Examples Of Verbal Irony In The Crucible

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.

Once the people of Salem fully realize their fear, Miller shows how they try to justify this fear, but that they are in fact becoming more and more hysterical. They now try to find a justification for thoughts and their fear of evil. They need some solid proof to back up these accusations that they make, and they need to clear their own names as well. So, they arbitrarily start claiming that “[they] saw…with the Devil”, and that “[they] saw…with the Devil” (45). These unjustified explanations for their fears just shows how truly corrupted their minds become. They start naming their own friends, neighbors, and even their own family in order to clear themselves and more importantly to try to prove that this witchery is really upon them, and to prove that they are not just crazy. What it really does is show how hysteria is setting in, and how they have actually accepted these lies as the truth. While questioning each other on the matter, their breakdown can really be seen through their quick, almost sputtering manner of speaking:

Danforth starts the play with a lot of arrogance. He believes his side of the trial is correct, and only his side. Through out the trials, he starts to see faults in Abigail’s story and begins to question his court decisions. Danforth knows that Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, is an honest woman and would never lie in court. Since he believes some truth in Proctor’s confession, he decides to bring Elizabeth into the court. When Proctor exposes himself to lechery with Abigail, she has no choice but to give in. Danforth illustrates the theme by deciding to call Proctor guilty and sent to jail. With Proctors statement, she knows she has no choice but to confess before Elizabeth confesses and she will be punished in a worse manner. As act two progresses, Danforth shows that having a lack of knowledge can lead to irrational

We can see that shifts are made as the narrator inserts times to describe characters and tell us what we should think about them such as when Miller tell us that Judge Hathorne is a bitter man. In addition, each inserted stage direction indicates exactly what a character is thinking or feeling. The narrator is able to jump into any character’s mind at any given moment in a justified way. Miller allowed the narrator to weave in and out of many characters’ internal workings, letting the audience see what drives them. This helps establish the tragic events throughout “The Crucible” and allows the audience to have a better understanding of the factors that led to the accusations and the impact of those actions. Arthur Miller shows the audience the good and evil within people and brings out the mad hysterical qualities in a mob. He displays that even deeply religious people make mistakes in their lives. He does this through his characters, who through their own imperfections and beliefs bring the witch-hunts to a complete

In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” it deals with how someone can turn a seemingly nice night into a horrible and tragic ending. Montresor lures an inebriated Fortunato to show him a rich wine. But in a twist, Montresor chains him up and suffocates him. It uses an exceptional amount of irony, verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. Edgar Allan Poe, author of “The Cask of Amontillado,” writes using three different variants of irony to create an eerie and suspenseful atmosphere within the plot.

After Mary Warren tried to reveal Abigail’s lies, Abigail still manages to convince the court that Mary is the one guilty of witchcraft. To save her own life, Mary declares to Judge Danforth, “It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I -- I promise, you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not” (Miller 110). Mary didn’t actually see spirits; she has been told she did, which resulted in her belief. Society can affect someone’s mental processes, as observed in Mary. Mary needed to confess to witchcraft in order to save her life. Her confession was done in front of a crowd, which had required a great deal of fortitude, considering it was a false accusation. Mary Warren’s true courage made her rise above the other citizens in Salem and become a confident

In Act I, page 175, it is said, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” This quote occurs when accusations began and Abigail was beginning her long, tedious, process in abusing her power to manipulate the girls into lying for the sake of her reputation. Abigail is aware that she and her friends have committed a serious offense by dancing without clothes, and threatens the girls to lie about what truthfully happened that night in the woods. Abigail’s controlling and abusive mindset gets the best of her and leads her into a tricky situation within the court, and ends her trickery by moving to Boston. Her power and her ability to manipulate the people around her allowed her exploitation of not only the people, but the town as a whole. Furthermore, she goes on to say, "I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin' out! I have been near to murdered every

