The Crucible Essay, Research Paper
The Crucible
Many of the characters in The Crucible become changed by the end of the play.
Three of the characters who change a lot are John Proctor, Reverend Hale, and Mary
Warren. It is shown that John Proctor changes in his willingness to have anything to do
with the witch hunt and his moral decisions. Reverend Hale changes his personal outlook
on and role in the witch hunt throughout the play, and he changes his general attitude
towards the justness of witch hunts, the court, and the church. Mary Warren changes her
mind about her role in the witch hunt several times, and she also must change her morals
or ideas about sin. Each character s changes make huge impacts their lives and the lives
of others.
John Proctor changes a lot throughout the play. At the beginning of The Crucible,
he is willing to sit back and let things happen. He does not want to involve himself in the
witch hunt or risk getting himself into any trouble. Even though he knows that Abigail
and the other girls are lying, and many innocent people are being accused of witchcraft, he
doesn t do anything about it until his wife is accused. At the end of the play, however, he
is willing to lie down his own life. Dying, he takes part of the responsibility for the other
innocent deaths, deaths that he is responsible for because of his delay in exposing the
truth. Sacrificing his life is also the only way that he can try to break the authority of the
church and court. John also changes in the sense that, at the beginning, he withholds the
truth, which is a sin, but at the end he tells it all, even at great expense to his reputation, or
name, because he realizes that his soul is much more important than his life. In the
beginning he doesn t care about what is morally right, he just looks out for himself. In the
end he makes a great decision based on his morals after a long and difficult battle with
himself.
Reverend Hale also changes throughout The Crucible. At the beginning he is very
excited about starting a witch hunt, and even brings about the first confessions and
accusations by putting words into the mouths of Tituba, Betty and Abigail. Throughout
the play, he realizes what is really going on, and he finally understands what the girls are
doing. He tries to make Deputy Governor Danforth understand that the girls are all lying
and have caused this witch hunt just to protect themselves, but Danforth won t listen.
Reverend Hale even tries to save the lives of Rebecca Nurse and the Proctors after the
court has declared them to be witches. The reverend seems to have abandoned his faith,
however, or at least been shaken in his beliefs, because in the end he is more concerned
with saving the lives of innocent people by making them lie and confess to witchcraft, than
letting them follow the right path and die with a pure heart and soul. Reverend Hale also
changes in his attitude towards witch hunts and the role the church plays in them. At the
beginning of the play he believes that he, as a witch hunter, is doing God s work by either
killing or getting a confession out of every person who may be a witch. At the end he
realizes how twisted and false the whole investigation is, and that people can t play God.
Mary Warren is a character who also changes quite a bit. In the beginning she
goes along with Abigail and the other girls, even though she knows that she is at least
partly responsible for everything that is happening, and that going along with Abigail s lies
must be a really big sin. Later on, though, she changes her mind, and tells the truth. She
tries to convince Deputy Governor Danforth that there are no witches, but Abigail goes
against her, and Danforth is not convinced. When it finally comes down to Mary being
accused of witchcraft, she gives up, admits to working for the Devil, and blames it on John
Proctor. Even though she saves her own life, more die because of it.
Many characters in this play are changed by the end. John Proctor, Reverend
Hale, and Mary Warren all change a lot, whether by their willingness to have anything to
do with the witch hunt, their moral decisions, their personal outlook on and role in the
witch hunt, their general attitude towards the justness of witch hunts, the court, and the
church, or their ideas about sin. Their changes make huge impacts on themselves and
others.
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