Essay, Research Paper: The Crucible - Reverend Hale's And John Proctor

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The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story of love, pity, revenge, and forgiveness. It details
the lives of the citizens of Salem during the witchcraft trials of the late 1600s, and how
their community, and lives, were affected by them. In this time period the Puritans lived in
a type of fear of the devil and were highly religious. Many innocent people were accused
of witchcraft; very few actually being witches. At first, whoever was accused was
immediately brought to trial allowing whatever evidence possible against them. The
trials were very biased against the accused and, most of the time, they wouldn't get out of
being hanged without confessing to witchcraft. Eventually the towns people, ministers,
and judges realized that the accusers, the young girls, were just frauds. However, this was
not before many people were hanged, including John Proctor, a strong willed man that
knew the girls were involved in a hoax the whole time. After being accused of witchcraft
and jailed for a couple days, it came to the point where if he confessed to witchcraft then
his life would be spared. However, he would have to sign a paper that was to be hung on
the church door, which he didn't want. At this point, Reverend Hale wanted John to sign
the confession in order to spare his life. Hale thinks this way because he knows it's not
worth John's life. He realized the truth. Unfortunately, in the beginning of the play Hale
is skeptical about Proctor.
At the start of the play, in Act 1, Reverend Hale is sent for from Beverly to help
Beaty recover from a "work of witchcraft". Hale feels that he has unique knowledge that
has at last been publicly called for. He is immediately convinced along with everyone else
that witchcraft and the devil are present in Salem. After seeing Beaty, hearing stories, and
exploring the village he is even more hooked and intends to use his intellectual knowledge.
He starts questioning people about various things and discovers a lot. Tituba is the first to
be accused by Abigail. She quickly confesses in fear of her life and starts accusing others;
the esculade begins.
In Act 2, Hale starts going around from household to household questioning their
Christian integrity. He arrives at the Proctor's home telling them the latest news. First,
Hale questions John about not coming to church, and John explains saying that he doesn't
like Reverend Parris very much. Then, Hale goes on to question John about his
commandments. John resites every one except Adultery, which Elizabeth reminds him of.
This is ironic due to the fact that John committed adultery and cheated on Elizabeth with
Abigail. Between the Proctors and Hale, they are auspicious of eachother, and Hale
knows that Elizabeth was mentioned at an earlier trial. After Hale leaves and goes outside
John decides to tell Hale what Abigail told him, and rushes out to get him. John basically
tells Hale the total opposite of what he thinks; that "...the children's sickness had naught
to do with witchcraft." He also explains that he knew of Reverend Parris discovering
them dancing in the woods and "They were startled and took sick." This is a turning point
for Hale. He doesn't know what to think, so he continues to question John's integrity.
Soon after Cheever comes with a warrant for Elizabeth's arrest. Hale questions people to
try to figure things out.
As the story moves on in Act III, Proctor and Giles Corey come to the trials to try
to convince the court of the truth. They carry a deposition. The girls continue to stick
with the story along with accusing people, especially Abigail. Hale has yet to see the
entire picture like Giles and Proctor do, however he does start to listen to what they have
to say. Judge Danforth is very stubborn and tends to take sides when plausible evidence
against someone is brought about. When Mary Warren begins to break and tells the truth
about what is going on, Abigail and the girls quickly turn against her. This raises Hale's
suspicion even more. He starts to defend Proctor against Danforth's judgement. "I
cannot say that (Proctor) is an honest man; I know him a little... In God's name, sir, stop
here; send him home and let him come again with a lawyer..." Hale also feels guilty about
'signing away the souls' of 72 people including Rebecca Nurse. He's slowly starting to
see 'cracks in the fortress'. After more testimony from Mary Warren Proctor eventually
lets out that he committed adultery with Abigail. Proctor swears that Elizabeth will not lie
when asked about Abigail and what confrontations she had with John. However,
Elizabeth does lie because she wants to protect John not knowing that the court has
already been told. Hale responds with "...it's a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now
before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more... From the
beginning this man has struck me true. By my oath to Heaven, I believe him now..." He
finally believes Proctor and realizes what is really going on. From here on Hale is trying
to protect innocent people's lives, including John Proctor.
At this point in Act IV the whole town has gone mad and people are accusing
others left and right. Proctor and Giles are in jail along with many others. Proctor in
particular is in the dungeon. Not only Hale has realized that the whole 'witchcraft saga' is
a fraud but Danforth also is starting to see what has happened. Unfortunately Danforth is
all out for himself and doesn't want to make himself look bad by calling off the trials and
pardoning the accused. "...I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their
punishment." Hale is determined to save Johns life, for he feels there is no reason he
should die. He tries to get Elizabeth to convince John to confess. Hale says, "...what
profit him to bleed?" John does sign the paper, but does not give it to Cheever, and rips it
up. For that John Proctor dies, but not without pride.
It's apparent that Reverend Hale changed dramatically throughout the play, from
one opinion to the other. It seems as though the advice he gave to John Proctor about
saving his own life was worth it. Hales was right in defending John against being hanged.
It's too bad Proctor wasn't willing to save his life for his family honor. John did confess
verbally, and he even signed the confession, although ripped up. That should've been
enough for Danforth, for God saw Proctors name on the paper. John was right about not
giving in to letting them hang the confession on the church door. Reverend Hale was a
good man that saw moral values over perpetual lies.

Good essay, I read it for a good review before a test tomorrow.. Nice work.

For your Information, Parris's daughter is not named Beaty. Her name is Betty.

For your Information, Parris's daughter is not named Beaty. Her name is Betty.

nice work man make more for me

Great paper I used it as a study guide for my test over it. It really helped me out