An example of this is Act II, page 60 when Abigail deliberately stabbed herself at the dinner table with a large needle. Cheever tells Hale: ‘The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without warning she falls to the floor….Stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out’. She did this after seeing Mary Warren making a poppet in church for Elizabeth Proctor then putting the needle into the stomach of the poppet for safe keeping. Mary Warren tells Cheever: ‘Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it’. Abigail was jealous of Elizabeth Proctor as Abigail still loved John, her husband. John had had a relationship with Abigail while she was working for the Proctors. Abigail wanted to get Elizabeth executed for witchcraft so she could have John to herself. When people came to her rescue Abigail at the dinner table she said that Elizabeth’s spirit came and put the needle in her. Abigail knew that when Cheever who is the clerk of the court went round to arrest Elizabeth for sending her spirit out, they would find the poppet that Mary Warren was going to give her. They would then find the poppet with the needle in its stomach and it would look like Elizabeth was practicing witchcraft. This is an example of when people can use witchcraft for revenge or for their own benefit.
From the amount of books and cases Hale brings with him people believe he is extremely clever and sees him as anauthoritative figure. Hale likes to have authority and is very confident. He is also very proud of his knowledge and the fact that he was a scholar. You can see this as soon as he enters when he brings with him six large books and Parris takes them from him (Act I, page 30).
Parris: ‘my they’re heavy’
Hale:’ they must be; they are weighted with authority’
The audience also sees him in the same way, an authoritative, confident witch hunter who is intent on finding a witch in Salem. To the audience it may also look like Hale is also on a personal mission to find a witch as he has had failure in the past.
Hale says that all of the devils ways are accounted in his books (Act I, page33): ‘In these books the devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises’. This reassures the Salem community and makes them feel that Hale is going to be able to hunt out the witches in Salem.
Hale assures the Salem community by saying he is intent ‘on tracking down the old boy’ (Act I, page30). Reverend John Hale is referring to the Devil as ‘old boy’ to the Salem community. By doing this, it sounds to the Salem Community that he is familiar with the Devil, has dealt with him in the past and is confident in this subject.
An example of Hale showing his authority is when he questions Tituba.
In Act I, page 36 Hale questions Tituba along with Parris and Putnam. They are doing this after Abigail says that she made her drink blood in the forest when many of the girls were dancing around in the woods while Tituba was singing songs over the fire:
Abigail: She made me do it! She made Betty do it!
Tituba: (shocked and angry) Abby!
Abigail: She made me drink blood!
Tituba is Parris’s female black slave who he brought from Barbados to America. She stands out in the community and has been given a misinterpreted identity because she is black. This is because she is the only one in Salem who is black and stands out from the rest.
Hale asks Tituba (Act I page 36): ‘Women, have you enlisted these children for the Devil?’
Tituba tells Hale that she does not interact with the devil. Abigail starts making up things that have not happened. This makes Tituba get even more upset as she once thought that Abigail was her friend. Abigail tells Hale that ‘she sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer’ (Act I, page 36).
Hale and Parris believe what Abigail is saying and shout at Tituba even more. It is hard for Tituba with two white men shouting at her and speaking a language she is familiar with. Then Parris says that ‘This woman should be hanged! She must be taken and hanged!’ This scares Tituba and makes her say what they want her to say. This is that she saw the devil and can now brake away from him. Hale prompts her: ‘Then you saw him’ (Act I, page 37)
Like everyone else in Salem Tituba then tries to pass the blame and say that she saw someone else there with the Devil (Act I, page 37): ‘Mister Reverend, I do believe somebody else witchin’ these children’. Tituba says that she does not know who exactly was with the devil. Tituba then tells them what they wanted her to say (Act I, page 37): ‘And you love God, Tituba?’ says Hale ‘I love God with all my bein’ replies Tituba.
Parris then tries to find out who was with the Devil: ‘Who came with him?’ Putnam then prompts her: ‘Goody Osburn?’ After much shouting and interrogation Tituba gives in and says exactly what they want and what will get her free. She is also very scared and she will say anything that they want. Paris asks (Act I, page 38): ‘Sarah Good.’ (Rocking and weeping) Tituba answers (Act I, page 38): ‘Aye sir and Goody Osburn’ This is an example of how they used immoral ways to get what they wanted.
During the play we see Reverend John Hale change dramatically from a powerful witch hunter intent on catching a witch with insufficient evidence to a kind, non- powerful witch hunter who tries to do his best to stop his friends from being accused of witchery.
In Act II we see him become less powerful and enthusiastic in his enquiries and proceedings in Salem. He starts making his own enquiries into the people who have been accused of witchcraft. He visits the Proctors’ house discreetly in the middle of the night to make his own enquiries. To the audience it seems like he is trying to find out the real truth. He questions John Proctor about his bad attendance records at church: ‘I note you are rarely in the church on Sabbath day’ (Act II, page 53) John Proctor tells Hale that his wife was ill in the winter and that is why he could not come. Hale then asks him why he could not come alone. Hale is also critical when John cannot remember all of the Ten Commandments. This is important as the Puritan religion believes that if you are not totally with the religion and believe in everything it teaches, you are an outsider and believe in the devil. This could also result in having to move out of Salem. In the questioning of the Proctors, Hale is not so powerful or overpowering like he was when he questioned Tituba. This is because he really wants to find out the real truth.
In Act III page 75 Hale starts to turn on the court and stick up for the defence: ‘Is every defence and attack on the court?’ In this quote, Hale is trying to stick up for Proctor who is confessing to adultery. Parris immediately turns it around and questions Hale’s faith and innocence: ‘All innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem’.
Hale is getting increasingly irritated and asks if the court can send Proctor home and let him come back with a lawyer: (Act III, page 80) ‘send him home and let him come again with a lawyer’. Hale is worried that Proctor is going to say the wrong thing.
Hale tells the court how he had such troubles signing away Rebecca Nurse because he did not think that the evidence was sufficient for execution: ‘I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honour. I’ll not conceal it my hand shakes yet as with a wound! I pray you sir, this argument let lawyers present to you’. He also tells this to the court as he wants Proctor to get a lawyer so he does not have to sign away another soul.
In Act IV page 107, Hale totally turns against the court and asks Elizabeth to try and plead with John to confess so he will not be hung: ‘For it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride. Will you plead with him?’
This is a very different role he is now playing from when he first came to Salem. He would now rather see someone accused of witchcraft confess, even if they are innocent and not be executed. When he first came to Salem he would rather see a person hang for witchcraft even with insufficient evidence for execution. When he first came he was intent on finding a witch and that was the only thing he cared about. Towards the end he saw that the courts did not have sufficient evidence for execution and did his best to save the lives of the people around him.
The Reverend John Hale is a reflection of the Salem Community. At the beginning of the play Hale feels very strong and emotional about finding a witch in Salem. This is the same for the rest of the community. Later on in the play when his sympathies lie with the accused rather that the victims the rest of the community do not agree. It is only the families and close friends of the accused who support his views. The rest of the community think that anyone who is accused is guilty no matter what. Hale thinks at the end of the play that the courts in Salem are immoral and has seen how they have become disillusioned. The rest of the community totally disagrees with this. Danforth tells Hale (Act III, page 75): ‘All innocent and Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem’
Hale learns from the Salem trials that it is impossible to have a fair trail when dealing with witchcraft. Hale learns this from when Danforth tells him that in a witchcraft trail you can only have the accused and the witness (Act III, page 80): ‘an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim’. This means that it is only the victim’s word against the accused and will not be a fair trial
This essay supports the statement that the Reverend John Hale embodies the growing awareness of the illegality and immorality of the Salem witch trials.
