Arthur Miller's Use of Dramatic Devices and Effects in Act 3 of The Crucible

In the Play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, audiences can be manipulated though the conventions the author use figurative language like puns to make the audience laugh and Irony to create a more suspenseful story. In Romeo and Juliet at the last scene of the play it is ironic that Romeo drinks the Poison after believing Juliet was dead and Juliet then kills herself after she wakes up from a fake death after she realizes that her lover is dead. Then Romeo and Juliet’s families who were in a feud notice that they caused Romeo and Juliet’s deaths without intending it and that brings forth strong emotions within the audience. Although a majority of people believe authors utilize imagery and metaphors to manipulate and influence their audience, The Crucible by Arthur Miller uses irony to manipulate and influence the audience more effectively than any other rhetorical appeal.

How many people have you met in your life that is stronger because of a difficult experience they went through? Most people are because we take these difficult experiences and grow from them and become better people. This is the exact case is expressed in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The story begins in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 right in the middle of a period of witchcraft hysteria. During this time many people were accused of being witches and wrongly convicted by judges Danforth and Hathorne. The characters in the story are struggling because of a girl named Abigail who gets caught practicing witchcraft and then starts naming and accusing others so that she doesn’t get in trouble; one of these people being a well-respected farmer, John Proctor’s, wife Elizabeth. The title, The Crucible, refers to a test, trial, ordeal, formation by fire, and vessel baked to resist heat, and the entire story is an allegory meaning it has a hidden meaning. John Proctor symbolizes a crucible by embodying the definition of one, as he went through a test and was formed by fire.

The Crucible is a play, which explores the witch- hunting hysteria that happened in Salem 1692. Miller uses this “organized mass-hysteria”[1] to comment on his own similar experience during the 1950s. Through “The Crucible”, Miller is able to draw an analogy between the hysteria of the Salem witch-trails and its modern parallel of the anti communist ‘witch-hunts’ which occurred due to the HUAC-House of un-American Committee, which were lead by Senator Joseph McCarthy; who with the help of the committee were “ruthlessly determined to hunt out communists as the Salem judges had been to hunt out witches”[2]. Miller used “The Crucible” to criticise this unmitigated

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the witch trials in Salem were a devastating time. The entire community was in disorder and chaos because of personal vengeance. This included accusations of innocent town’s people being called witches, so they hanged and were jailed. Throughout the play certain characters help the rise of witchcraft as well as the disapproval of all the innocent people who were being convicted for no reason. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character whom comes to rid of the evil spirits in Salem, yet he later tries to end the trials. Hale realizes the accusations are false, attempts to postpone the hangings, and persuade the victims to lie conveys that he is a dynamic character and changes throughout the play.

As stated by the great Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse” (braniyquotes.com). Burke’s words are proven true in many facets of the human experience. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, a shift of power is portrayed through Abigal’s sly manipulation. Arthur Miller takes a historical context, that of the Salem Witch Trials, and shows how simple actions can alter the course of history. The disintegration of an orderly Puritan society into one that is governed by chaos and hysteria is caused by a radical change in the normally male dominated power by a woman whose pride has been bruised.

The Crucible, a historical play based on events of the Salem witchcraft trials, takes place in a small Puritan village in the colony of Massachusetts in 1692. The witchcraft trials, as Miller explains in a prose prologue to the play, grew out of the particular moral system of the Puritans, which promoted interference in others' affairs as well as a repressive code of conduct that frowned on any diversion from norms of behavior.

In the story the Crucible, by Arthur Miller he uses several literary devices to portray each character. One of the main characters John Proctor, is displayed as a trustworthy human being in the community. Arthur Miller uses the following literary devices; metaphors, allusions, and tones to convey John Proctor to the audience.

The Effectiveness of the Closing Scene of Arthur Miller's The Crucible Arthur Miller was born in 1915 and was only fourteen years of age at the time of the Wall Street crash, this clearly affected his life. His plays often concentrated upon contemporary society and problems it may face. This is why at first sight "The Crucible" seems to break this mould, instead of a play showing contemporary society; it concerns a study in the mass hysteria which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. The play is based around the Salem Witchcraft trials of the 17th century; however the play is in fact a comment on the mass hysteria which swept America in the 1950's concerning the huge fear, communism.

Arthur Miller had to make a person tell or influence the judge that the girls are faking, and that they were causing all the innocent people to be killed; since some of them know that the girls are faking it, they are keeping it from the judge, instead. John Proctor and Giles Corey influenced the judge and took a mighty risk of doing what they did. Giles Corey “sent” his wife to jail because he said that he couldn’t say his prayers when his wife was reading weird books and when she stopped and left, he could. This time, he influenced the judge to reconsider all the killings and someone told him that the girls are faking it, but he didn’t say the name of the person. “Why, I-I cannot give you his name. You know well why not! He’ll lay in

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a famous play which was written in the early 1950’s. The Crucible is a play based upon the events in 1692, which led to the ‘Salem Witch Trials’, a series of hearings before local magistrates to prosecute over 150 people accused of witchcraft. This was due to the hysteria caused by a group of girls accusing innocent people of witch craft. The play was set in Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. Salem was a very isolated and puritanical community, so their biggest fear was the devil and witchcraft. A person being accused of witchcraft was the worst thing possible in this society.

In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller the context sets up the whole plot of the story. Much like the book The Scarlet Letter the setting is in the north during early colonization time this was also the time of Puritanism, Puritans believed in being pure and Godly. Preachers were held on a pedestal and citizens were looked at through a magnifying glass. Throughout The Crucible you begin to learn of the strong sense of Christianity there; you were condemned if you did not go to church every Sunday, much like John Proctor. The Crucible is based around a true story, witch hunting during this time period was an actual occurrence. Nineteen people were actually accused and hung or stoned in Salem, Massachusetts for witchcraft.

fates of the people of Salem that we have got to know in the first two

In every literary work, there are themes. A theme is a broad idea, moral or message of a book or story. One individual may construe the themes of a book or story differently than another, but that is the pure beauty of themes. One great literary work is The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller. Succinctly, the play is about the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692. Throughout the story, the townspeople indict their neighbors of being a witch and practicing witchcraft. On the surface, this historical drama has a few universal and enduring themes. Themes are universal because regardless of where in the world, the ideas still relates to everyone and is understood. Themes are enduring because the ideas are found

of the play that his doom is coming and we can tell this from the

Have you ever lied to benefit yourself? Everyone has done it at least once if not more. During the twenties an event called the red scare happened. The Red Scare was a time period where everyone called everyone a communist. Arthur Miller decided to criticize the Red Scare by writing a play on a very similar event in history and instead of communism it was witchcraft and the consequences were way more severe. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller uses fear, Revenge, and hysteria in order to further the plot of the play.