Quote 7
HALE, resolved now: Tituba, I want you to wake this child.
TITUBA: I have no power on this child, sir.
HALE: You most certainly do, and you will free her from it now! When did you compact with the Devil?
TITUBA: I don't compact with no Devil!
PARRIS: You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!
MRS. PUTNAM: This woman must be hanged!, She must be taken and hanged!
TITUBA, terrified, falls to her knees: No, no, don't hang Tituba! I tell him I don't desire to work for him, sir.
PARRIS: The Devil?
HALE: Then you saw him! (Tituba weeps.) Now Tituba, I know that when we bind ourselves to Hell it is very hard to break with it. We are going to help you tear yourself free—
TITUBA, frightened by the coming process: Mister Reverend, I do believe somebody else be witchin' these children.
HALE: Does he! (This is a clue.) Tituba, look into my eyes. Come, look into me. (She raises her eyes to his fearfully.) You would be a good Christian woman, would you not, Tituba?
TITUBA: Aye, sir, a good Christian woman.
HALE: And you love these little children?
TITUBA: Oh, yes, sir, I don't desire to hurt little children.
HALE: And you love God, Tituba?
TITUBA: I love God with all my bein'.
HALE: Now, in God's holy name—
TITUBA: Bless Him. Bless Him. (She is rocking on her knees; sobbing in terror.)
HALE: And to His glory—
TITUBA: Eternal glory. Bless Him—bless God...
HALE: Open yourself, Tituba—open yourself and let God's holy light shine on you.
TITUBA: Oh, bless the Lord. (I.428-451)
The Reverend Hale, the Reverend Parris, and the Putnams have already decided Tituba is guilty of witchcraft before she even arrives. They are able to twist her words around until she confesses to supernatural dealings.
Quote 8
HALE: Aye, we’ll discuss it. (To all.) Now mark me, if the Devil is in her you will witness some frightful wonders in this room, so please to keep your wits about you. (Mr. Putnam, stand close in case she flies.) Now, Betty, dear, will you sit up? (Putnam comes in closer, ready-handed. Hale sits Betty up, but she hangs limp in his hands.) Hmmm. (He observes her carefully. The others watch breathlessly.) Can you hear me? I am John Hale, minister of Beverly. I have come to help you, dear. Do you remember my two little girls in Beverly? (She does not stir in his hands.)
PARRIS, in fright: How can it be the Devil? Why would he choose my house to strike? We have all manner of licentious people in the village!
HALE: What victory would the Devil have to win a soul already bad? It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister? (I.374-376)
Hale prepares to confront evil, but nothing happens. He seems to think that the appearance of witchcraft will be obvious to everyone. Then they discuss how the Devil aims to corrupt the innocent and frame the good.
Quote 9
HALE, with a tasty love of intellectual pursuit: Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits—your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now—we shall find him out and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face! (I.355)
The Reverend Hale intellectualizes evil and the supernatural—suggesting he won’t be properly prepared to face it in real life, as opposed to books.