Character Analysis Of Reverend John Hale: 'The Man Who Took Salem By Storm'

Elliot Anderson
Cox
IB Junior English
13 October 2014
Wind, Rain and Hale: The Man Who Took Salem by Storm Reverend John Hale, from Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, is a Puritan minister from Beverly who is called to Salem to investigate the accusations of witchery. He plays a significant part within the play and you witness his transformation from [he is transformed from a; you is second person, which is informal] seemingly knowledgeable professor of the invisible world to a weeping pile of guilt and regret. Hale goes through [undergoes; more vocabularic] a massive amount of growth and change through the various acts starting from a confidant, knowledgeable man to a disillusioned and frantic man just trying to save lives. In Act One
Hale arrives bearing several books on the subject of witchcraft [witchcraft; more concise]. He displays an air of knowledge, eagerness, confidence, and maybe even a little arrogance. In a small exchange between Parris and Hale, Hale remarks "They must be; they are weighted with authority." (Miller 157), Hale displays his easy confidence in the knowledge he knows. What he knows is derived from the word of God and it is true and powerful knowledge he knows. He derives his powerful and true knowledge from the word of God; replace sentence, passive voice] Hale then proceeds inside and then begins examining Betty for signs of witchcraft and attempts to question her to no avail. Then his suspicions are directed toward Tituba[Then he directs his suspicions toward Tituba; passive voice], who was implicated by Abigail [who Abigail implicated; passive voice]. He says [exclaims; not supposed to use says] to Tituba when she denies his allegations "You most certainly do, and you will free her from it now! When did you compact with the devil?" (161) once again displaying his confidence that Betty is witched because he knows the signs of witchcraft when he sees them. This is also a bit arrogant of him because he doesn 't [does not; contraction] think she 's [she is; contraction] telling the truth[, ; make it flow] he immediately assumes she 's [she has; contraction] witched Betty. His eagerness is really showcased [He showcases his eagerness; passive voice] by how easily he accepts Tituba 's "confession" and believes that he broke the spell on Betty. "Glory to God! It is broken, they are free!" (162) is his exclamation near the end of Act One[, ; change in thought] he truly believes he 's broken the "spell" of the Devil and convinced witchery is afoot, something that will change during the duration of the play. As Act Two begins Proctor and Elizabeth are paid a surprise visit from the one and only Reverend Hale [As Act Two begins Reverend Hale pays Proctor and Elizabeth a surprise visit; passive voice]. He visits the houses of those whose names were [omit whose names, wer; to avoid passive tense] mentioned in the courts. In this Act he seems to retain most of his previous traits but as the Act progresses he becomes more and more troubled, cumulating in the arrest of Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, and Elizabeth Proctor. He believes they should have nothing to fear because if they are innocent they will be acquitted. He claims "Let you rest upon the justice of the court; the court will send her home, I know it." (174) when Francis Nurse asks him for advice on what to do. He is just beginning to have his faith undermined. He wasn 't [was not; don 't use contractions] even told of the charges laid on Goody Nurse, Corey, and Proctor. Even in [at; idk just sounds right] the end of this chapter he is convinced that witchery still may be afoot in Salem proclaiming to Proctor "Only this consider: the world goes mad, and it profit nothing you should lay the cause to the vengeance of a little girl." Act Three begins with the court in full swing.
Hale continues to try and be the calming voice of reasoning. He advocates that the court hear all possible evidence explaining to Judge Danforth "… he claims hard evidence for his wife 's defense. I think that in all justice your must…" (182) before he is cut off. Oftentimes in this Act he is interrupted and his opinion disregarded. [The judges interrupt him and disregard his opinion. ; Passive voice] Slowly and slowly he becomes more and more fed up with the pompous proceedings. The judges often disregard him, [with; make it flow] Danforth saying [remarking; don 't use say] "… for a man of such terrible learning you are most bewildering…" (188) completely dismissing Hale 's call for lawyers to debate the case of witchcraft. Nearing the end of the Act Hale is stuck by the courts callous and accepting nature of Abigail 's claims. He states "… This girl has always struck me as false!" (195) which is quite the heel-face turn from the beginning of the play. In the end of this act he is disgusted by the actions of the courts yelling his famous line "I denounce these proceedings. I quit this court!"
(198). Act Four approaches the scene of Salem three months later.
The jails are full, Abigail ran away, and Hale has gone soul-searching. He returns to Salem in an attempt to save people 's lives. Over the months his own paradigms have changed from a lawful religious man to a pleading cynical man who values human lives over his beliefs. Parris explains why Hale has returned to Salem to Danforth "… and he pleads with them, confess their crimes and save their lives." (203). While Parris thinks he comes to make them confess to the "crime" but really he comes to save their lives because he knows they are innocent. He blames himself for the deaths of those innocent people outright proclaiming "There is blood on my head!" (205). Hale is distraught with guilt and at the end had become a giant weeping man who is so affected by the terrible deeds done in
Salem. Reverend John Hale was an idealistic, eager minister turned into a cynical, grief-stricken man by the atrocities he witnessed in Salem; his demeanor broken by the cruel and callous natures of the world. Hale is the reasonable voice to the madness of Salem 's backwards troll [omit troll; sounds informal maybeee?] logic of the witch trials. Sadly, his voice usually went unheard and the Salem atrocities continued, destroying the man that was Reverend John Hale.
I 'd just like to say, your word variety is on point :)
Structure is pretty good too
Just so you know, I used this website called slickwriter.com to proofread and improve both of our papers, it 's probably one of the best proofreaders out there.

Work Cited Page
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. 1953. Holt McDougal Literature. Orlando, FL: Holt McDougal/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 138-212. Print.