You might focus on Hale as a man of education. Part of the reason he starts to question what is happening is that Rebecca Nurse is accused. He respects Nurse as another educated person and places her above the other townspeople. He is able to believe that they might have committed witchcraft, but not this lady of books. She could not.
With notable exception of John Proctor, Hale gets our vote for most complex character in The Crucible. We say so, because Hale goes through a major personal journey over the course of the play. He starts off with really good intentions. In Act One, Miller writes of Hale: "His goal is light, goodness, and its preservation." This guy has trained and trained to be the best witch-hunter ever, and he's psyched to finally get a chance to show off his stuff. Though he's probably a little full of himself, but ultimately his goal is to valiantly fight the Devil. What could be wrong with that? Well, a whole lot.
In Act Two, we see that Hale's former confidence is slowly eroding. This is demonstrated by the fact that he shows up at the Proctors' house of his own accord. He's there without the court's knowledge, trying to get an idea of who the Proctors are for himself. This independent action is a big hint that he's probably beginning to doubt the validity of his own conclusions. When John Proctor gets convicted in Act Three, through Abigail's transparent machinations, Hale's confidence is shattered. He quits the court and storms out in anger.
The transition from overconfidence to total disillusionment is already a big journey, but then Miller takes his character a step further in Act Four. After taking off for some soul searching, Hale turns up hoping to save some lives. He councils convicted witches to confess, so that they won't be hanged. Hale is knowingly counseling people to lie. He's lost all faith in the law, and there's a good chance his faith in God is a bit shaky as well.
Hale's last effort to wash some of the...