Reverend Hale (The Crucible)

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Out of all the crazy people and “witches” in Salem, Massachusetts, there are few who are normal in their mind. Their thoughts and opinions are not easily swayed by the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials. Of those few one stands tall. Reverend Hale is a believer, a believer of truth that is, and dismisses the children’s cries of Satan and witchery. He believes in John Procter, the voice of the “sane”. John speaks out and makes that slight spark that initiates the outcry against the court and its Church leaders. Rev. Hale is a reputable person that the court can trust in, even though he is young at the age of 40 (32), and he backs John Procter. He believes in John: even when all proof fails against John. Rev. Hale is respectable (36), and as a church figure people look up to him and take his words as if from God (in theory). Rev. Hale starts to question the courts ethics and when he hears of john Procter and Mary’s deposition, and he fully backs them up and believes that the girls are faking. The court listens to him, knowing he has a great voice of reason, speak out against the girls. It was very respectable of him to leave the court (as in his position in helping with the trials) when John is arrested. As a man of God, rev. Hale is very intelligent and probably reads a lot of books (36), esp. the bible. Rev. is hale is an expert of witchcraft and has dealt with many cases of it before (33), in fact that is why he thinks he can help out Salem with their “witch problem”. In the Crucible, its says that rev. Hale carries a lot of big books, and assuming that he actually reads them instead of just carrying them around he must know a lot since one method of gaining knowledge is through reading. Many in the village are very naïve when it comes to religion and Rev. Hale is of the few that while being very devoted to God, can decide when to use one’s own reason to
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