Compare and Contrast of Parris and Hale in "The Crucible" Essay

All of a sudden there was a witch outbreak in Salem Massachusetts. The following day the girls were found in bed inert. The doctor attempted to figure out the sickness the girls could have. However, he could not give the sickness any name. Then Reverend Hale was called in to help the town cure its unnatural problem. Throughout the play Reverend Hale contributed to both sides of the arguments. At the beginning he believed the court was doing God’s job. Towards the end his character changes and is less in favor of the court and more in favor for the people being wrongly accused. Reverend Hale’s is seen to be independent, confident and outspoken. These traits end up changing towards the end of the play. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character

Hale requires everyone who is accused of being a witch to go to court and agree that they are witches in order to prevent being hanged. If they admit that they aren’t a witch they would be hanged immediately. Hale seems to be very involved with the accusations, questioning those that are accused everything they know about god and the church (asking Hale to recite the 10 commandments, questioning the victims’ attendance in church, baptism, and things he sees as strange). When Hale goes to John Proctor’s house we witness the interrogation process: “I thought, sir, to put some questions as to the Christian character of this house, if you’ll permit me…I note that you are rarely in the church on Sabbath day…how comes it that only two [boys] are baptized” (2.621-671)? Later on in the play, when Proctor is testifying in court, they mystery starts to unravel inside of Hale’s head. At the end of Proctor’s trial, he yells that he no longer supports what is going on after Judge Danforth is unwilling to listen to Proctor’s testimony that the whole thing is pretense: “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court” (3.1499-1500)! He is ashamed that everything he has been trying to find was false and made up by Abigail. We see that in the jail scene he is begging Goody Proctor to have her husband confess in order to save his life: “Will you plead for his confession or will you not” (4.486-487)? This dynamic character change truly captures how Hale has changed since the

Proctor is later found guilty and he is ordered to be taken to jail. With anger, Hale speaks out, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court” (1151). Hale can no longer take part in a court system that hangs innocent people. He publicly declares that the court’s rulings are wrong which reveal his frustration and his rejection to the court. Reverend Hale is no longer the same man who had his faith in the court when he had first arrived in Salem.

John Proctor and Reverend Hale are similar characters in the way they are very prideful people and start doubting the authority of others as the events unfold throughout the play. John Proctor is a very prideful character who values his reputation. He believes he is above others in the way he mocks Reverend Parris, after Parris says there is a faction against him he says “Why, then I must find it and join it” (Miller, Act I, 31). Proctor sarcastic statement shows how he believes he can mock others and show authority over Parris.

In this act, and with much consideration (adverb phase #2), Reverend Hale seems to be less full of himself, and more hesitant. He talks about how he has a difficult time drawing “a clear opinion of them that come accused before the court,” because he doesn’t know the people of their town (adverb phrase #3) (Miller 1169). This is only one of Hale’s problems as the play keeps moving along. Act three brings more complications and hesitance from Hale. Proctor’s wife has now been seized and taken to court, along with others accused of witchcraft. During these court sessions, Reverend Hale is beginning (gerund #2) to realize that the court really is unfair (noun clause #1). For example, even though evidence is given by Giles Corey (adjective clause #2), the judge refuses to accept (infinitive #2) it and simply asks for more evidence (Miller 1195). Now, Hale is starting to become frustrated. He’s also beginning to realize that he has made some aberrations (noun clause #2). When John Proctor is sentenced to be hanged for witchcraft, Hale respondes to the prejudice court by declaring , “I denounce these proceedings! I quit this court!” (Miller 1213), and proceeds to walk out of the courthouse. This is only the beginning of Hale’s

In The Crucible, there are many complex characters who shift throughout the play. Reverend Hale was one of the most complex of these characters. Hale’s changes were a direct result of the trials. Because of this Hale’s changes can be traced through his actions and motivations. Throughout the play, Reverend Hale was changed by his faith, his knowledge of the truth, and by his guilt.

In the beginning, Parris was portrayed as very cruel person. He yells at Tituba, “Out of here! Out of my sight!” (169). By the end of the play, he becomes more humble and modest. This can be seen especially when Abigail takes his money, “Hathorn: She have robbed you? Parris: Thirty-one pound is gone. I am penniless.” (231). Reverend Hale is also another person who drastically changed. When he arrives at Salem, he claims to be very smart and is able to save everyone from the devil and witchcraft. He starts to preach as soon as he gets there, “No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise, the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell you all the I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of hell upon her.” (185). He becomes very different by the end of the play. He not has feelings of guilt for the people he accused. He also was starting to think that he was wrong about the devil and witchcraft. Hale tells his feelings to Elizabeth, “Let you not mistake you duty as I mistook my own… I cannot think he will listen to another.”

