Beef

Jason Heh

Mr. Wellen

English 3

19 October 2012

Period 6

The Act of Justice

Reverend Hale has changed much through the course of this play. He was stubborn throughout the acts, however, his view of the accused “witches” changed enormously. He was devoted spiritually with God and in the end he experienced a paradigm shift with the accused “witches”. He fights a general conflict that is within him and the belief of real “witches”. Much of stubbornness comes from the strict discipline of the religion and the belief that they held when they came to the new land. His intelligence and wit saves him from the blind fever that is going around Salem. He was responsible for the motion of disillusion when he set foot on Salem. He convicted many innocent people to death in the mass hysteria, however, his view changes over the course of the play.

In the beginning of the act, he initially believes that there are truly witches in the world. He believed that people in Salem were actually compacting with the Devil. Hale generally came out to Salem to sort out and clear up the hysteria of the “witches”. He was very intelligent and was the best “witch” hunter in town. “Mr. Hale is nearing forty, a tight-skinned, eager eyed intellectual. This is a beloved errand for him; on being called here to ascertain witchcraft he felt the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at least been publicly called for.”(Pg. 182) This quote shows the readers that he was meant for this specific job and had a “special” skill for dealing with “witches”. When he set foot on Salem, much hysteria was rampant through Salem. Abigail Williams first accused Tituba for being a “witch”. Hale initially believed that Tituba was compacting with the devil and should be released from Satan. With this strong belief, Hale has sent many innocent women to death because of false accusations. As time passed by, Hale becomes more keen and careful with his accusations when he started to question Mr. and Mrs....