Literary Devices In The Crucible, By Arthur Miller

People’s true character is revealed through their actions. Their morals and ethics can be told from how they choose to act in a situation. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; the character of John Proctor is an honorable man despite having committed wrongful acts. He was able to redeem himself through acts that is considered courageous, such as when he refuses to contribute to the lie of witchcraft in Salem, when he fights for the people who were convicted of witchcraft and when he regrets being a dishonest man.

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.

give the name of the witness. In the play, Parris is keen to keep his

Crucible, a noun defined as; a container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures, in the traditional sense but, it also means a severe, searching test or trial. The latter of the two definitions is exactly what Arthur Miller had in mind when he wrote the play, The Crucible. The play set in Salem Massachusetts during the start of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, is about the struggle to discover truth within the twisted and brutal lies flying about the little town, started mainly by a young girl by the name of Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams, as we quickly come to know, is the past mistress of the prominent Mr. John Proctor, a local farmer. As the tension rises in the

(H)To be accused as a witch, was to be labeled for death by hanging, whether you are guilty or not. (Tr-TS)The label of witch or warlock what the townspeople use as a vessel to get their enemies and competition out of the way. (B)In the puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls were caught dancing in the forest by the reverend. To avoid any punishment for doing so, the girls claimed to have been bewitched. Soon, what began as a simple act of preservation to keep from being hung, very quickly turned into an opportunity to gain power over the other townspeople. (Tr-ThS)Slapping the label of witch was these peoples way of gaining said power. (ThS) (pt1)In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible,(pt2) Miller uses many literary devices, but most

Arthur Miller has created John Proctor the protagonist of The Crucible to be a 30 year old farmer in Salem, Massachusetts, powerful of body, even-tempered and not easily led. John speaks his mind when he recognizes injustice. He is highly respected, even feared, by some in Salem. His name is synonymous with honour and integrity. He takes pleasure in exposing hypocrisy and is respected for it. However John is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time but against his own vision of decent conduct, he has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud. After admitting to lechery, John is accused of witchcraft, on this charge he is condemned.

Page 1 of 3Hai Nguyen John Proctor and the McCarthyism “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller illustrates the reflection of the anti-communist hysteria in the United States known as McCarthyism. Miller uses the character John Proctor as a force in demonstrating the way lives were destroyed by McCarthyism. Throughout the story, while Proctor is respected in the community, he has conflict secretly with many people as well as himself. John Proctor is a perfect character because the readers are able to view him as a victim in the society where McCarthyism took place. He is also an adulterer, husband of Elizabeth, and knows what is happening in and outside of the Salem society. Proctor was having a conflict with his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth did not trust John because he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth was supposed to trust John, but she refused to because he said he was alone with Abigail for a moment. John cannot say or argue against Elizabeth because of his guilt:” Because it speaks deceit, and I am honest! But I will plead no more! I see how your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!” Elizabeth tried to make John feel guilt, so John wanted to make sure she understood her cold nature may have prompted his cheating. He also has conflict with Abigail Williams which is his mistress. John Proctor was so angry because Abigail accused his wife to witchcraft. She sent Mary Warren with a puppet that has needle inside its

A man 's reputation in many forms is his, life’s work. To have your reputation dismantled is like taking away one 's accomplishments and life’s work. Arthur Miller 's The Crucible is a play about justice and injustice, and how our justice system can be easily corrupted. The story revolves around a man named John Proctor, the tragic hero of this story. John Protector is a symbolic character created by Arthur Miller, because he faced the justice system head on. Proctor’s biggest flaw would be his great amounts of pride, which unfortunately led to his own death. In Arthur Millers’ The Crucible, he characterizes John Proctor as the tragic hero of the story because of all that he lost, through his relentless crusade to free his wife and exposing injustice, illustrating that no hero is perfect.

In the book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is a farmer and a prominent member of society. However, he had an affair with a girl in town, Abigail Williams which leads to his wife being convicted of witchcraft and himself convicted of dealing with the devil. John Proctor is a strong and effective speaker and proves his point with the three rhetorical appeals and devices such as personification, similes, metaphors and tone.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible it is clear that the development of the play is about John Proctor’s tragic condition. Miller uses this aspect to compel the audience to see why Proctor did what he did and to develop a sense of empathy for him. John Proctor overall is both flawed and honorable. He has a complete reversal of fate brought upon by his own flaw. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he contains all of the characteristics of a tragic hero, such as catharsis and hamartia, despite not being born into nobility, he has many noble characteristics.

Arthur Miller introduces a dynamic character, John Proctor, in his play The Crucible. John, known for his loyalty and detest of hypocrisy, is involved in the adulterous action of cheating on his wife Elizabeth with their housekeeper, Abigail. The question of if John Proctor is a tragic hero surfaces as his downfall is followed by the very truth of his hidden affair. In Miller’s essay, Tragedy and the Common Man, he challenges the basic definition of a tragic hero and explains how the common man could be in the category of a hero. Based on Miller’s arguments, it is apparent that John Proctor encounters the situations that makes someone a tragic hero, and therefore can be considered one.

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, who is a highly respected individual in Salem, consistently shows his honorable character, which proves his actions at the end of the play to be believable. Proctor is a compassionate, honest, and strong willed man, especially toward his wife and true love, Elizabeth Proctor. Not only is he great to his wife, he is an upstanding citizen and respected by most. In the end, John confirms his goodness by sticking to his beliefs and not lying to save his own life.

Throughout the play Miller creates tension between the characters, however this tension is mainly shown in Act Two. Although the main theme of the Crucible is witch craft, this act concentrates mainly on the relationship of John and Elizabeth Proctor. Miller uses a variety of dramatic devices such as, stage directions, long pauses and silences, entrances of other characters (interruptions), use of contrast, length of sentences and punctuation to express mood and feeling, use of figurative language and repetition and how other characters react to a particular problem.

Proctor holds no high rank or status in Salem Village, also he is no different than most of the other men in his community. John proctors normalcy as the” common man” allows the readers of the crucible to relate themselves to him in ways that would not be possible if he held much more importance in the play. In final analysis, Miller uses his conventions of the common man and the tragic night to show how a common man like John Proctor, through self-recognition, has finally “[realized] himself” (Tragedy and the Common Man).

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