Amanda Sousa
Ms. McNulty
ENG 2D1
December 19th, 2014
Experiencing Redemption
“It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.” –Clive Barker. Everybody makes mistakes, but only the people who recognize the good in those mistakes are the people who can be redeemed from them. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many characters are put in desperate situations. Each person learns new things and further develops from each experience. Proctor learns how important his name is, Hale experiences extreme guilt over his actions and Giles learns to think before he speaks. In conclusion, in desperate situations individuals who possess insight are able to experience redemption.
Proctor encounters a desperate situation
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To start, Reverend Hale experiences extreme guilt for helping with the witch trials. When Hale returns to Salem, he explains his guilt by saying, “There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!” (131). Hale is saying that he feels he is the cause of all the deaths in Salem. He is taking blame for them and is showing how remorseful he is. Second, Hale realizes that what he has been doing is wrong. He explains to Elizabeth that he is no longer with the court by saying, “I come of my own, Goody Proctor. I would save your husband’s life, for if he is taken I count myself his murderer” (131). Hale is finally owning up to his actions and seeing where he was mistaken. He is making up for his mistakes by trying to convince the accused to confess so they will not get hanged. Last, Hale comes back to work for the people to finally get his redemption. Hale tells Danforth, “I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel the Christians they should belie themselves” (131). Hale is able to regain his goodness when he helps the accused witches fight for their lives and confess to a crime they did not commit. He is able to walk away a better man, as he is able to help some people live longer, instead of signing their death warrants. In conclusion, Hale comes to his senses late, but he is still able to free himself of his guilt by working for the
Reverend John Hale and John Proctor are the first to realize that the girls who started the accusations should be punished for their actions. Reverend Hale starts to change his belief when Mary Warren tells reveals that there is no witchcraft, and when the girls hear about this they start to turn against her. In the scene when John Proctor and Giles Corey are taken away into custody Hale says "I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!". Hale has now crossed a line between his old self who put all his faith into the court, to a man who has absolutely no respect for it. At first Reverend Hale leaves Salem, but returns to try and save as many of the accused as possible. While doing so, Hale tries to convince Elizabeth Proctor to get John Proctor To confess so that John doesn't die. Hale doesn't know yet but anyone who confesses will he sent to be
Statements from Hale show that he has realized the error of his ways. He decides to “shut [his] conscience no more” (223) and quits the court. Hale can no longer suppress his beliefs about the court and in effect, like Pontius Palter, absolves himself from the court. Next, Hale’s Words are used to show the immense amount of guilt that rests on his shoulder. Hale walks the prisons of Salem and, in knowing that “there is blood on [his] head” (234), “counsels Christians they should belie themselves” (234) even though he is also belying his reputation as reverend by doing this.
The Crucible – Forgiveness & nbsp; The Healing Power Of Forgiveness - The Gift of Reconciliation. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." --- Mahatma Gandhi & nbsp; Forgiveness is a process of inner healing. For most of the people in The Crucible, they did not need to necessarily forgive others but forgive themselves.
...the beginning Reverend John Hale’s intentions were good, just like Joseph McCarthy’s intentions in the 1950s, but they both got caught up in their reputations. Reputation played a tremendous role in The Crucible. The fear of guilt by association became destructive. Reverend John Hale experienced the demise in his reputation. Reverend John Hale, although a sensible man, struggled to keep his sensibility. He believed he helped rid the town of the Devil, but soon after he began to doubt the reasons behind the trials. In the end he began to fear what had become of the Salem Witch Trials. Although Reverend John Hale recognized the evil of the witch trials, his comeback was not boldness but surrender. He persisted that survival was the highest good, even if it meant accepting oneself to discrimination, something that he just could not accept.
There are many secrets and hidden feuds circulating in the town of Salem that he is unaware of when he first arrives. It takes Hale a long time to come to terms with how wicked the town has become, and how they use witchcraft as an excuse to get even with those they feel have wronged them. He gets caught up in the trials, even acting alongside the court. Once the truth about Abigail Williams and her followers is revealed by John Proctor to be a scam, he vocalizes what he’s really thinking “I believe him! This girl has always struck me as false!” (50), “You cannot believe them!” (51), and finally “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!”
