Skip to main content

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, what is the effect of verbal, situational, and dramatic irony?

As is the case with most irony, situational and dramatic irony is used in The Crucible to increase tension and heighten suspense.  First, the situational irony of having children calling the shots in the witch trials undermines the authority of adults who should and do know better, and it increases tension for readers because these children are essentially in charge of who lives and who dies in Salem.  As Proctor says, "now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom [...]!"  The children's accusations overwhelm common sense, reputation, trust, everything that has always mattered.  That so much faith is put into the words of children, children who are fickle, easily manipulated, or often lie, creates irony of situation because it should be reasonable, unemotional, objective adults who are in charge of life or death scenarios (if anyone must be). 


Dramatic irony also increases tension for the audience, building up to the climax of the play.  Parris and the Putnams know that Abigail and the girls were conjuring spirits in the woods, but they keep this information from the magistrates until it is forced out during Act III.  Proctor and Abigail know that they've had an affair, but they keep this from the magistrates until John accuses Abigail of lying; Elizabeth knows too, but she tries to hide the information in an effort to save her husband's reputation (an attempt which, ironically, completely undermines Danforth's willingness to believe John).  Abigail told Proctor that Betty only "took fright" when her father jumped out of the woods and scared her, and that her illness has nothing to do with being witched, but he keeps this from the magistrates for two weeks.  However, we know all these things, and the audience, alone, has all the information -- information that so many characters seek to hide from so many others -- and this heightens tension for us, increasing our suspense and making the story that much more compelling and tragic because we can see how miscommunications, misunderstandings, and well-intentioned attempts to protect someone else result in dire consequences.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more