Reverend Hale In The Crucible

Words: 1048
Pages: 5

The Evaluation of Reverend Hale
One of the most famous classical tragedy play tells the story of the many crucibles faced by the townspeople of Salem, caused by the great fear of witchcraft. The play follows the crucibles faced by the characters, and how events and other characters cause them to reconsider their belief system and go through inner change. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend John Hale changes throughout the play dramatically, due to the events he witnessed, and the people he interacted with. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Hale is very passionate about purging Salem of the devil, he is loyal to his religion, and is overconfident in his abilities. Reverend Hale is sent to the town to seek the truth, and to exterminate
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He sees through all of the lies, now knows his place in the world and has a completely different view on religion. A religion that he studied his whole life. Hale finally realizes that no witchcraft has occurred in Salem, and that all of the people being hanged are innocent. He begins to see the true intentions of the court and how gullible judge Danfourth and Hathorn are to Abigail’s games. He sees how ridiculous everything is, and no longer wants to be a part of it; he denounces the court. Hale has come to the realization that he is to blame for many of those deaths, so he comes back to Salem to try and save as many lives as he possibly can. It is a sin to lie, so for Hale to come back and try to convince people to lie to save their life, shows how much he has changed. Before, Hale would have told the people convicted to die rather than lie and commit a sin. Hale developed a conscience, and realizes that no religion should advocate the killing of human beings. Hale now understands that not all sins are equal, he tells the people convicted that god will forgive them for lying, and their life is much more important. “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.”