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How Does Hale Change Throughout The Play

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Reverend Hale’s character changes quite dramatically throughout the course of the play. The minister begins as a very book-savvy man, who looks to his books for the answers on how to extinguish the Devil from Salem. Within the numerous books Rev. Hale first presents to the others as they try to wake Betty, “the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises” and holds no power against that of a well-educated minister (37). This displays his faith in the books interpreted from God by mortal mouths, demonstrating how in the beginning of the play, Rev. Hale relies on mortal powers to reveal the truth that God already possesses. Furthermore, towards the start of the play, Hale possesses much suspicion towards John Proctor as he learns of his …show more content…

Hale as he confesses his affair with Abigail Williams. Though Goody Proctor lies to Danforth about why they fired Abby, Hale now understands “it is a natural lie to tell” to protect her husband and despite it not being his place to have an opinion on the subject, he openly recognizes the “private vengeance [] working through [the] testimony” under the control of Abby and the other young women (105). This point of revelation that Rev. Hale has is the turning point for him in the rest of the play. After this point he recognizes the corruption that has settled into the court and religious logic of the court system. Hale even goes as far as encouraging the accused to give a false confession because “God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride” and he cannot bear to see another innocent life be thrown away at the cost of staying faithful to a religion run by corrupt individuals and practices (122). Considering a priest urges his followers to sin and lie to the court shows how desperate Hale is to now save as many good, innocent people as he can while he can. By the end of the play he feels responsible for the deaths that had occurred and would continue to occur but he resists the dishonorable court system as much as he can at this point in time, knowing the ill-fated truth of the reality of the scenario. In brief, Reverend Hale changes from a strictly black-and-white minister of the church to a preacher whose suspicion of the courts religious motives causes him to distant himself from his initial beliefs of the

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Reverend Hale does not exhibit corresponding behavior throughout the play. Hale starts out with an attitude against witches, and ends up a broken, cynical man. He starts off with really good intentions—even if it seems to be ridiculous. In Act I, Miller describes Hale as: "His goal is light, goodness, and its preservation."

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705 Words | 3 Pages

When Hale entered the story he believed that he was going to be the savior of the town ridding them of witches. When Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor were arrested Reverend Hale was deeply shaken with his beliefs. Hale near the end of the story he tells Elizabeth that you should not have religion when it brings you harm but you should keep faith in God. Reverend Hale near ending of The Crucible is the complete opposite of the Reverend Hale that first entered the story, because he came in believing he was the authority on how to find witches, then he was shaken by arrest of Rebecca and John, and finally by him telling others to throw away religion when it brings harm to

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273 Words | 2 Pages

Reverend Hale is the character that changes the most in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible because his feelings on witchcraft turns from full belief to unbelievable doubt, his thoughts on Proctor changes from thinking that he is evil to thinking that he is a good and honest man, and he switches from doing God’s work to doing the Devil’s. Reverend Hale makes a huge change on his claim of witchcraft. In the beginning of the play when Reverend is called to the town of Salem to see if the reason why Betty and Ruth are unconscious is due to witchcraft he brings with him many books. When Reverend Parris sees this he makes a comment that Hale responds to him explaining his expectations. This shows that Reverend Hale is focused on one thing, finding

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336 Words | 2 Pages

Reverend Hale first appears in The Crucible at the end of the first act. He was sent to Salem to find who the witches were and make sure they got a trial. He has good intentions and will not confirm that anyone is a witch until he has hard evidence that they are one. But he starts to get cocky and he realizes that he is needed and it goes to his head. “Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated.

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1045 Words | 5 Pages

Hale has finished his change in attitude, actions, and views of the court. In the final act, Rev. Hale is back in Salem to ease his guilt from the trials. His plan is to get those who will hang to “confess,” (IV, 167) as dying due to hubris is a worse sin than lying. Due to his complete change, Rev. Hale also sees the errors of his ways, and wishes to correct them. When Danforth finds out that Rev. Hale is visiting, he is angry, but Rev. Parris says that his actions are “a providence,” (IV, 163) or an act of God.

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693 Words | 3 Pages

Reverend Hale looks at his job much differently. He no longer takes pride in his line of work, but now is more ashamed and it is clear that he is. He even tells Goody Proctor to “Cleave to no faith when faith brings blood” (Miller 234). He recognizes that he came with a wrong reason, but now he believes that his duty is to make right what has gone wrong in Salem. He realizes that survival is most important above all else and that it is human nature for people to do whatever it takes to survive, and that he was blinded by the literal meaning of the bible.