Today is the day that John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, known as the purest of Puritan women, and Martha Corey, wife of Giles Corey, are set to hang for being judged as witches. Hale comes back to speak with Elizabeth because he is uneasy with these three, who he believes are innocent, being hung. He was suppose to be this witchcraft expert, but in his conversation with Elizabeth, is shown to be doubting himself now due to all those who have died and are set to die. “ 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 crown of holy law I brought, and what I touched with bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. Beware, Goody Proctor-cleave to no faith when faith brings blood. Like, woman, life is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God’s judgement in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than that he throws his life away for pride. Will you plead with him? I cannot think he will listen to another. “ Hale says. This shows the great guilt for all the accused. Arthur Miller has taken the highly confident witch expert and turned him into this guilt ridden minister who
Life as a human is dictated by an inborn hunger or purpose, and people, in general, will act on this hunger for their own personal gain in their individual ways. This hunger, be it for wealth, land, love, power, revenge, or pride, can, and will be the undoing or failing of all mankind as Miller so clearly points out in his play 'The Crucible';. This essay will explore the motives of characters within the play and even the motives of Arthur Miller himself and therefore show how conflict stems from certain recognisable human failings including those mentioned above, fear, and hysteria.
“You must be the change you want to see in the world” - Gandhi is a quote that applies to The Crucible, as characters change a lot during the course of the play, whether it has to do with themselves or taking action and speaking out against what they think is wrong. In the world-renowned play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the question “Can People Change?” is answered when many characters, such as Elizabeth and John Proctor develop so much making them dynamic individuals (THESIS). In the play, Abigail Williams, a manipulative seventeen year old, leads a group of girls into deceiving the entire town of Salem by saying that the Devil is alive in there. As a result of these lies, innocent people are convicted and many lose their lives. John Proctor, a farmer, faces many tribulations during the progression of the witch trials, and as the play progresses he is not afraid to speak
Parris and Danforth prioritize their reputations over John Proctor’s actual life. Hale does not care about his good name, but about the lives of the people in Salem and his guilt for partaking in the trials. Like Proctor, Parris, Hale, and Danforth are extremely flawed men. They all make unrighteous decisions that can be selfish. Unlike Proctor, though, these men place their own needs above the needs of the community. John Proctor has lived in Salem all his life and cares for the town and its citizens, whereas Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, and Danforth are all outsiders to the town. They place themselves above the well-beings of the townspeople for the reason that they do not care if Salem is to be destroyed. Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale, and Deputy Governor Danforth’s yearn of John Proctor’s confession represents they only care for their own self-interests and not about what his confession could do for the town of
The Crucible is a play which brings to our attention many timeless issues. The nature of good and evil, power and its corruption, honour and integrity and our tendency to create scapegoats for all manner of problems are all brought up through the course of the play - sometimes in very dramatic fashion.
After Hale acknowledges his flaw, his character changes to a minister who wants to save the lives of the false accusations, so he goes against the “flawless” court. After Danforth accused John Proctor of witchcraft and sent him to jail, Hale “denounce[d] these proceedings” (120). Danforth had said that a person is either with the court or against it, and Reverend Hale chose to go against it although he was a faithful minister. Also, he tried to save John proctor’s life by asking Elizabeth to make John confess because Hale had signed seventy two death warrants and regretted it. The reason that Hale gave to Elizabeth to save Proctor’s life was that “life is God’s most precious gift” (132). At this point Reverend Hale wanted to bring justice to the court even if Proctor had to make a false
The judge is still accusing people of witchcraft and because they will not admit it they are getting hanged. Hale is a dynamic character because at first he wants to prove that witchery is real but at the end he recognizes that a man named John Proctor was telling the truth and that the girls were lying the whole time. In the
A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.
As Reverend John Hale is not a resident of Salem, he approaches the accusations and rumors without any prior opinion. Hale is introduced as extremely arrogant and proud with his goal being “light, goodness and its preservation”(Miller 34). This phrasing strengthens his role as a man of God, but this is not actually displayed in his personality until later. He is very book smart and this leads to some signs of immaturity. This is shown in Act I when Parris questions why the devil would come to Salem. “Why would he [the devil] choose this house to strike?”(39) In response Hale says, “It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister?”(39) This shows he enjoys the position better than he does its purpose. He is also very eager.
He begins to see a weakness in the position of the townspeople of Salem and tries to not let common accusations be the support for his diagnosis. The conversations that Hale has demonstrated the evolution of his mindset. In Act II, Hale is traveling around the town, going house-to-house, searching for accused women to warn them that their names have been mentioned in the court. Soon, Hale finds himself standing at the Proctor home. At this moment, Hale sees a different perspective on the entire situation.