Crucible

Clash of Characters

Making a judgement on somebody may seem harmless, but it can be very destructive. The citizens of Salem made judgments on their neighbors, forming opinions that they might be witches. Those solitary judgments led to many peoples’ deaths. Their judgements of witchcraft were wrong. These decisions made an amazing impact on many characters but none as much as John Procter, Elizabeth Proctor and Reverend Hale. These 3 characters had their worlds turned upside down all because Reverend Parris discovered his daughter and niece running threw the woods without this discovery many innocent lives would have been spared. The Crucible, which shows how peoples’ poor judgement led to hysteria and tragedy in the community of Salem. It also shows how the people changed because of this witch scare that ran furiously through the town.

Elizabeth Proctor is one of these people, who undergo a major change because of the events that occurred in Salem. In the beginning, she forms an unfair opinion of her husband, John. She finds it very hard to forgive him for certain actions. At the very end she ultimately has a change of heart, realizing the potential destruction and harm of her judgments. She realizes that she is not the one to be unfavorable of John and says she will not judge him regardless of what he does or decides to do. She didn’t just all of a sudden change her mind on the issue. She didn’t just all at once receive some divine wisdom that she was wrong. There are many factors that changed her mind and that led to her new perception of judgement.

Hale arrives admired by the people, who all want him to claim it was witchcraft that has occurred. Although unsure, he understands he is being led toward the conclusion of witchcraft by the town’s false pretences and mass hysteria. He begins to see a weakness in the position of the townspeople of Salem and tries to not let common accusations be the support for his diagnosis. The conversations that Hale has demonstrate the evolution of his mindset. In Act II, Hale is traveling around the town, going house-to-house, searching for accused women to warn them that their names have been mentioned in the court. Soon, Hale finds himself standing at the Proctor home. At this moment, Hale sees a different perspective on the entire situation. Originally,