Emily Meleedy

Smith

CP Lit

17 March 2023

In the play “The Crucible” the author Arthur Miller uses Reverend Hale's characterization

of being strong headed and manipulative to develop the plot by showing his main goal and

objective paying off. He joins the scene determined to find witches in a tense situation and by the

end of the act he has a bunch of girls frantically telling him everyone who's involved in

witchcraft. When Hale is initially introduced in the act there is a sense of relief to his presence,

as if he will solve people's issues with their daughters. When Parris notices Hale's arrival he

claims “ Mr.Hale! Oh! It's so good to see you again!” (Miller 34) Hale later states that “We shall

need hard study if it comes to tracking down the Old Boy.”(Miller 34). With Hale's arrival Parris

feels relieved and agrees to follow Hale's lead with the investigation, hoping that with his

presence they will be able to find the cause of Betty's state. But unlike Parris’s determination to

help Betty and stay away from any sort of witchcraft accusations, Hales goal is to figure out

who's involved in witchcraft and punish them. With Hales' determination and manipulation he

gets what he wants. In the end of the act one while Hales manipulates Tituba saying “” (Miller

45) the rest of the girls speak out and start frantically accusing people, Betty exclaims “calling

out hysterically and with great relief, I saw Martha bellows with the Devil” (Miller 45). One

after another the girls started naming women in the town, accusing them of witchcraft. Hale is

pleased that they are coming clean about who is involved and because he achieved his goal. But

instead of curing the girls like people thought he would, he's just created complete chaos. Hale's
characterization leads the plot in the end of act I by showing how he got the outcome he desired.

He came to town to find witchcraft and by the end of the act he had many names of accused

witches. His presents which first had a relieving factor for people then turned into people being

scared of the chaos he's created and led to hysteria through the whole town.