Essay/Term paper: The crucible

Essay, term paper, research paper:  The Crucible

Reverend Hale is a dynamic character in Miller's The

Crucible as he is challenged by John Proctor's

courage. He starts out very convincing and seems to

know exactly what he wants. John Proctor is a very

strong and courageous character. He influences

Reverend Hale so much that Hale completely changes his

mind about Salem, the court, and witches.

Reverend Hale enters Salem as a very strong character

that knows what he wants to do. He is very sure of

himself. "They must be, they are weighted with

authority" (p. 36). When he arrives in Salem, he is

absolutely sure of witchcraft. "The devil is

precise-the marks of his presence are as definite as

stone." (p. 38), "Are you gathering souls for the

devil?" (p. 44); "Who came to you with the devil?" and

".perhaps another person in the village?" (p. 45). A

few of his faults are that he judges too much by

appearances, ".you look as such a good soul should"

(p. 37); ".a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a

farmer," (p. 99); and he uses people to question other

people. "How can you bear to see this child

suffering?" (p. 45); "In the book of record Mr. Parris

keeps." (p. 64); "The man's ordained, therefore he

must have the light of god in him." (p. 66). Reverend

Hale has a lot of wisdom to share with Salem. "Man,

remember, until an hour before the devil fell, God

thought him beautiful in heaven," (p. 71); ".private

vengeance is working through testimony," (p. 114).

John Proctor is a strong and courageous character who

will not give in easily to his accusers. In the end

of The Crucible he denies the charges of witchcraft.

He says he will never confess that. He could be free

of charges if he confesses, but it is a false

accusation and he doesn't want anything corrupting his

name. He is a very good person who just wants to

please everyone, especially his wife. He says, "I'll

buy George Jacobs heifer. How would that please

you?"; "I mean only to please you, Elizabeth." The

fact that he only wants to please people is what gets

him into trouble. He tries too hard to tell people

only what they want to hear.

This all results in Hale changing his mind about the

court, the witches, and Salem. He is very

disappointed with how the people of Salem acted. He

was outraged by the way they accused people they

didn't like of being witches, just so they would have

to deal with them anymore. He hated the way the girls

who cried out did it all following Abigail Williams.

He despised the way so many people jumped to

conclusions about the people that they had known since

they were children, people who were their neighbors,

their friends, and sadly even their spouse or

children. He decides to completely leave the court,

and try to defend the victims of the girls, crying

out, "I quit this court" (p. 120). He knows that

people were making false accusations about the

witches, and he knows that if he hadn't showed up

talking about the witches, it probably wouldn't have

happened that way. He tries to get people out of

trouble to make up for his mistakes. "Excellency, it

is enough he confess himself," (p. 141).

This shows Reverend Hale turns into a dynamic

character in Miller's The Crucible when he's

challenged and amazed by the courage of John Proctor.

At the beginning, he is a very unfaltering character

and seems to know exactly what he wants to accomplish

in Salem. John Proctor starts a very solid and brave

character and remains that way throughout the book.

John Proctor's influence on Reverend Hale is so great

that Hale completely changes his mind about Salem, the

court, and the witches.