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Who Is Reverend Hale Responsible In The Crucible

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In the year of 1692, 19 innocent people were forced to slowly walk towards a rope that in a matter of seconds would end their lives. These horrific events are something portrayed in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. In Salem, Massachusetts, a mass hysteria violently spread the fear of witchcraft amongst the Puritan village. Reverend Hale, a so called “expert” in demonic arts, was brought in by Salem's most spiritual figure Reverend Parris to demolish any sign of witchcraft from his home. Yet, Hale is overall culpable for the tragedies that struck Salem because of his false accusations and narrow point of view. Although Reverend Hale is mostly responsible for the catastrophe of the Salem witch trials, A young girl named Abigail Williams also …show more content…

When he first enters Salem it seems his head is held high with knowledge and determination, but he will not allow any conclusions to be made unless they are from his books that guide him through witchcraft cases. After Abigail reveals she did not see the devil, Hale immediately makes an accusation and suspiciously asks, “Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?” (Miller 1259). Because of Hale’s authority, Abigail becomes defensive and puts the blame on Tituba. Hale looks at this as a slight confession, which makes him think he is heading in the right direction. He then turns his attention towards Tituba and repeatedly asks her questions until she has no choice but to confess to working for the Devil. Instead of looking at all the evidence, Hale continues to make conclusions so he can prove his expertise in Demonic Arts. Wanting answers, Hale simply asks, “Who came to you with the Devil?” (Miller 1262). This shows Hale feeding Tituba the flames to a fire, giving her the power to accuse any person from the village. Little did he know that this would lead to Abigail and many others accusing innocent people of toying with the Devil. Reverend Hale ultimately proves himself culpable for the hysteria that struck the Salem because of these false accusations. Not only was Hale responsible for incorrect claims, but his narrow point of view widely affected the witch

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Reverend Hale came to Salem just to find signs of witchcraft and to become an important person in court. He wanted to help uncover the witches in the village. "His goal is light, goodness, and its preservation. " This quote shows that Hale has been trained to be the best witch hunter and how happy he is to show off what he has learned. Hale even brought books with him to Salem on how to find signs of witchcraft.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

When Reverend Hale first enters the story he is depicted as someone with great knowledge and authority. Proctor tells Hale on page 185, “I’ve heard you were a sensible man, Mister Hale - I hope you’ll leave some of it in Salem.” Hale is well known to people around Salem and he is known for possessing great knowledge. The people will listen to what Hale has to say, but know that his presence means that there is suspicion of witchcraft.

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(35) This shows that Hale is so involved in his work that he could possibly end up accusing someone who was not guilty of witchcraft. Hale seems overly conscious about his own life and his duty to serve the people to find the devil in Salem; he doesn’t seem to like the idea that he himself could be wicked. This shows that Hale too, did not show himself to be truthful and courteous when it came to the

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117 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the play, Reverend Hale serves as the voice of reason in the trials. Hale is well educated and respected, and is initially brought in from Beverly to determine the cause of Betty’s ailment that keeps her inanimate in her bed. He directs his focus to seeking out the presence of the Devil in Salem, and then to cleansing the village. However, when Hale realizes that the Girls were manipulating the trials for their own gain, he seeks instead to undo the actions of the court in the name of truth. Miller develops Hale as a character who is willing to sacrifice what might be moral in the name of truth as a means to show how

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676 Words | 3 Pages

In the book Crucible written by Arthur Miller took place in 1692. Some may believe that Reverend Hale is not to blame for all the deaths of innocent people in Salem. The only reason Reverend Hale is involved in this case, is because he is pushing his limits to get the truth. Also, to not let any guilty doers off the chain, for the reason that they will keep repeating their dirty crimes. There has been many witch trials taken place in salem, of which many people have been accused and persecuted.

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1028 Words | 5 Pages

If the accused confess to practicing witchcraft, they will be freed; if they do not confess, they will be hanged. As the trials continue, the list of accused people lengthens. The more people accused of witchcraft, the more John Hale sees that things are getting out of hand. When John Proctor is accused of lying about his affair, John Hale comes to his defense, stating his belief in Proctor and his distrust toward Abigail. This shows that Hale is not only focused on punishing those accused of witchcraft and defeating evil in Salem at any cost.

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128 Words | 1 Pages

In his book, “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702),” clergyman John Hale comes forth to confront the recent events going on at the time. Initially, Hale alludes to the questionable actions and activities of the townspeople being accused of witchcrafts, and being imprisoned as punishment. In addition, he discloses how everyone suspicious will be accused, not even young children are safe from the hands of this fate. Hale’s purpose of publishing this book was to describe the incident of the Witch Trials, and to reveal his experience of the trials, since his own wife was accused. By employing a didactic tone, Hale relays the actions of the past that targeted the Puritans and those wrongly accused of witchcrafts, so this occurrence

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734 Words | 3 Pages

When Hale was called into the village, he always had the intention to help people. Hale was just doing his job asking the accused questions by trying to get a helpful answer to the cause. Hale was just trying to do his job and had no intent for anybody to die. He tried to help Tituba by saying, “You are God's instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil's agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are chosen to help us cleanse our village" (Miller 46).

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560 Words | 3 Pages

In act 1 and 2 in the play ,The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the character Reverend Hale was introduced and learned what his role was. Reverend Hale was a man nearing his forties and was a high-status intellectual who was an expert in witchcraft (Miller 155). In this act Hale said that he believes there always will be someone with the devil(Miller 155). Hale was siding with the court in this act and signing death warrants along with believing in these accusations fully as shown in his visit to the Proctors when he said there is too much evidence to deny the Devil is in Salem (Miller 171). Also, Hale almost played as an interrogator when he was giving rapid fire questions to John about his Christian character and if he goes to church in his visit to the Proctor house (Miller 171).

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798 Words | 4 Pages

¨Hale, continuing to Elizabeth: Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing 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.¨. Hale recognizes the way he had first acted when he was introduced in the play he had false confidence, was falsely assertive, a title of the best witch hunter in that region meant nothing and being a reverend, he had failed miserably to bring justice to the town of Salem. Along with being a failure he has realized that those that he had convicted were innocent and the girls that had played the system were the actual ones guilty and had escaped their well deserved punishment. The whole point of Hale being the tragic hero was that Hale would have been able to prevent all of these things onto the town but having a title does not mean you are qualified for the

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1129 Words | 5 Pages

Reverend Hale was one of the first people to believe in witchcraft, he was also one of the first people to understand there is nothing like witchcraft actually happening. He knows what is happening in Salem is wrong and that people are being hung for something they never actually did. Hale is following his morals by trying to do the right thing and try to stop people from dying. People will do anything that they can to try to stop things from happening that they believe not to be the right thing. On the

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819 Words | 4 Pages

Hale went to the houses of those accused because he was starting to worry that they were actually innocent. He acknowledges, “No man may longer doubt the powers of the dark are gathered in monstrous attack upon this village. There is too much evidence now to deny it” (II.469-473.). Hale tells John and Elizabeth how the accusations are attacking the village, and how there is more evidence making it more difficult to not believe Abigail’s lie. Hale is worried that innocent people are being accused, but he also feels obligated to agree with the court.

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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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387 Words | 2 Pages

To start, abigail is not being honest about accusing people of being witches. Second, john proctor was trying to be honest even though his reputation was on the line. And third, reverend hale was a higher

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525 Words | 3 Pages

Initially, Hale comes back to salem to try and save the people accused. He tells them that he does not think god

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