Letter 2: Hale's Journal entry

Dear Journal,

It is I, Hale, writing to you yet again. I thought I knew everything. I thought I knew completely all of it. How could I have been so wrong? I was extensively educated and I am certainly considered an intelligent man. I was the most sought after witch craft expert in all of Massachusetts. I do not know where it was that I went wrong. I had all of the right qualifications. I was trying to do the right thing, to purify a town and spread Christianity. Something turned out horribly wrong, I do not know how I could have gone so far off the right path.

I came into Salem thinking that I knew what to expect. I thought that I would find signs of witch craft, especially since a group of girls were witnesses. Numerous amounts of people were accused of witch craft. I could not disprove their loyalty to the devil without a confession. I let them all hang. There was an uproar of witch craft in Salem, I did not think the town would be set right until the assumed source was eliminated. I had to do it. I did it for the town. If they never found out the truth, everything would have gone smoothly. I thought my knowledge of witch craft could justify these accusations and hangings. I did it for the right reasons. I wanted a pure town without even a thought of witch craft. Are those not good intentions?

It is true, I had good thoughts. I do not mean to be arrogant, but it is the simple truth. However, even though I never intended for any of this to happen, lives were ended because of me. Deaths of innocent people occurred that I could have, and should have stopped. I am a reverend, and I let people die right before me. The one that hurt me the worst was John Proctor. If only I convinced him to live, if only I got him to confess, then maybe I would have been able to redeem my dignity. It is true he died for noble reasons, however, I wish that he lived, just the same. He did not deserve to die, I should have stopped him, then maybe all of my wrongs would have been undone. Now we will never know. We will never know what would have happened if I prevented this tragedy. That is a thought that will haunt me forevermore.

-Reverend Hale