The Crucible Rhetorical Analysis
RHETORIC
Throughout the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses many forms of rhetoric to progress and shape the plot. Miller exercises three significant forms of rhetoric to shape the play; symbolism, irony, and suspense. Although only a few instances of deep symbolism occur during the story, there are many important symbols. The title itself has two different meanings; a crucible is a melting metal to be forged into something new and different, which parallels the story to how it is a new society of forming upon change, and it is similar to the word crucify which is indisputably done to many people during the play. Rebellion to the Puritan society is one of the key symbolic meanings of the woods. The woods for the rebellious show …show more content…
In preserving the 1692 dialect, Miller utilizes
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techniques such as dropping the "g" from the "ing" ending in words such as sleepin' or walkin'. Also, he uses outdated but understandable words such as harlot (meaning prostitute) to illustrate the time period of the characters' talk. Miller's use of biblical words such as gospel and lord help achieve a sense of the community's strict religious fundamentals. Irony shows up numerous times throughout the play, especially in the character Abigail Williams. Abigail is a very ironic hypocritical woman, she claims herself to be pure yet she has had an affair with the married John Procter and now out of lust plans to murder the his wife Elizabeth. Despite all of Abigail's effort to be with John Procter, he dies to keep his honor. The town was in desperate need of a way to test for witchcraft summons John Hale, however he ends up defending a lot of the supposed witches. Lastly and probably the largest and most ironic item is the town's name, Salem, which is a derived Indian name for peace, and certainly the one thing Salem doesn't have is itself,
Throughout the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses many forms of rhetoric to progress and shape the plot. Miller exercises three significant forms of rhetoric to shape the play; symbolism, irony, and suspense. Although only a few instances of deep symbolism occur during the story, there are many important symbols. The title itself has two different meanings; a crucible is a melting metal to be forged into something new and different, which parallels the story to how it is a new society of forming upon change, and it is similar to the word crucify which is indisputably done to many people during the play. Rebellion to the Puritan society is one of the key symbolic meanings of the woods. The woods for the rebellious show …show more content…
In preserving the 1692 dialect, Miller utilizes
Page 3
techniques such as dropping the "g" from the "ing" ending in words such as sleepin' or walkin'. Also, he uses outdated but understandable words such as harlot (meaning prostitute) to illustrate the time period of the characters' talk. Miller's use of biblical words such as gospel and lord help achieve a sense of the community's strict religious fundamentals. Irony shows up numerous times throughout the play, especially in the character Abigail Williams. Abigail is a very ironic hypocritical woman, she claims herself to be pure yet she has had an affair with the married John Procter and now out of lust plans to murder the his wife Elizabeth. Despite all of Abigail's effort to be with John Procter, he dies to keep his honor. The town was in desperate need of a way to test for witchcraft summons John Hale, however he ends up defending a lot of the supposed witches. Lastly and probably the largest and most ironic item is the town's name, Salem, which is a derived Indian name for peace, and certainly the one thing Salem doesn't have is itself,