For the majority of the play, Proctor and Parris are often in conflict, either regarding their beliefs or actions. This is best shown near the end of the play when the characters take opposing sides on the court and the witch hunt. Proctor believes that the court is a fraud, and although he is eventually sentenced to death, he states that “You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor” (Miller 144). By making this statement to the court, he is showing that he has come to terms with who he is, and can see some good in himself by doing so. This is very different from how Proctor acted early in the play, attempting to fix everything that his affair had broken in his life without success, showing how he has grown as a character and understood his mistakes in life. In contrast, the play wraps itself up by including the statement, “Not long after the fever died, Parris was voted from office, walked out on the highroad, and was never heard from again.” (Miller 146). Throughout the play, Parris would often act out of his self interests and the betterment of himself, and continued acting the same way even after he joined the court. Supporting the idea of his self-interests, the stage directions describing Parris’ dialogue at the end of

Secondly, after Hale returns he wants to try and help postpone the hangings because he knows the accused are innocent. He returns just in time for the day John Proctor is to hang. He comes back to town because he knows that John is truly innocent. He has changed into a better man and he wants to now save the lives of those who he had a help in condemning. So he says to Danforth, “Excellency, if you postpone a week and publish to the town that you are striving for their confessions, that speak mercy on your part, not faltering.” (Miller 130) Hale is trying to show them, that they are helping the Church rid of evil by postponing the hangings and having the accused confess to dealing with the devil. Hale has become more desperate because he wants the accused to live; he blames himself for them being accused and not seeing that the accusations were false earlier. Hale came the first time to rid the town of what he thought was evil, and now he has returned to save the lives of the so called “evil people”.

The Salem Witch Trials were a time of destruction and tragedy; the children and the people of the court were accusing everyone in their town of witchcraft. In The Crucible, a play about the Salem With Trials; Reverend Hale is an extremely dynamic character towards his beliefs and power. Hale changes throughout the story from being determined to find witchery in Salem to realizing that all the accused were innocent. The main problem for Hale in The Crucible is power: the level of it, how he uses it, and the issues it may cause.

Reverend John Hale is the minister who is called in to investigate the witch trials in The Crucible. At first he believes them, but later he returns to the town to try and stop the trials. Deputy Governor Danforth is the judge at the witch trials. He is dedicated to removing all witches. He rules by the law and will not allow exceptions or anyone to try to undermine his court.

In the beginning of the play, Reverend Hale believes that by condemning people of witchcraft, he is saving people from sin; towards the end of the play, he realizes that the accusations against innocent people are unjust because they do not have substantial evidence. People are being accused by him and he uses his “understanding of witchery” to state that, “The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, witchcraft is arising in Salem, Massachusetts and Reverend John Hale is the one at fault. Reverend Hale is a spiritual doctor who was chosen to come to salem to investigate what was going on. Numerous people were being accused of their involvement in witchcraft and were put to trial. Some town people confessed but some had nothing to confess, leading them to be hung or stoned to death. There are many justifications why the events in Salem occurred and the author brings them to the reader's attention, more than once. He shows them through many flaws. Reverend Hale is foolish, headstrong, and his self righteousness make him the one at blame for the Salem witch trials.

Upon being first introduced, Reverend Hale is described as a confident, ambitious man driven by motivation to impress others with his thorough knowledge of witchcraft. He considers himself to be an expert; a veritable beacon of intellectual light who will be able to cure Salem of its supernatural affliction. By the end of The Crucible, Hale has undergone a complete character transformation, making him one of the more dynamic characters in the play. His perception of the trials are shrouded in guilt and self-doubt as he struggles with feeling responsible for those who are condemned to hang and wanting to preserve his Puritan values.

Another pivotal development in the plot of the play is the reactions of Mr. hale to the happenings in Salem. He is a man of integrity, although at times misguided and overzealous, he is willing to change his mind when confronted with the truth. Despite this admirable trait, he lacks the moral conviction to act against proceedings that will condemn innocent people to death. He comes to realize that John Proctor is