Arthur Miller uses a number of Literate devices in order to make his play interesting, relevant and understandable, such as by linking words in perculiar ways, using a some well known old fashioned words mixed in with modern speech, by using double negatives, changing verb tenses, and a number of impressionate similies and metaphors.
Syntax is used frequently in the play, and the characters do not speak in fragments, but string together phrases and form their thoughts carefully before speaking. By the way that different characters’ lines are written we can learnt things about them, such as in Reverend Parris’ first speech he shows that he is well-educated and of high social status by speaking in a more formal way than characters before him, whereas in the passage spoken by Abigail to John Proctor her sentences are less thought out, as she rambles a little, quite repetitive as she keeps repeating ‘I know you’, and more fragmented, which shows less education but more deep emotion. The lines have been written in such a way that the tone compiled with the character can be quite contrasting, such as the later example of Abigail having a moving tone, but her character just becoming deceiving.
One thing that Arthur Miller does not really rely on, which many other play writes such as Shakespeare rely on is imagery. There are a few cases of imagery in this play, used alongside figurative language. An example of imagery used is part of the statement that Abigail made to john Proctor saying “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near!”, while this statement is also a simile, comparing Proctor to a stallion, it provides an unforgettable image in the audiences mind, and is the most memorable uses of simile in the play.
Metaphors and personifications are scarce in this play, as usually people are looked at just as people, and items just as items, however there are a number of times where Arthur miller alludes to some portion or person in the Bible, but not to anything else. An example of this is when John Proctor is speaking with Rebecca Nurse in the Salem jails, and she says to him “Let you fear nothing! Another judgement waits us all!”. This alludes to martyred apostles and focuses on how in the Bible it claims that man is judged by Peter at the gates to heaven, and then by God himself.
Verbal irony is another device used by Arthur Miller in ‘The Crucible’, an example of this is in Act 3 when Elizabeth knows, and the audience know that she knows, that Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams, however in the court she denies that he did, and says Abigail just disappointed them with her work at their house and that was why she was put out of her job. Abigail Williams also uses verbal irony each time she says there is a spirit attacking her, like in Act 3 when Mary Warren claims that the girls had all been lying, Abigail draws away attention by claiming there is a spirit in the room. The audience all know that there is no spirit, but other than Proctor who sees straight through her lies, the characters on stage do not know whether she sees anything or not.