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405 Words | 2 Pages

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” (Act 4, 132). In fact, Hale doesn’t suggest Elizabeth to use religion to get Proctor to confess, but rather just a simple word of telling him to survive. In conclusion, Reverend Hale finds that going against the court is obligation that is needed to be done because no one has done that and the society needs rebellion

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533 Words | 3 Pages

Hale acknowledges human’s mortality more so than Danforth who believes his word is the final say. Furthermore, Judge Danforth appears to only be concerned with having those who were jailed, confess to being witches whether they were or not. All those who do not confess to conspiring with the devil in his eyes are evil and those “who weep for [them, therefore] weep for corruption” (134). In contrast, Hale is desperate to save the innocent from their inevitable doom because he believes “life is God’s most precious gift” and “no principle [] may justify taking it” (122). He even encourages Elizabeth Proctor to “prevail upon [her] husband to confess” because “God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride” (122).

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Hale no longer believes in the witch trials. Everything Reverend Hale came to Salem for now no longer means anything to him. By this point Reverend Hale, among others, has become fed up with the pretense and falseness of ‘The Salem Witch Trials’ and wants nothing more than for it to be over. (page 84, act four, Miller, Arthur The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts, Viking Press 1953) “ HALE, quickly to Danforth: Excellency, it is enough he confess himself. Let him sign it, let him sign it.”

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404 Words | 2 Pages

At the beginning half of the play, for Hale it was strictly business by following the law to maintain order, and as time passed, he played a major contribution in the beginning of the witch trials. For instance, in his first scene of the play he goes into Parris' home to help his niece, who is expected to wield a spell cast on her, and is conveying an overwhelming heap of books that are "`..are weighted with authority'" (34).He organizes himself up to disregard any conclusions based on emotional association or sensibility by keeping within reach law-induced books to guide him. He assures that his books will help to maintain control over the emerging dilemma. What's more, when two church-going ladies, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey, happened to be accused of witchcraft, the ladies' spouses start to contend the case, yet Hale still seemingly defends the court. : "`I have seen too many frightful proofs in court

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970 Words | 4 Pages

Hale, defeated, weeps in prayer as Proctor is sent to hung. Reverend Hale's downfall in the novel was his quick assumption that there was witchcraft in Salem. Everyone's fear of the unknown and the chance of witches being present in Salem caused many deaths due to jumping to conclusions. Although he had the best intentions to bring justice to Salem, he made an improper call. He realizes his error and tries with all he has to make it right, but fails.

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560 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning acts, Hale was trusting the court more than John and was a big part of handling warrants of the accused individuals along with having much confidence in himself, his knowledge of witchcraft, and knowledge of witches in Salem. In Act 2 and 3 in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the character Reverend Hale was changing a lot. Throughout the first act of this play Reverend Hale had much of his trust in the court and fully believed the devil is in Salem but as the trial begins and goes on things start to change when Hale starts to question the court shown when he pleads

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609 Words | 3 Pages

The witches are on the hunt for the innocent souls of Salem with Hale stating, “The Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points” (Miller 1251). Hale is determined to use God’s mighty hand against the “evil witches”. This shows that Hale is faithful to Abigail’s accusations against the common people of Salem. At first, Reverend Hale is eager to prosecute, but as more innocent people are condemned, his compliance turns into distaste. His dissatisfaction eventually turns into rage when Hale shouts, “I denounce these proceedings!”

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525 Words | 3 Pages

As the play progress and people confess he starts to notice that what people are saying and accusing people of is not true but just getting to people they do not like. Lastly, At the end of act 3, Hale quits the court. Hale quit the court because he knew that a lot of innocent people were getting killed for not confessing to a crime they did not

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455 Words | 2 Pages

Reverend Hale’s morals drive him seek him to seek and reveal the truth at first, but as he comes to new realizations he finds that it is better to lie and avoid the killing of innocent people. His morals are what led him to Salem, to help the town in their time of crisis. Since Reverend Hale is motivated by strong morals, his decision to challenge the legitimacy of the court results in him convincing the falsely accused to confess at the end of the play. Reverend Hale starts out seeking the truth.

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