James Miller, inspired by the McCarthy hearings, created the play, “The Crucible” about the Salem witch trials. In the play the town goes into a mass hysteria after they believe Abigail Williams and other girls in the town were practicing witchcraft. This paranoia causes the death of many people falsely accused of witchcraft. Reverend Hale arrives in Salem during the beginning of the witchcraft scare to participate in the trials and is a changed man by the end. Throughout the Crucible, Rev. Hale transitions from being in favor of the trials to remorseful for the victims through his own statements, other characters' reactions to Rev. Hale and stage directions concerning Rev. Hale.
In the first Act of the play Rev. Hale arrives with a completely…show more content… Rev. Hale feels guilty aiding in the deaths of the falsely accused. Hale tell danforth that “there is blood on my head”!(p.g 532 line 400) Hale being a holy man, feels guilty as he signed the death warrants for so many people and cannot rest until he mends his wrongs. Hale wants to save the prisoners and stop the court. When hale returns to salem he tries to get Danforth to “pardon them” because “they will not budge.” (p.g 531 line 310) in the beginning Hale helped imprison these people but now sees the error in his ways and wants to save them. Hale wants to save them but cannot unless he can convince Danforth to pardon them. Hale wants to do the opposite of God's work and counsel the prisoners to lie. He tells Danforth he has come to do the “devil’s work” and get “christians” to “belie themselves.” (p.g 532 line 396) when Hale first arrived in salem he believed he was doing God's work in finding witches. Now that he has returned he has come to do the opposite. He wants the prisoners to break the commandments and lie in order to save them from death
In conclusion Hale is a completely different man then when he came in the beginning. When Hale first arrived in salem he wanted to do God's work as well as test his knowledge on witchcraft. Hale however changes and does the opposite of what he set out to do. Hale realizes the wrongs he has done and is repentant. Hale does the opposite
