The Crucible
John Hale is the minister of Beverly, which has been summoned to Salem to discover and
extinguish supposed witchcraft in the town of Salem, Mass. in the colonial period. Hale
overgoes a gradual change of character and belief as the play unfolds. As a dynamic
character? Though a gradual change it is, the change drastically changes his views and
ideas of what is God’s will and where his priorities lie.
The end of Act One exhibits the audience a zealous priest, Reverend John Hale,
looking for evidence of witchcraft, real or make believe. Most convenient for Hale the
town of Salem has more than enough evidence for him to become ecstatic about.
Although he does express that, ...
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of her first seven
children and Giles’ wife reading of strange books which keep him from reciting the Lord’s
prayer. Ironically, he encounters, Tituba, after hearing that this Barbados slave had been
practicing voodoo with the afflicted girls. After Hale puts immense pressure on Tituba to
proclaim herself a witch Hale is able to manipulate Tituba to claim that she had used
witchcraft on the girls. After declaring herself a witch she accuses the names of four
honest and innocent women, thus starting the chain affect of accused witches accusing
others of witchcraft, that soon would follow. So Hale, single-handedly, who was
manipulated by Abigail’s lies and false fits, started the entire conflict with his aggressive
technique to propel Tituba to confess to association with the devil, which in truth had
never covenanted.
At the time in Act Two that Hale enters there is a presence of guilt about him,
which foretells what his mission in the Proctor’s house is, to ...
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already started to question his own actions, but is not
yet at the point of knowing if this "witchcraft" is actually just a lofty act by the
self-proclaimed tortured children. After this insertion Hale begins to ask both Mrs. and
Mr. Proctor if they believe in the existence of witches. Why? Because Hale wants to
make sure his accusations and examinations are believed to be proper in accordance to
what is justifiable in the eyes of fellow townsfolk. A point comes near the end of Act Two
that the audience learns that Goody Nurse, the kindest, most saint-like of Salem, has been
taken into custody under warrant of witchcraft. This is the part where the audience ...
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The Crucible. (2004, January 19). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crucible/1674
"The Crucible." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 19 Jan. 2004. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crucible/1674>
"The Crucible." Essayworld.com. January 19, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crucible/1674.
"The Crucible." Essayworld.com. January 19, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Crucible/1674.
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