Reverend John Hale: Sublime or Sinister?




As Marilyn Manson so wisely said, “A lot of people don’t want to make their own decisions. They’re too scared. It’s much easier to be told what to do.” He’s right. No matter their level of apprehension, most people do what they’re told or asked to do, forever influenced by others’ opinions. A good literary example of this is in the character, Reverend John Hale, from Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible”. At the beginning of the story, he is swayed by Parris to condemn the false witches to a slow and terrifying death. Reverend Hale, however, constantly changed our expectations of his character with his many switches in actions and beliefs spinning off into different tangents, like directions on his internal compass, always pointing towards his creed. Hale had many underlying qualities that prove that he was always trying to do good. Hale unfailingly questioned the decisions he made, but still he stayed true to his sense of equity and righteousness, all the while breaking his initial integrity to do the right thing.

 Hale, always questioning his decisions, worried about whether or not they were for the good of the people. As Hale said in Act three of the Crucible, “ Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it.”. The Readers can obviously see how apprehensive he is when speaking to Danforth about the upcoming deaths of all of those he had denounced from humanity. In act three Hale said something significant about his mistakes. He said “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 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.”, Meaning that he doubted and regretted what he did in the past, proving that he questioned his decisions in the first place.

 Hale is always worried about how his actions would affect those he sentenced to death. When Reverend Hale was brought to Salem, he was merely trying to do his job. He was excited for the chance to find witchcraft, and people took advantage of that. But he still wouldn’t condemn people to death without surefire truth. He stayed true to his system of beliefs and desire for justice. He didn’t bend under the will of Abigail like all others. He tried to make people confess when he found out of the girls’ treachery, trying to keep the people safe.