The Crucible Motivations Essay, Research Paper

There is a lot of confusion is the play The Crucible as to what the certain motivations of the characters in the play is. Why are some of the characters lying about sightings of the devil with certain people they are trying to get rid of? The motivations of John Proctor, and Reverend Hale haven t been the same throughout the play. I think Reverend Parris had the same motivations throughout the whole play though which was to benefit himself and not others. Proctor and Hale by the end had the same motivation, which was to let out the truth that the girls were fakes and that they needed to be hung, not the people that they were accusing.

Reverend Parris is the minister for Salem. He is a paranoid, power-hungry man. He is more concerned about his reputation than his daughter’s and niece’s souls when the first rumors of witchcraft get under way. He quickly learns to take advantage of the witch craze for his own personal gain, which in the end he is still concerned about his reputation. I don t think Reverend Parris changed enough to consider him as a character who in the end does the right thing. In the beginning of this play Parris focused greatly on making sure that everyone thought that the girls were for real. If Parris were to disagree with anything at this point his family would fall apart. Any sign of him not controlling his own house and he will loose respect of the whole village therefore destroying his great ol mighty reputation. I mean god forbid he loose his reputation then have 2 or 3 more people hung for something that they are totally innocent of. I think Reverend Parris is the big coward in this novel.

Reverend Hale is a minister from Beverly who is called to Salem by Parris to investigate the situation. He is about forty years old, and has a strong belief in the authority of the church. In fact, he considers himself the authority on such matters as witchcraft. In the beginning of the novel Reverend Hale believed in the girls accusations of people and he eventually started seeing a lot of lying going on in Salem between all the people accused and the accusers. Hale tries to get people to confess being cursed with witchcraft to save their lives because he knows that the fact that they are accused means that they only way to get out of it is to give into the accusations. Hale has realized by the end of the novel that the law is not always right and that the only way to stay alive right now is to give into the way of the government. Reverend Hale understands how Proctor feels and tells him that he should confess just to stay alive no matter what his name will mean afterwards. Hales motivations dramatically changed ever since he started realizing that the girls were lying and that no one was listening to him. I think in the end that Reverend Hale had done the right thing in going against the court and government of Salem and trying to save lives.

John Proctor is the husband of Elizabeth Proctor. He does not care for the voice of authority (of the church or court) and does not want to be involved with the witch-hunt. However, once his wife is accused of being a witch, he has no choice but to become involved. He had an affair with Abigail Williams, and this affair is what causes Abigail to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft. In the end, he wants to confess to having had relations with the Devil, but his dignity leads him to hang as a man with honor. There is a fine line between whether John Proctor did the right thing or not in my eyes. If he were to give into having relations with the devil he would stay alive and be able to raise his children and take care of his family overall. He decided in the end not to give his name to the court to protect his children in the future and let his children see what a great father he really would have been. A man with that much dignity and honor deserves the good man badge.

Overall I see a bunch of extremely confused people in a crisis that there was really no getting around and any idea would have probably ended in the same conclusion that the girls were lying and that the devils were fake. Reverend Parris was just a big coward that doesn t deserve any honor no matter if he turned around in the end a little he still screwed up from the start and had the wrong idea in mind. John Proctor was a loving puritan that would give his life up for his family, which makes him a great man. Reverend Hale did the best anyone could have done coming into that town not knowing what to expect. I am surprised that Hale did not hang for turning against the court but I guess that he did the right thing in the end.