As the Salem minister in the Puritan era, Parris’s personifications mirror one who possesses a brim-stone and fiery demeanor and one who does not take into account anybody’s suggestions without his affirmation. Thus Parris’ self-portrait evinces a man who possesses a deal of enemies. As a result, after Parris finds his daughter, Betty- seriously ill, having danced in the forest the night before, crowds of people begin spewing accusations that Betty must have cavorted with the Devil. Meanwhile apprehension grips Parris’s mind that it also compels him arbitrarily to blame many townspeople. Parris blames others to divert attention away from himself. He worries that if the townspeople learn that his daughter and niece have fiddled with witchcraft, his position as pastor could be…
Reverend Parris is a minister in the town of Salem. As a very static character, his characteristics, for the most part, remain the same. In the introduction to the play, Parris is told to have "very little good to be said for him." This shows as Miller presents him a somewhat a villain. He is set from the beginning to prove that his daughter and niece are not involved in witchcraft. After he catches them dancing around a fire in the woods, he is very concerned with what this will reflect upon their name and, more importantly, his name. When it is suggested that he go to the parlor and talk to the people of the town, he responds, "And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?" The fact that he refers to them as "my daughter and my niece" shows that it is his reputation that he is worried about. This obsession with keeping his name clean is shown again towards the end of the play when John Proctor tells the court of the girls dancing in the woods. Parris immediately says, "Excellency, since I come to Salem this man is blackening my name." This proves that over the course of most of the story, he keeps the same values (or lack there of). It is not until his niece flees from Salem with all of his money that he seems to change. One may perceive this as not a true change; it's just him realizing that being penniless and no…
A scholar from Beverly, Reverend Hale comes to Salem on Reverend Parris ' request to investigate supernatural causes for Betty Parris ' suspicious illness and thus instigates the rumors of witchcraft. Hale approaches the situation precisely and intellectually, believing that he can define the supernatural in definitive terms. Despite his early enthusiasm for discerning the presence of witchcraft in Salem, Hale soon grows disillusioned with the witchcraft accusations that abound and defends Proctor when he challenges Abigail. Hale does this out of guilt, for he fears that he may have caused the execution of innocent persons.…
Who is Ruth? What is her relationship to the Putnams? What is wrong with her? How do the…
Readers can interpret The Crucible in many different ways. One of the major foils is Reverend Parris to John Proctor. Parris is a highly respected man in the society and keeps a pure white name within the government system. However, because of his position Parris has become very selfish and cares about his reputation in the community more than anything else. For example, even though Parris questions Abigail about what she was doing in the forest, he does not want to go and deny that there is no witchcraft being taken place because he fears it will hurt his reputation.…
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Reverend Hale evolves from a pompous man to a more cynical mad being. He enters Salem with extreme confidence in his belief that witches are present in Salem. As the trials go on, Reverend HAle begins to notice just how ridiculous and false the girl’s accusations were. In a short period of time, Reverend Hale loses faith in witchcraft and evolves into a more cynical man.…
Miller’s portrayal of Puritanism indicates that the society in Salem chooses false religious values over logical assumptions, which suggest attributes of stubbornness and their wicked beliefs in The Crucible. This proves to be ironic because the society would rather prefer believing propaganda shoved by the religious figures of the community, Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale. These men of priesthood are considered to be completely holy, and they were exempt of any accusations of witchcraft, unlike almost everyone else in Salem. For example, Reverend Hale states that “The man’s ordained; therefore the light of God is in him.” (Hale, 66) Hale is referring to Reverend Parris, who in his eyes, was allowed to be overlooked as a victim of witchcraft because of his position in the religious society. He is said to be holy, but he is really lacking in his religious responsibilities by refusing to comfort the town when there was a commotion about the witchcraft. Parris was more concerned about his image and not being accused of witchcraft himself. Reverend Hale is also not accused of witchcraft because he is supposedly holy and in everyone else’s eyes, cannot say anything wrong. This is where discrepancies began, because the community put their full trust in Hale, when in reality he could be wrong about witchcraft himself. He is called to Salem in the first place because of his knowledge of the Devil, yet he is never accused of speaking of the Devil. How can he know so much about the Devil and there not be any suspicion at all that he has in fact associated with the Devil? It is because of Salem’s strict Fundamentalist values portraying that any straying of the Bible even in the slightest is a sign of the Devil’s influence and they are immediately shunned from society. This is illogical in a sense that the members of Salem have no cold hard proof of witchcraft, but instead they believe in the Bible completely, and leave no room for…
Reverend John hale was a minister from Beverly and witnessed Massachusetts’ first execution of convicted witch, Margaret Jones of Charlestown in 1648. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about a group of teen girls convicted in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts for performing spiritual rituals around a fire; Which sparked the Witchcraft trials that Reverend John Hale participated in. My character analysis is on Reverend Hale because his dedication to the witchcraft trials changed, he had confidence in John Proctor’s innocence, and he regretted signing Rebecca Nurse’s death warrant. There are many examples in The Crucible that portrays Rev. Hale’s dedication status, confidence, & regret.…
He is able to launch steam over previous grudges. Again, he casts uncertainties upon Proctor. Proctor does not like Parris, and is extremely open with that. Parris resents Proctor's dislike. So…
Entering these trials, Reverend Hale feels as though he is an expert on witchcraft. He is specifically called upon by Reverend Parris to diagnose his daughter and determine whether witchcraft is the cause of her illness (Act I Pg. 33-35). Although ambivalent about the nature of the child’s illness, Hale has a slight feeling of doubt that witchcraft has occurred. He understands that the townspeople are trying to lead him with false pretenses and mass hysteria toward the conclusion that witchcraft has occurred. He begins to see a weakness in the townspeople of Salem and tries not to let hearsay accusations be the support for his verdict.…
), however he transcends that condescension by the end, dying an honest, righteous man at peace. Parris on the other hand is initially portrayed as an immaculate example of an elect Christian, however his web of lies and deceit become unwound his and his nieces’ own machinations. his importance toward his reputation also becomes an evident flaw along with the others just mentioned. “Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.” Parris (Act I pg…
When the Putnams claim that Parris's daughter, Betty, is bewitched, Parris shows reluctance to accept such opinion because he is fearful that the faction of the church who wants to get rid of him will use it against him. Since he is so concerned with his reputation, his moral standard lowers its barrier in order to meet his needs.…
Reverend Parris is greedy and selfish. In act one when his daughter Betty is sick, Parris seem worried but only about his reputation. Also in act three Parris does perjury when he tell the court that he say no one dancing naked in the woods even though he has when he tell Abigail. In act four he is lying when he tells Danforth to postpone the hangings because his life is in danger…
Reverend Parris had one of the most difficult times with keeping his good judgment, especially since he was supposed to be leading the church in Salem. Since nobody in the town really liked Parris anyways, when rumors started spreading about his daughter and niece using witchcraft, he came to be terrified. He thought they would try to over throw him as minister. Parris did anything he could to save his reputation such as interfering with the trials. This concludes why, in the end, Reverend Parris can never succeed in being a good person.…
In the play, Mr. Parris is the minister of the church in Salem. He is quite paranoid, especially in Act I, because his young daughter Betty is ill, and it is rumored that the cause of her sickness is witchcraft. Word of the situation spread rather quickly and there are a large amount of people outside of their house waiting for Mr. Parris to come out and speak with them about the issue. Since he doesn’t know much about what is going on either, and is not sure if witchcraft is a factor, he is scared to go speak with them. He also fears that if witchcraft did play a part in the reason why his daughter is ill, then his reputation may be…