The Crucible- Compare and Contrast Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris

Reverend Hale vs Reverend Parri

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is a compelling look at the witch hunts in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. In the play, Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris play major roles in the town and influence a shrewd of characters. They both have a number of job duties and responsibilities in common. As well as have a variation in personality, attitude, changes in the play, and different roles at the end of the play. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris is struggling with his daughter Betty – which has become “inert”. When asked if the cause of her behavior is due to witchery with Abigail in the forest, Parris refuses to have it as though it will stain his clean reputation, “But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it. ”(1038). Reverend Parris’s personality is too overcome with the thoughts of others, to be a leader of the town he acts more like a puppet, “I cannot go before the congregation when I know you have not opened with me. ”(1038). Proctor says of Parris: “. . . the last meeting I were at you spoke so long on deeds and mortgages I thought it was an auction” (841). Reverend Hale, on the other hand, is more of a strong leader. Hale is more compelled to find the truth and accept it, no matter positive or negative, “We shall need hard study if it comes to tracking down the Old Boy[Devil]. ”