The characters of John Hale and John Proctor in “The Crucible” can be
compared and contrasted according to their key traits, goals, and tendencies to
change. These characters are probably the two most important characters in the
play. They both are strong men mentally and are proud of what they accomplish.
Reverend John Hale and John Proctor can be compared and contrasted according to
their key traits. Reverend Hale is a man in his late forties. He is intelligent
and very proud. He believes that he earned his titled as Reverend, the title was
not only given to him. John Proctor is a man in his mid-thirties and like
Reverend Hale he is proud of what he does. Proctor is also a man who is
physically strong since he is always working on his farm. He is a person who
does not like hypocrites or frauds. He is also stubborn and not easily led into
things. People respect him and fear him as well. These two characters can also
be compared according to their goals. Reverend Hale’s goal is to save the
citizens of Salem from being condemned to death and of being accused of
witchcraft. If someone is accused, Reverend Hale wants to get that person freed
and prevent them from an unnecessary death. John Proctor’s goal is to first
get his wife freed from jail after being accused of witchcraft. He also wants to
get Valentin Benitez himself free and wants Hathorne and Danforth to see that
there are no witches in Salem and that all the deaths that they have created are
unreasonable and irrelevant. They can be further compared and contrasted by
their tendencies to change. Reverend Hale usually is a straight faced, stubborn
man who stands for what he believes in. At the end of the play he cries as John
Proctor is taken off to be hanged before the whole village. John Proctor was
also a stubborn man that did not deny what he believed, but at key times in the
play he changed what he was saying and fighting for against the court. He first
said he did not practice witchcraft and had never seen the Devil, but afterwards
he said the opposite. He said that he was an evil person and that he did
practice evil acts. In Act Two he also went from saying that he was a good man
to finally confessing to being an adulterer and a lecher. The more appealing
character was John Proctor because through his stubbornness and inflexibility he
was a more interesting character. Proctor was a spontaneous character at times
also when he changed his arguments into confessions.