Reverend John Hale is an educated but naive witch hunter, brought into Salem by Reverend Parris to examine his daughter Betty and give his expert opinion on her condition. Arthur Miller describes Hale as a "tight skinned, eager eyed intellectual." He often carries around large books, and on his entry into the town of Salem and early on in the play, Hale seems swept away with his own feeling of self importance.

In Act two, Hale visits the Proctor home in order to ask questions about their faith and beliefs. He is being extremely inquisitive and cunning, in a way that intimidates John and Elizabeth Proctor and makes them highly suspicious and uneasy of the questioning. When Hale asks Elizabeth if she knew the 10 Commandments, Miller describes his tone of voice as "one administering a secret test", this being to investigate the Christian characters of the Proctor home...