Previous
Allegory
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Act 1
Explanation and Analysis—Invisible World:
In this passage the playwright makes an allusion to the pseudoscientific practices of the 16th century to highlight Reverend Hale’s confidence in his intellectual pursuits. Hale addresses the law books and books about witches when his audience fearfully asks what they contain:
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 if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face.
Hale’s “tasty love of intellectual pursuit” here indicates the intensity—and relative purity—of his intentions. Unlike many of the other people in this play, Hale is an honest man who truly believes in what he’s doing. Without contemporary science to educate him, the only widely accepted reasoning on why unexplainable things happen might have come from books like these.
The allusion to the 16th-century "science" of catching witches Miller makes here is a reference to the pseudoscientific methods used during that era. Reverend Hale’s reference to the information about the "invisible world" his books contain reflects the period’s fascination with (and fear of) witchcraft. Popular in theocracies like Massachusetts and other Puritan colonies, books like this claimed to contain definitive knowledge about “witches [...] incubi [and] succubi.” They were widely published and contributed to the hysteria surrounding witch trials. For example, King James II of England was known for his obsession with witch trials and his publication of Daemonologie, a book discussing how to identify witches. Hale’s assertion that the Devil can be "caught, defined, and calculated" alludes to the misguided confidence in these pseudoscientific methods, especially as they were promoted by widely-accepted figures of intellectual authority.
Related Themes:
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Beautiful Lucifer:
Reverend Hale warns against taking prior knowledge of a person’s goodness as evidence that they aren’t a witch. As Proctor rails against him for suggesting Rebecca Nurse is a witch, Hale mournfully reminds him:
HALE: Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.
The allusion to the Christian Bible Hale makes here references Lucifer, an angel the Bible says fell from heaven and became the Devil. Before his fall from grace, Lucifer was “beautiful in heaven,” as Hale reminds Proctor. By saying this, he’s suggesting that even though Rebecca Nurse has a sterling reputation as a kind and loving person with perfect Christian behavior, she could as easily be a witch as anyone else in Salem. This biblical story is sometimes referenced to suggest that outward beauty does not necessarily indicate inner goodness.
Although Hale is not suggesting that Rebecca is physically attractive, he is implying that her appearance of goodness does not mean she is unblemished inside. By invoking this biblical reference, Hale is trying to make Proctor look beyond his initial assumption that Rebecca is innocent based on her past behavior. Hale's statement implies that just as God was deceived by Lucifer's beauty in the Bible, the people of Salem must not be misled by the outward appearances of those accused of witchcraft. His warning reflects the broader hysteria of the witch trials, where accusations and judgments were often based on fear and greed rather than evidence or reason.
Related Themes:
