Dramatic Irony in the Crucible

Everyone has a sense of expectation and a sense of reality. Unfortunately, high expectations do not always match reality. Irony, which highlights the differences between the two, is an often misused and misunderstood literary device that can work wonders when used correctly. It can add tension and build suspense, but in The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses it to prove points. The Crucible recounts the true story of the Salem Witch Trials, a frantic witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Countless citizens were accused and hung, with many accusations fabricated purely out of distaste for one’s neighbor, acquaintance, or even friend. Miller uses the trials, which the participants intended to purify Salem, to underscore the imperfect

thick and thin. At the end of Act ]I[ Abigail (under oth) was lying threw her

Abigail goes to high extents in order to protect the virtue of her reputation. She carries out various mistakes and each mistake led to another mistake. At first, she dances in the forest, and tries magic to kill Elizabeth Proctor. This mistake leads to Abigail lying and therefore beginning the witch trails.

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.

Appealing to the reader’s ethos, Abigail’s actions in the play allow one to question their own ethics. To exemplify, “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm

The most obvious use of dramatic irony is in the prologue. The chorus summarizes the entire play in a fourteen line

Abigail is a highly jealous character, concentrating her jealousy on Elizabeth Proctor. This jealousy is driven by lust and her desire for John Proctor. Abigail served as a servant in the Proctor household and after an affair with her husband John, Elizabeth fired her. She still resents Elizabeth for this as she is still in love with John. She clearly says to John, "You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" Abigail is still in love with John and she assumes the converse. Her love for John only causes her resentment for Elizabeth to strengthen. She hates John Proctor's wife and in her conniving ways she attempts to inspire the same views of Elizabeth in John's mind. Saying things to him such as, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, sniveling woman." Abigail fabricates stories in attempt to steel John from Elizabeth. She is a manipulative liar that does and says as she pleases in order to get what she wants.

Abigail was being accused repeatedly of lying and making up all of the accusations which were of false nature. The many people who were hung because of her testimony was what would now hang over her head. When she was brought before Mary Warren her false tears and outcries of pain were all an act, but in her mind she was the only one who was correct in her dealings. Abigail was for unfathomable reasons a port of knowledge through which the judges and lawyers convicted and sent to death those who were accused. The awful girl was but of one mind. She wanted revenge and to be back to her “love”, John Proctor. Abigail tried and tried repeatedly to get her hands on John, she tried to get his wife hanged, and when she couldn’t have him she decided that no one else could. Abigail soon began to accuse John Proctor of the precise thing she was known for, witchcraft. Abigail had been in the woods when the young Mary Warren went mute from the shock of seeing Abigail drink chickens blood and curse Goody Proctor, all of these happenings had to do with Abigail Williams, and now she would have to suffer through her own crucible, to figure out how she was going to get out. And though Abigail did narrowly escape the major shackles of her crimes, the guilt and foreboding of being a treacherous liar found her rumored to be a young prostitute in Boston. Forever to be alone and used. That was Abigail’s crucible and punishment for all the problems and

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible presents Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams who serve important roles through their unique characteristics and thinking. John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, has two defining characteristics that show throughout this play: she not only lives to please everyone around her and behaves passively, but she lacks the assertiveness to confront what lies directly under her nose. However, Abigail, the girl John Proctor commits the crime of adultery with, manipulates those around her. She is keen to act upon an opportunity when one arises and feels a determination to get her way. While Elizabeth and Abigail are similar in their love for John Proctor, Elizabeth differs from Abigail through her tendency to try to please everyone and keep her own emotions bottled up, while Abigail believes the world revolves around her and works to make things go her own way.

of witchcraft because Abigail plotted a plan in order to get her lover back. One main

The first indication of dramatic irony is in “Masque of the Red Death” when the black room with the blood red windows is described. This description creates a bad feeling about the room and the reader senses something bad will happen in that room. This idea is proven later when the Prince dies in that room. Another example of dramatic irony is demonstrated in “Terrible Things” when Bunting writes “‘We have come for any creature that is white,” the Terrible Things thundered. “There are no white creatures here but us”’(Bunting, Three). This quotation illustrates dramatic irony because the rabbits do not understand that the Terrible Things are there for them, but the reader has this realization. This alarms the readers and causes one to dread what will happen to the rabbits. One more example of how dramatic irony builds suspense in stories is in “The Lottery” when Tessie says “‘I think we ought to start over” Mrs. Hutchinson said… I tell you it wasn't fair… you didn't give him enough time. Everybody saw that’” (Jackson, Four). This quotation is a good example of dramatic irony because when Tessie started causing a scene the reader begins to suspect that she will be the one who is chosen. This is significant because her pleading adds to the audience's fear of not knowing what will happen to the person who is

After having an affair with John Proctor, she couldn’t accept not being without him. Abigail also admires “how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife” like Elizabeth be unaware of the affair she had with John Proctor(act1pg#). As a result to the affair, Proctor is trying to rebuild his marriage with his wife. Abigail continues to intervene in John Proctors marriage and attempts to manipulate Proctor so he would confess his love for her. Proctor admits his love for her, but does not continue his affection because Abigail seeps of vengeance for other individuals. He portrays her “as a lump of vanity” who thinks to dance on his “wife’s grave!”(act 3). For her own selfish desires, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and tries to intentionally sabotage her. She does this for the purpose of her own selfish and fictitious relationship that she has with Proctor. Abigail believes she has the capability to influence Proctor, but her egoistic actions to win his undefining love makes her appear as the criminal in the

      Abigail Williams’ main cause for her wild accusations is a selfish one. It is to be with John Proctor, a married man with whom she has an affair. She is sent away but all she thinks of is being reunited with him. Abigail drinks blood, wishing to be with John Proctor, which could happen only if his wife Elizabeth died. She then, after committing adultery and contributing to the breaking of a marriage, is not through. Abigail pursues John and does not recognize that the affair is over. She conveys this in saying “I have something better than hope, I think!” (22). Abigail does not just miss her love, she becomes ruthless to get him back.

Imagine the year is 1692. In a small Massachusetts town a culture of highly religious folk live in peace. Salem. It´s late January and the reverendś young niece Abigail and only daughter begin to act strangely. Rumors of witchcraft fly through town and fear runs rampant.In around a year 200 people are unjustifiably accused and 20 sentenced to capital punishment. Who is next? The strange widow down the road? The Coreys? In a time of obscured justice, line were crossed and innocent lives lost. In his breakthrough play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller spins a tale not far from the truth.Letting his readers explore a gruesome tale of blind hatred. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Abigail Williams embodies the wrongdoings of the Salem Witch Trials.

Dramatic Irony is present several times in The Merchant of Venice, for example, in act four scene one when Bassanio remarks that he would give everything up for Antonio, including his wife, Portia disguised as Balthazar responds, “Your wife would give you little