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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.