The Crucible Analysis Paper In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many rhetorical elements illuminate the meaning behind the text. Examples of rhetorical elements in The Crucible are tone, author’s purpose, and the overall mood. During the closing scene and its final lines the tone might be described as suspenseful and melancholy, while Miller’s purpose relays the events in Salem to the accusations of Communists in 1950’s America. However, in the end of the play, the audience should feel pensive about the death of Proctor and what Proctor’s motives truly are. One of the tones expressed in the final lines and the closing scene is suspenseful. The word suspenseful means arousing excited expectation or uncertainty about what may next. In Act 3, Proctor reveals to Danforth that “In the proper place—where my beasts / are bedded. On the last night of my joy, some eight months past. She used to serve me in my house, sir….A man may think God sleeps, but God sees / everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, / took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the highroad”( The Crucible 85). Danforth then summons Elizabeth to the room and she must recall the night when Abigail was excused from duty. Elizabeth recalls that “Your Honor, I—in that time I were sick. And I—My husband is a good and righteous / man. He is never drunk as some are, nor wastin’ his time at the shovelboard, but always at his work. / But in my
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.
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
Fear stalks humanity wherever it goes. It feeds on our panic and uncertainty. This is seen throughout 1692, the 1950s, and the present, when a leader with great power creates a solution to a problem that people did not even know they had to fear people begin to fear as well as the cycle of innocent people falsely confessing adding to the fear.
Logical Fallacies and Pitfalls in The Crucible In The Crucible, a Modern tragedy, Arthur Miller incorporates many logical fallacies including the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. When Reverend John Hale, Giles Corey, and Francis Nurse visit John Proctor and his wife, they all explain how many wives are being accused of witchcraft. Giles states that Walcott charged his wife, Martha Corey, on the terms of bewitching his pigs. He says that Walcott bought one pig from his wife, and it died shortly after.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.
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.
Throughout the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the main protagonist, John Proctor, changed from a normal citizen and sinner to a tragic hero, then a person with a high sense of mortality. The play takes place during the salem Witch Trials in 1692, where spectral evidence was evident in the courts. John Proctor stopped attending church on Sundays, due to his belief that it was becoming less and less about God, along with his present feeling of guilt and his sinful actions. Rumors and accusations run ramped in Salem threatening to taint the good reputations of the townspeople. Proctor’s own morals, honesty, and religious beliefs were challenged on behalf of spectral evidence in the court and his sinful actions. Proctor harboured guilt for
The word crucible describes an event that involves a test or trial of someone or something. In the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller, various characters endure a severe test of honestly, bravery, and goodness. Throughout the story, a series of events lead to tragedies, which involve these characters to make important decisions. If chosen incorrectly, it may lead to the death of another innocent person, or possibly even themselves. These events however, will bring out the true colors of everyone in Salem, whether they truly good or evil.
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.
Conformity is the compliance with standards, rules, or laws, or more simply the modification of oneself to satisfy the wants of society. The Crucible, play by Arthur Miller, utilizes this concept through an excellently written depiction of the events of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The play demonstrates the fear that was created in the society and how people utilized that fear to keep the town somewhat on the same page, by forcing conformity onto the citizens. The concept of conformity in the crucible and in the world today, pressures citizens within a society to induce personal change in order to satisfy the society.
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.
Ad Hominem: Latin for “against the man,” and refers to the logical fallacy (error) of arguing that someone is incorrect because they are unattractive, immoral, weird, or any other bad thing you could say about them as a person. (https://literaryterms.net/ad-hominem/)
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.
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 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