The Crucible: Proctor and Hale (Essay Example)

The Crucible is set in Salem, a town with a theocratic government that causes characters’ daily lives to be heavily influenced by their faith. Proctor is a significant character who is not very religious, questions his morals, and often does not follow the rules of the society in which he lives. Hale is confident in his faith, which changes as the witch trials progress. Hale and Proctor start the book in contrasting places. By the end of their journeys, they have many similarities 

Proctor at the beginning of The Crucible is aware of his flaws and is filled with guilt because did not only go against the firm rules of his town, but he went against his views of what is right and wrong.  In his introduction, Arthur Miller describes him as “He is a sinner, a sinner”(19) In Act one, Proctor confronts Abigail explaining that what happened could never happen again, regarding their affair, he is doing this to support his wife, but he subconsciously does this to increase his self-esteem because he wants to feel less guilty. Proctor is a man who is regretful of his actions and attempting to regain his faith. 

Whereas Reverend Hale was introduced as someone proud of his knowledge and relationship with his religion, Arthur Miller states that “He felt pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for”(31) Reverend Hale is invited to Salem by Parris who is trying to make sense of what is happening to his daughter Betty. Hale, to display his abilities, forces and leads on many empty allegations against citizens of Salem. 

Although both Proctor and hale had reputations to uphold, Hale was new to Salem and was less concerned about what people thought of him since he was confident in himself and his abilities. Proctor because of his self-doubt, it was crucial for him to have the respect and slight fear he received from people in Salem at the start of the play. 

In the middle of the play, the characters start to question their faith and choices. We start to see a change in Proctor. To prove his wife's innocence while she is on trial he admits to his affair with Abigail Willams, this ultimately backfires because Elizabeth continues to lie to protect his honor, but at that moment he believes that he is making the right decisions. This is a significant moment in Proctor's journey because he is starting to have confidence in his decisions. At this point in the play, he is regaining faith in God, confirming this Proctor states “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now”(102) At the start of the play his religious faith was not strong, but now he starting to ask for forgiveness from God and his wife, realizing that God knows all of his sins. 

At the end of The Crucible Proctor is hung because he is unwilling to give up his name and reputation. Proctor’s faith in himself and his decisions is restored, he was willing to give up his life for his name. Proctor says suddenly admitting to lying about his confession “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies,” He refuses to sign a document that will be displayed in the front of the church. This is a religious decision because he can’t lie again to God, it is also a personal stand because he can not lie again to people around him to save himself. In the last line of the play, Elizebeth Proctor revealed “´He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him´”(134) This represents how Proctor has finally fulfilled his journey of finding faith in himself. He feels as if he finally redeemed himself for his other sins, he have his goodness now.

Although Proctor finally found faith in himself, he completely lost faith in the government, multiple people were being killed to guarantee that Danforth the egotistical judge wouldn’t lose his good reputation. How could a government so religious be forcing innocent people to lie? Proctor confessed his sins to God in order to live but judge Danforth is greedy and wants more from Proctor, Proctor enraged by Daforths requests says “God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough”(132). His life should not be used to excuse the many murders that the unfair government committed, he refuses his will to live cover-up Judge Danforth's wrongdoings, 

Hale, unlike Proctor, lost himself and what he thought he knew, he fails to redeem himself by trying to save Proctor from death and feels as if everyone who died was because of him.