In the beginning of the Crucible, my impression of Hale is that he was an intelligent man who knew quite a bit about witchcraft. He came to the town to try to convince people that Betty Parris wasn't messing with witchcraft. When he says," Here is all the invisible world, caught,defined, and calculated. In these books the devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits-- your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now-- we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to cruch him utterly if he has shown his face!"(page 39) He shows that he knows what to do to try to get rid of the devil. He thinks he will be able to wake Betty up.
About midway through the story, Hale starts to change. He starts convincing people that there is witchcraft, and is blaming people for it. He should be trying to help people with their sins instead of blaming people. He is starting to believe more and more in witchcraft as well. All the people getting charged with witchcraft is very convincing. He is a good listener and thinks everybody should get a chance to be heard in court. When he says," I think you must hear the girl, sir, she--"(page 88), he thinks he should be listening to her instead of interupting her. He definately changed throughout the story.
You chose good quotes to show that Hale did know what he was doing and how he had changed. Why do you think Hale is trying to get people to listen to her? Who is she?
ReplyDeleteI think he believes that everyone should get a chance to be heard and not interupted. She is Mary Warren
DeleteI can see where you're coming from when saying that Hale starts to believe more in the witchcraft. Halfway through, when he is talking to Elizabeth and John, it seems as if he's entirely invested in the witch hunt. I would argue, though, that he begins to believe in it less and less towards the middle and end of Act III. How do you think he will react to the coming hangings?
ReplyDeleteI think he will probably be very disturbed and start to side with Proctor even more
DeleteYour first paragraph is very good. I agree with your first opinion of Hale. Why do you think he changed?
ReplyDeleteI think he realized that some of the things that were happening were kind of ridiculous and would have been easy to fake.
ReplyDeleteI like where you put that he is giving the accused a chance to speak up, and show their side of the story. It definitely shows how he has changed. If he believes in witchcraft, why would he want people to get a fair chance, wouldn't he want them to be killed?
ReplyDeleteHe believes in fairness and is a good person.
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