How does Miller use language and dramatic devices to create tension in Act 3 of The Crucible

Though out Act 3 Miller uses a variety of dramatic devices and language to create tension, such as dramatic irony. The main dramatic irony is that the audience is now that Abigail and the girls are lying however Danforths believed the girls, because if the girls were found out they were lying so the whole trails would be wrong and to Danforth the court is always right, so essentially if the court is wrong the Bible is wrong. So it is vital that the girls aren’t lying. These dramatic effects are essential to the trails because if there wasn’t the tension between the audience and the characters the play wouldn’t work.

Miller use dramatic irony a lot in the trail scenes. In the trails of Elizabeth there is a lot of tension between all characters and the audience and when Elizabeth walks in she can sense there something wrong because she can’t look at Danforth because she is unsure what is going on so she keeps trying to turn to her husband John for guides.  But Danforth uses imperatives to force her to “look” at him limiting her options on what to say. But she has a dilemma she either tells Danforth a lie or gives her husband’s good name away. The dramatic irony is that the audience knows that John has confessed to lechery and Elizabeth doesn’t. When Elizabeth delays to answer Danforths question, the few seconds she keeps quiet, the tension is built up throughout those few seconds which to the dramatic irony. She purposely tries to delay the answer because this means life and death for the both of them. But Danforth forces the answer out of her which he wants to hear by intimidating her with his power and authority At this point we as an audience feel sympathy for both John and Elizabeth because she wanted to save her husband form the wrath of Danforth but in fact she has killed the both of them.

In the 1950’s McCarthy witch hunts it was a time when communism was everywhere. Communism is where everyone is treated equal and America was scared that it would happen to them. This could be linked back to Danforth and his obsession with power and wants to be higher than everyone else and he wants every one two “look” at him because he is the highest ranking in the Salem trails. Danforth stops justice from happening by cutting people off before they fully answer his questions. He will never accept an accusation without proof. When Abigail as whore labels and Danforth “will not let this” accusation “pass” without proof.

Miller also uses language to create tension, when proctor accuses Abigail of lying he labels her as a whore. When Proctor is asked in what “place” he slept with Abigail he replied where he bedded a “beast” named Abigail. This cruelty from proctor builds tension between him and Abigail. When John says that his wife “never lies “ it’s the down fall of proctor because as soon as she says no 2 johns accusation Danforth will not accept any other answer. So when proctor says that he bedded her he has given up his good name for nothing.