The Crucible - PrideIn The Crucible by Arthur Miller, pride and excessive hubris influence the characters throughout the play. Pride is a feeling of dignity and worth. Excessive pride is having too much confidence in one's own worth. Throughout, pride influences the actions, reactions, and emotions of the characters in such a way that it determines the outcome of the story. Three characters are driven by their pride. Hale, proud of his ability to detect witchcraft; Elizabeth Proctor, whose pride makes it difficult to forgive her husband; Proctor, whose excessive pride pushes him to neglect reality and truth. Hale is an intellectual who prides himself on his ability to detect witchcraft. He was called to Salem to analyze their situation. "It was a mission he cherished; when he was called here to verify witchcraft, he felt the pride of a specialist whose unique knowledge was at least publicly claimed." Hale takes this job on a personal level when the crisis takes a turn. for the worse. He begs those convicted of witchcraft to confess. He feels responsible for their lives because his goal was to rid the town of witchcraft, not innocent lives. He considers himself a failure when he cannot convince the accused to confess. His well-justified pride is shattered. He came to this village as a bridegroom for his beloved, bringing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of the holy law which I had brought, and which I touched with my brilliant confidence, are dead; and where I looked with my great faith, blood flowed. He urges Elizabeth not to let her pride interfere with her duty as a wife, as she did with her own duty. Elizabeth Proctor is a bitter woman who has been deeply hurt by her husband, and her pride adds even more tension to an already unstable relationship. Her husband, Proctor, only wants her to find complete forgiveness in her heart and put the incident behind her. She said to him: "...it is not possible for me to forgive you if you do not forgive yourself." She can't understand the fact that he needs her forgiveness before he can forgive himself..