“A man may be aware that there is something...hollow in his own way of life, but still lack the power to express it in memorable language.” (Prudhoe). In the Crucible, several people notice the obvious corruption that lies in the Salem witch trials, but are unable to fight it due to lack of power. In Act three of The Crucible (1953), Arthur Miller expresses his frustration at the perpetual power grab under the façade of justice. Miller uses juxtaposition, dramatic irony, and selective dialogue in order to show how when struggling to clear one’s name, cold-hard facts are often overlooked in exchange for the promise of influence. The purpose of the act is to demonstrate that in every play for power, there must be pawns to manipulate and facts …show more content…
While Proctor testified that his wife, Elizabeth, is as honest as the day is long, John is horrified that Elizabeth would lie in what must be the first time in her life in order to preserve her husband. Moments before, the audience has witnessed John’s confession of lechery. However, Elizabeth is not privy to this knowledge and chooses to spare John his name. Immediately, the two have sealed their fate and distanced them from their claims of innocence, and immediately the claims of witchery are so strong that they become almost truth. In Salem only a year prior, this conclusion would be “laughable even to the Puritan elders- at least before the hysteria reaches its fevered pitch” (Westgate). In any other situation, the Proctors could reasonably claim that their actions are justified and that any sane person would do the same. Nonetheless, Abigail and Danforth’s hand in stirring up pandemonium erases all sense of logic, and leaves the Proctors’ declaration to become a death sentence. This lack of foresight in the consequences of actions is actually what led to the chaos in Salem in the first place. Unknowing, “Abigail has set in motion a disastrous chain of events with multiple and widespread social consequences” (Shroeder). Due to the affair of John Proctor and Abigail, this fuels Abigail’s jealousy until she gets an opportunity to get …show more content…
Miller either fashions the dialogue to be vague or specific in order to either highlight specific event or allow for contrast. This exemplifies how human reactions can be overanalyzed in order to achieve desired results in court. Interestingly, Proctor refers to Abigail as “it” rather than the more appropriate pronoun, “she.” With Proctor’s jab at Abby, Miller is able to characterize Proctor’s opinion of Abigail to be below that of a human. Not only that, but Proctor’s condemnation also sets doubt in the minds of the Salem judges and forces Abby to run away. Especially knowing that manipulation will not save her in the witch hunt of Salem, which has gone too far to ever listen to any sense of reason. The truth is altered from being “...forceful and sure of itself--get enmeshed in the ways of uncertainty, falter and grow pale and transform itself little by little into a mean and sorry thing” (Marino). No longer is the justice system able to punish the guilty and protect the innocents, but is a broken system forced to hang those who lost faith in such a system. Similarly, Miller is willing to exchange one of The Crucible’s most used words, weight, and is able to subtly trade it for another. Weight is mentioned all over The Crucible, from the weight of the authority of Reverend Hale’s book, to Giles begging for more weight in his execution by pressing. Cheever breaks