Metaphors In The Crucible

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American playwright, essayist, and prominent figure in twentieth-century American theatre, Arthur Miller, in his play, “The Crucible”, inspired by the late 1600s Salem Witch Trials and relates back to the 1950s Communism trials and his questioning belief of McCarthyism. Millers purpose is to portray the tragedies of the McCarthy trials using the event of the Salem events as an extended metaphor to the McCarthy trials, in which he was accused himself. He presents our past , hoping the future might not continue to repeat itself. The play opens up by introducing a sick and unconscious girl named Betty, who is the daughter of Reverend Parris. Parris had discovered Betty, and his niece, Abigail Williams, and Tituba, a black slave, dancing in the …show more content…
Other girls like Ruth Putnam, daughter of the Putnam’s is also ill, and Abigail threatens the girls not to tell they are casting spells in the woods and that she drank blood to cast a spell. Abigail Williams, a real seventeen year old in the Salem witch trials and a main character in “ The Crucible”, is a great antagonist in the play as she is manipulative, selfish, and a tremendous liar. Abigail uses powerful and emotional tones to persuade her listeners of her claims and strong diction to catch their attention, as well as metaphors to exaggerate the events to get her audience to believer her. In act one, scene one of “The Crucible”, there is hysteria already starting as Betty is ill. Parris sees Tituba and the girls including Abigail, dance in the woods as well as cast spells and accusations of witchcraft begin to arise. After the dance and the cast of spells, Abigail threatens to kill Betty and Mary if they tell anyone of what happened in the woods as she says “Let either of you breath 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 …show more content…
Soon, Abigail takes the opportunity to ask Proctor about their relationship and accuses Proctor of still being in love with her . Abigail uses seduction to get want she wants; John Proctor. “John - I am waiting’ for you every night (Miller 413)”. Scene three, reveals Abigail's only vulnerability which is her feelings for Proctor. Even though Proctor keeps declining, Abigail is persistent and manipulative trying to push the truth out of him which is confessing his love for her. “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? It’s she that put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now! (Miller 423)”. She argues with passionate diction and tone as well as rhetorical questioning to help back up her claim persuading the reader that maybe John Proctor still has feelings for her, and how strong Abigail's love for Proctor really is. She also uses a simile to signify and create an image of how Proctor acts around her. Abigail's manipulative and controlling ways must come from her low social position. An orphan, unmarried, and female, the only person lower than her is Tituba, a slave. As well as Elizabeth Proctor telling people Abigail is sleazy lowering her status even more, clarifies why Abigail takes any chance of gaining power. This is
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