The Crucible Act 1 In his introduction of John Hale starting on page 37, what attitude does Arthur Miller take to the belief in the devil/evil spirits? Write a paragraph response using quotations in support of your explanation. This is quite a difficult passage. You will need to read it carefully and give your response some thought. Post on your blog by Monday 8.20

In The Crucible, Act one we are introduced to a character named John Hale. John Hale is a reverend, and it is described that his ultimate goal is to 'fight the devil' thus meaning he does take a strong attitude to the belief in the devils and spirits. He is also a very intelligent but is somewhat a naive and complex man, and can even carry out 'tricks' to see if there are any evil spirits amongst or hiding in Betty Parris. He is desribred by Arthur Miller in the book as “a tight-skinned, eager-eyed intellectual. This is a beloved errand for him; on being called here to ascertain witchcraft he has felt the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for.” John Hale, being a pure Christian, he believes that by travelling to Salem to find people guilty of being possessed by the devil and committing acts of witchcraft he is doing the right thing.  He also believes that if one believes in Heaven, God, the creation of Earth and Jesus, they must also believe in the devil and what comes with it.  Arthur Miller suggests in the Crucible that our beliefs are a “divided empire in which certain ideas and emotions and actions are of God, and their opposites are of Lucifer (Satan)". Arthur Miller has led us to believe just like himself, that John Hale believes in the devil and his attitude towards it is that Satan, spirits and devils are just as relevant to religion as God, Heaven and the creation of earth are.

(John Hale in the movie, The Crucible, Right)