Reverend Hale's Revelation!

Hale has  changed in the first three acts, but he has changed drastically from the first act to the fourth. In the beginning of the play, he was an all business kind of guy. He knew he had been called there to convict people of witchcraft, and that is what he intended to do. However throughout the story he has gradually changed. In the second and third act, he started to have more compassion for the towns people. His way  of thinking has changed; he started to understand what it would be like to be in their situation. After trying to defend some of the accused and getting nowhere, he just leaves.

When everyone thought he was gone for good, he came back. He had changed even more while he was gone. When he is in the jail talking to Danforth, he says, "If you think God wills you to raise rebellion, Mr. Danforth you are mistaken."(130 Miller) If this would have been the old Hale talking, he would not have argued with Danforth. His mindset has changed to that of a caring reverend that wants to give everyone another chance instead of thinking that the people have already wasted their only chance of redemption. I think he changed mostly from seeing all that the families had to go through when losing someone. When he came back, he had had a lot of time to think about the families and their situations. I think he just came to the realization that he could be of some help to these people and save fathers', mothers', sons', and daughters' lives. The  hysteria had been calming down a bit but with Reverend Hale there in the jail to help the accused be set free, the towns people had calmed down; bringing Salem almost back to normal.



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Reverend Hale

Reverend Hale does just what he was brought to Salem to do, he finds people and accuses them of witch craft. He goes by the ways of the court, and looks to find fault in the accuses parties. If they do not follow the Bible, they are guilty and they have no way to reason with him. "Nonsense! Mister, I have myself examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and numerous others that have been confesses to dealing with the Devil. They have confesses it."(Miller 68) Hale has his mind made up, and will not reason with others. He is in Salem to convict people, and that is what he is going to do.

However, throughout this story, his way of thinking has changed. He has opened his mind to see what the citizens of Salem see. "I see nothing Your Honor" (Miller 117), when Abigail says Raphael's wings are spreading. Before when asked if he saw wings spreading, he may have tricked himself into seeing them just to prove that witchcraft is real and he has a reason to be there, but he has changed. His purpose of being in Salem is not longer to convict people of witchcraft. It is to find justice in what is being brought to court. Hale has changed for the better clearly when he disagrees with the "all knowing" Abigail Williams.

Mass Hysteria

Defined as: 

a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational  behavior or  beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mass+hysteria?s=t

The Dancing Plague-1518

Strasbourg, France people started dancing until they couldn't dance any more. It started off with two women dancing in the streets, and eventually others began to join until there were over four hundred people dancing in the streets for days. People started dying from strokes, heart attacks, and exhaustion.

http://listverse.com/2009/03/16/top-10-bizarre-cases-of-mass-hysteria/

 

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The Salem Witch Trials-1692
 Hundreds of people died after being accused of being witches. Witches were said to pinch, bite, and strike fear into people. The witches would be hung, pressed, or put in jail until they died. The hysteria about everyone being witches only lasted for three months.
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM

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