What Does Reverend Hale Symbolize In The Crucible

Reverend Hale was an eager individual who tried too hard to hunt witches. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in the 1950s to paint a picture of life within the continental United States (Act 1, The Crucible, Page 1 ). During the 1950s, the Red Scare instilled fear in the American people and fear onto the Un-American House Committee, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy ( ). McCarthy firmly believed in the threat of communism; in response, he brutally targeted American people, who he thought were Soviet spies who wished to destroy capitalism in America. In The Crucible, Reverend Hale could have ended the mass hysteria in Salem by easing his enthusiasm towards witch hunting, refusing to trust children's words blindly, and calling out Danforth much earlier

Just how McCarthy started "a nationwide anti-radical hysteria provoked by a mounting fear and anxiety that a Bolshevik revolution in America was imminent—a revolution that would change Church, home, marriage, civility, and the American way of life" (Red Scare WIKI). His ardor encouraged others to throw each other under the bus and prompted them to lie and make up accusations. Since Hale was so eager to find a witch, the people saw an opportunity to give out a false accusation in return for something everyone in the town wanted, vengeance. This leads to Hale's second blunder, blindly following the word of children. Hale didn't think twice about whether or not the girls were telling the truth about seeing the devil. The moment Abigail and Titiuba realized there was no escape from being framed as witches, they went along with it, and Hale believed them; of course, he later admitted he was wrong; however, by then, it was

Perhaps It may have led to the end of Hale's life, considering Danforth's ego and demeanor. If Hale were to speak ill of Danforth, Salem could have suffered a much more severe loss of life. However, Hale still could have tried to convince the other judges in the court hearing, which Danforth overlooked. Maybe the Judges would have sided with Hale's perspective and forced Danforth to step down or rethink his position on defending Abigail. After all, Danforth does realize Abigail was lying to him the entire time later in the story, although there's a possibility Hale could have allowed Danforth to realize this much earlier before people lost their lives (Act 4, Page 665 ). Even if Hale were to fail, certainly others would admire his fortitude and spark an outcry over the questionable decision of Hale's possible termination and the death of many