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Figurative Language In The Crucible

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An unknown author once stated that a cautious statement to live by is “If you do right nobody remembers, but if you do wrong nobody forgets” (SayQuotable). Clearing your own name after something traumatic happens is next to impossible. One small mistake is the difference from being hated and living normally. The Crucible by Arthur Miller paints a bright picture in our heads on what doing wrong may do for you in life and the chaos it shall bring. Arthur Miller also works in great literary devices. Arthur Miller’s novel The Crucible is great literature because it has descriptive characterization, colorful imagery, powerful themes, and flowing figurative language. To begin, Arthur Miller’s characterization is detailed. Characterization …show more content…

Figurative language is the use of words in a non-literal sentence. One example of figurative language is a personification. A personification is giving something that does not have life a physical trait that a living being has. The following line from The Crucible has two personifications. “But then--then she sit there, denying and denying, and I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air; then- entranced- I hear a voice, a screamin’ voice, and it were my voice- and all at once i remembered everything she done to me!” (57). The first personification is sweat crawling up Mary Warren’s back. The sweat does not actually crawl, and this just means she was about to start sweating a lot. The second personification in that sentence is her saying the skin on her skull is beginning to creep. Skin cannot move unless pulled or a muscle pulls or pushes it. The next example of figurative language is another personification as this only has one. “Surely your excellency is not taken by this simple lie” (108). A lie can not physically take something away and that is what the figurative language is implying. It can hypothetically take it away but not physically. In conclusion, Arthur Miller uses strong figurative

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