into town: once to watch the other girls dance, again the next day "to see the great doings in the world," and finally to go to court as an "official." Is it excitement she's after? In part, perhaps, but in town she is a member of a group; at home, she is just a lone servant. Maybe what crushes her in Act III is not just the harshness of the judges and the hysteria of her friends, but her isolation. She's not afraid to tell the truth, she's afraid to stand alone.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: REVEREND JOHN HALEArthur Miller describes Reverend Hale as "nearing forty, a tight-skinned, eager-eyed intellectual." An intellectual is usually thought of as someone with his head in the clouds, who spends so much time thinking great thoughts that he's inept in the real world of human emotions. There is some truth in this image of John Hale. He knows a lot about witchcraft; but he knows almost nothing about the people of Salem or the "contention" that is wracking the town. How pompous and arrogant he must sound when he says, "Have no fear now--we shall find [the Devil] out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!"And yet he has every reason to be confident. To Hale, demonology is an exact science, for he has spent his whole life in the study of it. But he is not just a bookworm, he is a minister of God. "His goal is light, goodness and its preservation," and he is excited by being "called upon to face what may be a bloody fight with the Fiend himself." All his years of preparation may now finally be put to the test.He fails, and the evil that follows his first appearance totally overwhelms him. Why? Is the fault in his character? Is he not as smart as he thinks he is? Is he a fool, whose meddling lit the fuse to the bomb that blew up the town? Some say yes, and much of the play supports this answer. What looks like success at the end of Act I soon carries Hale out of his depth, and every time he appears after th...
