HALE: Life, woman, life is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God’s judgment in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride. Will you plead with him? I cannot think he will listen to another.
ELIZABETH: I think that be the Devil’s argument.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 4. Reverend John Hale has undergone a profound transformation from saving souls from witchery to saving lives. Once a staunch believer in Salem’s court justice, he is no longer. It is ironic for an ordained miniser of the church to ask that upright people lie to the court. But his priority now is the preservation of life. He wants Elizabeth to save her husband’s by getting him to put aside his pride and falsely confess to witchcraft. In the eyes of God it is a greater sin to die because of pride than telling a lie in order to live, Hale argues. He is challenging the rigid good vs evil, God vs Devil belief system of Puritanism as it applies to witchcraft. No longer are the divisions between what is right and what is wrong as clear-cut for Hale. Elizabeth describes what he is saying as the "Devil’s argument."