Crucible, is a farmer in a Puritan society. Proctor has a wife, Elizabeth, and three boys, but only two are baptized. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, John Proctor was a dishonest man by lying, being dishonest towards Reverend Hale, and betraying his family by being actively involved in adultery. John Proctor is a dishonorable man because he lies.This is an issue because his wife is becoming weary of him. In Act I, John Proctor was alone in a room with Abigail Williams. When Abigail asked how Proctor calls her a child, Proctor replies with. This quote relates directly to Proctor; he states, to Elizabeth, that he does not think of Abigail in that way anymore. Proctor told two different people two different things in the time frame. In Act II Proctor says that he...
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...Reverend Hale In the United States of America, The Bill of Rights states that everyone is “innocent until proven guilty.” In the Salem Witch Trials, this right was not in effect. The judges accused people of being witches without any real evidence, they were guilty until proven innocent. However, Reverend Hale was one voice of reason. In The Crucible, Reverend Hale goes from assisting the accusers of witchcraft, to denouncing the accusations. In the beginning of The Crucible, Reverend Hale is somewhat skeptical, but doesn’t reject the idea that there are witches in Salem. When he arrives, he states, “We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise.” (Miller 1146) This tells me that Hale is not ready to do something impetuous, and wants to do some investigating before anyone is indicted of any wrongdoing. Hale is a holy man, but also a man of substance and...
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...and end. Aelius Donatus further developed this theory into the three-act structure common today, calling the sections protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe. Famous authors like Shakespeare expanded the original divisions into a five-act structure comprised of an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Although it was a four act play, Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, utilized the five-act structure to further develop his plot. The exposition of a five-act structure introduces the setting, main characters, and conflict of a literary work. The audience gains critical information that is crucial for understanding the...
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...The Most Dynamic Character in The Crucible It can be argued that Reverend Hale changes from a character confident in himself and the law, and the existence of witches in Salem, to doubtful and cautious, thus making him the most dynamic character in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. When he first enters the play, Rev. Hale seems to believe characters who have done nothing prove their trustworthiness. As more and more people are convicted he is less tolerant of the accusations and stands up for those who are being put on trial. It is almost undeniable that Reverend Hale is the most dynamic character in the play. In act 1, when Hale is first introduced, the audience is made aware that Rev. Hale thinks very highly of himself. He is known for his specialty in witchcraft and is very arrogant, thinking of himself as one of “the best minds of Europe” much like the “kings, philosophers, scientists, and ecclesiasts of all churches” (Miller 1115). He is a spiritual man, but does not have as much experience in the subject of witches as he would like, and feels he has to prove himself. By act 2 Hale has begun to accuse those who are seemingly innocent, because of his belief in himself, and the deals of the devil. After Rebecca Nurse, an old Christian woman and Elizabeth Proctor, a young mother’s name are mentioned in court about being a witch or having a deal with the devil, Hale makes an appearance at the Proctors home. He makes it clear that although it seems unlikely for these...
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