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!
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. Reverend John Hale, newly arrived to Salem and armed with his stack of books, vows to win the battle of good and evil with the Devil. He excudes great confidence in his knowledge of Satan and witchcraft and is convinced that he will be able to find any witches hiding among the Salem population. His assurances are all a bit intellectual and based on book knowledge rather than real life experience. As time goes by and he observes the bias and unfairness of a justice system that doesn’t follow due process, that early confidence in finding the truth fades.