John Hale Vs. John Proctor Essay, Research Paper
Rev. John Hale vs. John Proctor
The characters of John Hale and John Proctor in ?The Crucible?
can be compared and contrasted according to their key traits, goals, and
tendencies to change. These characters are probably the two most
important characters in the play. They both are strong men mentally and
are proud of what they accomplish.
Reverend John Hale and John Proctor can be compared and
contrasted according to their key traits. Reverend Hale is a man in his
late forties. He is intelligent and very proud. He believes that he earned
his titled as Reverend, the title was not only given to him. John Proctor is
a man in his mid-thirties and like Reverend Hale he is proud of what he
does. Proctor is also a man who is physically strong since he is always
working on his farm. He is a person who does not like hypocrites or
frauds. He is also stubborn and not easily led into things. People respect
him and fear him as well.
These two characters can also be compared according to their
goals. Reverend Hale?s goal is to save the citizens of Salem from being
condemned to death and of being accused of witchcraft. If someone is
accused, Reverend Hale wants to get that person freed and prevent them
from an unnecessary death. John Proctor?s goal is to first get his wife
freed from jail after being accused of witchcraft. He also wants to get
Valentin Benitez
himself free and wants Hathorne and Danforth to see that there are no
witches in Salem and that all the deaths that they have created are
unreasonable and irrelevant.
They can be further compared and contrasted by their tendencies
to change. Reverend Hale usually is a straight faced, stubborn man who
stands for what he believes in. At the end of the play he cries as John
Proctor is taken off to be hanged before the whole village. John Proctor
was also a stubborn man that did not deny what he believed, but at key
times in the play he changed what he was saying and fighting for against
the court. He first said he did not practice witchcraft and had never seen
the Devil, but afterwards he said the opposite. He said that he was an
evil person and that he did practice evil acts. In Act Two he also went
from saying that he was a good man to finally confessing to being an
adulterer and a lecher.
The more appealing character was John Proctor because through
his stubbornness and inflexibility he was a more interesting character.
Proctor was a spontaneous character at times also when he changed his
arguments into confessions.