Through Hale’s transformation from an arrogant persecutor to a defender of the condemned, it highlights Miller’s message of how fear and paranoia can cause one to perceive the world as two absolutes rather than a complex grey area. Because Hale was summoned to purify Salem from the Devil, Hale exuded this confidence as an almighty savior of God. As he attempted to identify the Devil in Betty, he exclaims, “Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises… Have no fear now… I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!” (ACT I; 39). Hale's devotion towards God is apparent through the action words "caught, defined, and calculated" because they signify how “these books” contain a vast knowledge of spirits that is accepted as credible by authority. Because Hale is confident in his expertise, he asserts his authority by advising to “have no fear now” to indicate that his presence and expertise wards off signs of the Devil. Moreover, Hale’s…show more content… In Act I when his arrogance was most present, Hale simplified the world into two absolutes, good or evil, for fear that he may taint his reputation as a minister. Consequently, Hale condemned the innocent because of he would lose his credibility if he denied the girls’ fabricated accusations. Similarly, during the McCarthyism era, random U.S. citizens were accused of being a Communist if they showed the slightest affiliation. Because The Crucible was written as an allegory for McCarthyism, Miller accentuates how despite the 300 year gap between McCarthyism and the Salem Witch trials, fear has been used as a controlling mechanism throughout history. If society continues to repeat this cycle of false accusations out of hysteria, the lives of innocent people will
