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Who Is Reverend Hale Responsible In The Crucible

806 Words4 Pages

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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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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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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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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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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¨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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