Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a tragic play set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, where Miller uses the Salem Trials as a metaphor for the 1950s McCarthy hearings. In Salem, people value their good names. The Puritan community acts as a theocracy in which there appears to be no right to privacy, and people must conform to a strict moral code. The theme of reputation, lying, and deceit are shown in Abigail, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and other characters. In the play’s dialogue, Miller uses Biblical allusions, situational irony, and dramatic irony to develop these themes.
The play is extremely ironic because when people tell lies they escape punishment, but when people tell the truth they tend to get punished. Those who confess to worshiping the devil are not penalized, while those who tell the truth and say they do not worship the devil are executed. As author Jean-Marie Bonnet says, “There is never any palpable evidence of anything throughout the play, and each individual is required to tell a lie if he wants to save his life. ” Everything in the play relies on language and the character’s dialogue. There seems to be no hard evidence to prove any sort of witchcraft was practiced in Salem.
The judges base their decisions on the false accusations Abigail makes and other stories the town tells. Abigail, a young unmarried orphan acts as the villain of the play. The prose describes Abigail as having “an endless capacity for dissembling”(Miller 1238). When Abigail’s uncle, Reverend Parris, questions her about why Elizabeth Proctor fired her as a servant, she lies and says, “I would not be her slave” (Miller 1240). Later the reader discovers Elizabeth has fired Abigail because she had an affair with her husband, John Proctor.
Abigail acts innocent and respectful for Reverend Parris; but when she is around John Proctor, she becomes wild and tries to entice him. One of her motivations for lying is to get revenge on Elizabeth. Another motivation for Abigail’s lying seems to be status in the community. Because Abigail pretends to talk to God, people view her as a saint. Abigail also gets revenge on people who have scorned her by pronouncing them as devil-worshipers. Abigail tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town, and eventually sends nineteen innocent people to their deaths.
Abigail’s situation represents dramatic irony because the community views her as an innocent, trustworthy girl, but the reader knows this to be false. In a Biblical allusion, Elizabeth Proctor says, “Abigail brings other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel”(Miller 1269). When questioned about what happened in the woods, Abigail lies and accuses Tituba of calling on the devil in order to keep herself out of trouble. Abigail states, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it! ”(Miller 1260).Abigail leads the girls to create hysteria on her cue in order to put blameless people in jail for witchcraft. John Proctor remains concerned about his reputation and wants to be seen as a good man in the town.
He has concealed his affair with Abigail but deals with it privately with his wife. Elizabeth Proctor tries to convince John to go to court and testify that Abigail told him there was no witchcraft. John replies that everyone thinks of Abigail as a saint and nobody will believe him. John states, “She told it to me in a room alone- I have no proof for it”(Miller 1270).Elizabeth then realizes John has lied about being alone with Abigail.
John tries convincing the court Abigail is lying in act three, John Proctor says, “It is a whore! ”(Miller 1309), meaning Abigail has been a whore. By telling the truth about their affair, John Proctor hopes to convince the court of Abigail’s lies. Instead Abigail lies once again and denies the accusation. To find the truth, the court calls Elizabeth Proctor in to verify what John has said. Elizabeth Proctor remains a good woman and wife to John throughout the play.
John Proctor says, “ In her life sir, she has never lied”(Miller 1310).When Elizabeth goes into the courtroom, she does not know John has confessed. This can be described as dramatic irony because the reader knows what Elizabeth does not. She lies for her first time by denying John and Abigail’s affair, abandoning her Puritan morals in order to protect her husband’s reputation.
The truth would have saved John, but Elizabeth’s lie destroys him and causes the court to believe Abigail, which shows situational irony. Abigail has previously accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. Reverend Hale tries to calm John when Elizabeth is arrested. John alludes to the Bible and says, “Pontius Pilate!God will not let you wash your hands of this! without my name”(Miller 1285). The only way John Proctor can save himself is by falsely confessing to being involved with witchcraft; however, he does not confess.
This describes another example of situational irony. Proctor decides to tell the truth and not lie to himself because he now understands the meaning of a good reputation.As critic Richard Hayes says, “The dilemma of man, fallible, subject to pride, but forced to choose between the ‘negative good’ of truth and the morality, and the ‘positive good’ of human life under any dispensation. Proctor would rather die than live with the town believing untrue statements about him. When Proctor is asked to explain why he decides to tell the truth he replies, “Because it is my name!.
.. How may I live without my name? ” (Miller 1333). Mary Warren is one of the girls who is seen dancing in the woods.
Mary wants to remain truthful and not play along with Abigail’s games. John Proctor convinces Mary to come to court and tell the truth. Mary Warren tells the court Abigail and the girls are lying. Abigail in turn accuses Mary of lying.Abigail says she sees Mary in the form of a bird in the courtroom and leads the girls in a hysterical performance. Abigail talks to this imaginary bird saying, “Oh Mary, this is a black art to change your shape”(Miller 1312).
The girls keep screaming and Mary Warren breaks down and lies saying John Proctor practices witchcraft and has forced her to create that testimony. Mary cannot take getting bullied by Abigail and the girls anymore and wants to be on Abigail’s side. Mary rushes to Abigail sobbing and cries, “Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you more! ”(Miller 1314).The situational irony is that Mary gets condemned if she tells the truth, saved if she lies.
The dramatic irony is that the audience knows Abigail and the girls are lying, but Danforth, the presiding judge, does not. Danforth believes Proctor and Mary are lying, but the audience knows they are not. A naive witch hunter named Reverend Hale has been called to Salem to investigate the witchcraft. At first he seeks confessions from the people, but he changes and becomes convinced that John Proctor and Mary Warren are telling the truth and Abigail seems to be lying; therefore he acts as a dynamic character.He says in a Biblical allusion, “I have gone this three month like our Lord into the wilderness.
I have sought a Christian way, for damnation’s doubled on a minister who counsels men to lie. ”(Miller 1326). Although Hale becomes truthful, he lacks moral fiber. Hale wants Proctor to lie to save himself because he thinks of survival as the highest good. Hale says, “it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride”(Miller 1326). An old adage states, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
” This perfectly exemplifies the theme of deception in The Crucible.When Abigail starts lying at the beginning of the play, she sets in motion the chain of lies and deception that follow. The characters have various motivations for lying including status, revenge, avoiding punishment, and upholding honor. The characters are concerned with the reputation and the respect they will receive in the community.
In this moralistic, Puritan town, people’s sins are harshly judged; and everyone constantly works at building a clean reputation. Arthur Miller uses rhetorical devices such as irony and Biblical allusions to express the themes through his characters’ dialogue.
