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In The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, the strict Puritan community of Salem is bombarded with the hysteria of witchcraft. It starts when five young girls of Salem are caught dancing in the forest. Instead as mere children playing, this behavior is viewed upon by the Puritans as the work of the devil. As the hysteria builds momentum, more and more accusations radiate. Reverend Hale, a well known expert on witches, is brought into Salem to 'cleanse' the town of it's evil. At the beginning of the play, Hale leads the onslaught of punishment for the accused; but by the end, he radically changes his views, denouncing the court and its proceedings. At first, Hale believes that the witch trials are necessary, and stands by them unconditionally. When he first comes to town, he concludes that Satan is at work. "And I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown face!" (p.39) Hale shows his strong abhorrence toward evil. He is willing to follow the church's authority to do anything to put a stop to it. While he is talking to Abigail, a girl who was caught dancing in the ...
Hale takes this job to a personal level when the the crisis takes a turn for the worse. He pleads with the people convicted of witchcraft to confess. He feels he is responsible for their lives because his purpose was to rid the town of witchcraft, not innocent lives. He beholds himself a failure when he cannot convince the accused to confess. His well justified pride is broken. He came into this village like a bride groom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. He urges Elizabeth not ot let her pride interfere with her duty as a wife, as it did with his own duty.
Following Abigail’s behavior in the forest, the evil in her becomes even more evident throughout the play, supporting her devil figure characterization. In Act One, after Betty wakes up from her “illness” Betty says that sh...
Even in today's society, there is a balance in power to keep the country calm. If the president had all the power, then he would be able to pass whatever ludicrous laws he wanted and basically do anything to benefit himself. Abigail had enough power, not to pass laws, but to testify and decide who should receive a warrant for witchery. When a little, irresponsible, whore of a girl has enough power to do this, she will definitely take advantage of it, and she did.
He cares so much so for the accused that he believes it is a just punishment for him to be counted a “murderer” (234) even though it further deteriorates his reputation. Lastly, as the guilt-ridden self-proclaimed murderer that he is, Hale “weeps in frantic prayer” (240) for any such mercy or redemption that God can bestow upon him as he watches Proctor being taken to be hung. Hale realizes that his activism against the unjust has come along to late into the hysteria to prevail and therefore looks to
Context: This part of the text is included at the beginning of the drama, telling the audience about Salem and its people. The author explains how a theocracy would lead to a tragedy like the Salem witch-hunts. This is the initial setting and is based on the principle that some people should be included and some excluded from society, according to their religious beliefs and their actions. This is basically the idea that religious passion, taken to extremes, results in tragedy. Miller is saying that even today extremes end up bad- communism, like strict puritans, was restrictive and extreme. It only made people suffer.
of the saintly image of Abigail and to reveal her motive. By avowing his affair with
Firstly, Abigail is one figure that blatantly abuses her newfound power in the play. " 'You are charging Abigail Williams with a marvelous cool plot to murder,
Hale’s radical change takes place throughout the play in three stages and throughout the play contributes greatly. He is the model by which the townspeople follow, though they are behind him they do eventually take his stance on the trials. His conformity and inward questioning are quintessential examples of what every story needs: the unsure character.
Thomas Putnam plays a major role in the Salem witch hunt in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Inheriting a handsome amount of property makes Putnam a wealthy person; however, it doesn't seem to satisfy his ambition. After the town terribly rejected Putnam's brother-in-law, Bayley, Putnam's bitterness has increased. Finally his prodigious involvement in the relentless accusations places him in the center of the spot light, making him a salient character in both the play and the indignant period of the American history.
...nce using fear, Abigail successfully protects herself from any type of damage on her reputation by manipulating the court to believing that there is actually a spirit in the court room.
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.
Persecution has been a round for sometime and can be traced historically from the time of Jesus to the present time. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith in the hands of the Jews. Many Christians have been persecuted in history for their allegiance to Christ and forced to denounce Christ and others have been persecuted for failing to follow the laws of the land. The act of persecution is on the basis of religion, gender, race, differing beliefs and sex orientation. Persecution is a cruel and inhumane act that should not be supported since people are tortured to death. In the crucible, people were persecuted because of alleged witchcraft.
...without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it” (Miller 99). What made a minister of the Lord do such a thing? The oppressive views of the townspeople of Salem. Being in the town of Salem, surrounded by people judging and others and condemning them for crimes, forced Reverend Hale to do things he wasn’t comfortable with. So, what would stop the town of Salem from doing the same thing to Abigail Williams, who is still a child with an easily impressionable mind?
However even though the church cannot be openly defied it can be manipulated, Reverend Samuel Parris uses the authority of the church to place himself higher then others in the community. He makes his own requests through the church, demanding that he should be given golden candlesticks. This shows manipulation on a small scale; on a much larger scale, Abigail and the other girls (who have no power whatsoever in the beginning of the play- eg them dancing is prohibited, young girls are used a maids until they are old enough be married) are able to manipulate people’s beliefs and the law of the Bible. They claim to have seen witchcraft and accuse many people of using it. And because the village is filled with devoted Christians, whose whole world revolves around God, what would expect their reactions to be, to these accusations?
Hale slamming the door behind him intensifies his words -- he is through with the court and will never be returning again as a supporter of the court's 'justice'. The anger of Danforth and the tone of his words, "Mr Hale! Mr Hale!" also indicates the effect Hale's actions and fears will have on the court.