HOMEWORK 2

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.


When John Hale is introduced into the script The Crucible on Page 37, Arthur Miller expresses his beliefs and opinions on the devil, and evil spirits that follow. Miller describes the Devil as 'a weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state.' He conveys the idea that the church, or christian community, have moulded and enthused the idea that the devil is simply a creator and cause of death or unexplainable evil. He quotes that 'until the Christian era the underworld was never regarded as a hostile area', and it was seen that all gods were useful, important and generally kind to man. Miller proposes the idea that perhaps the discovery of the 'Devils work' is a tool, or a scare tactic, the church may have used to draw people into their community, to preach and pray so that they may not be condemned to hell. The Church community defies that everything pure, wholesome, and good to be related with God's work, whilst anything to do with wrong doings and evil, peculiar happenings must be the work of the devil. Miller supports this when he writes that "sex, sin, and the Devil were early linked.” As human beings, we look for a balance and we constantly seek answers and information behind the way things occur. In the play, there are an abundance of strange occurrences, with no explanation the village people are convinced into thinking that it is evil spirits taking over. Through the use of the character Mr Hale, Arthur Miller inflicts an opinion that the devil is more or so a creation grown by the Church from ancient beliefs that has been indented into our minds; and consequently as the curious creatures we are we have adapted to believing in such reasons for evil as we search for answers in all occurrences of our lives.