In the play, the pugnacious actions of the accusers on those accused of witchcraft unveil the conspicuous beliefs that buttress all actions regarding witchcraft. The accusers in the Salem court feign hysteria as they are aware of the potency of Sarah Good, Tituba, and many of the other accused witches (Miller 1209, Tunc Web). The display of pain is an attempt to create the impression that the Sarah and Tituba are infecting the “normal” girls (Tunc Web). Such hysteria allows Abigail to avoid allegations when she accuses Tituba and others of serving the Devil (Tunc Web, Miller 1154). According to Tanfer Tunc, in the

The year is 1692. Throughout the small, Puritan, seaside community of Salem, rumors and accusations fly like gusts of ocean wind. Neighbors turn on neighbors, and even the most holy church-goers are accused of being the devil’s servants. The Crucible details this real-life tragedy of the Salem witch trials, in which nineteen members of the Salem community were hanged for alleged witchcraft. Abigail Williams, a seemingly innocent girl, accuses dozens of Salem’s citizens of witchcraft through the support of her mob of girls and the complicity of the court officials. The title of this play gives significant insight into the experiences of several of these Salem citizens. Although a crucible is often used in chemistry for heating up substances, the title of the play carries a much greater weight. In his famous play The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the title of “crucible” to signify the severe and unrelenting tests of faith and character that many of the community members endure throughout the Salem witch trials, which he achieves through the use of figurative language and fallacies of relevance and insufficiency.

Reverend Hale believes in his second thoughts of the devil not being such a thing, and sees that Abigail has been setting this all up and framing John Proctor to have his love. Pointing at Abigail, Hale says, “I believe him!...This girl has always struck me false!...”(Act III, 50) After Abigail over-exaggerates and makes the girls believe the devil is in their presence, and the people of the court believe them, Reverend Hale walks out in frustration. People of the court and town don’t know what else to believe because they always thought the girls were saying the truth about what they saw. Hale begins to see that a lot of people in the town of Salem, are corrupted in result of the witchcraft trials.

I believe Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an act of depression. Arthur Miller had lived in a time that was in fact, very depressing. During the time Miller was alive he had seen the actions of McCarthyism and anti-Semitism. Miller was tired of seeing the bystander effect. The bystander effect is where a group of people are around a situation where they could help, but choose not to because of the fear of being the “black sheep.” The Crucible is all about the bystander effect and the diffusion of responsibility.

Miller is able to portray the madness of Salem in a variety of ways, throughout the whole of the play however the ending of each act allows the audience to fully feel the hysteria. By incorporating changes of key themes and ideas as well as using links throughout the text and a variety of dramatic techniques towards the end of each act, Miller is able to leave the audience with a sense of this madness. The ways in which he reflects the madness change from scene to scene however each technique is just as important as others.

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” the character Gregor Samsa is transformed into a giant bug while he is sleeping. Although it is never said why he turns into an oversized insect, the characters never seem to wonder why or how this has happened. It is ironic that even after undergoing something dramatic and life changing as becoming a vermin, Gregor does not question his transformation; his reaction undermines the situation entirely. Irony in “The Metamorphosis” is a reoccurring theme that affects each of the characters in the story. Gregor, who was once a genuine hard working, family orientated man, is now a beetle who feels guilty about not being able to help his family anymore. Gregor’s family sees him as a burden. Their bitterness towards him instead of sympathy through his ordeal is greatly satirical.

The Crucible, a twisted playwright, written by Arthur Miller is an allegory to the McCarthy trials of the 1950’s. An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning- literal and symbolic. In an allegory the characters, events, and instances relate to real people, events, and instances. (“Definition of Allegory” R104). Characters like John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and the Court, represent real people like Arthur Miller, Joseph R. McCarthy and the organization created, the HUAC. Events like the puritans being brought into the court and John Proctor having to choose between staying to oppose the court or using his wife as leverage were similar to the accused that were brought in, as well as Miller refusing bribery. Instances when the court had no substantial proof were in comparison to the HUAC having no evidence and taking away the passports of the accused. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to show that people in power take advantage of their authority. He wanted to teach that being under pressure and living in fear can affect the decisions that are made in everyday life and to criticize the institutions that wronged the vulnerable people during these times.