Zoe Fisher
Advanced English III
Mrs. Parker
14 November 2018
From Naively Determined to Determined Naively
Think back to three years ago — are you the same person? Seven years? Ten years?
Surely you are not. No person is the same for a long span of time. In literature, the changing of a
character throughout a story is referred to as being dynamic. In Arthur Miller’s play, The
Crucible, Reverend John Hale’s way of thinking about witchcraft changed dramatically from Act
I, where he was first introduced, to Act IV, where he witnessed the downfall of a beloved
character.
Reverend John Hale was a smart, middle-aged man — but naive — who was determined
to catch all the damned people being accused of being witches. He is needed in Salem
Massachusetts because Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter, Betty, would not get out of bed.
There were rumors that she and some other girls had tampered with witchcraft. Reverend John
Hale had been summoned because he had had “experience” with witches. Granted, he had only
ever had one other encounter with a witch and “That woman ... turned into a mere pest” but he
never doubted himself or God (Miller 182). He was bound and determined to gut out all of the
evil, devilish witches. He believed in “God’s beard and the Devil’s horns” (Miller 182).
Essentially this means that everything good was because of God and everything bad was because
of Lucifer. He urges the accused to come forth and confess their sins and repent in order to return
to life.
Then came the response of those urged. The girls of Salem took total control of Hale
saying “you must give us all their names” (Miller 189). They confessed to save themselves and
as if that wasn’t enough they began to accuse other people too, innocent people. Abigail, in
particular, pla...
