The Test Of Salem

The Tests of Salem

The Crucible is a play, which brings attention to many timeless issues. The nature of good and evil, power and its corruption, honor and integrity and irony are all brought up in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Irony what doe sit men? Irony means incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually occurs. In The Crucible there are three different aspects of irony. Irony is present through many scenes of the play and it is very important to the outcome of the story. Three types of irony that are in the play is man vs. man, man vs. society and man vs. man.

The first aspect of irony in the story is when Elizabeth Proctor lies to the court to save her husband but instead gets him in more trouble and helps Abigail. Proctor tells the court that his wife has never lid before but when thy call for her she says something with the intention of helping him but ironically she make his situation worse. 'In her life, sir, she have never lied. There re them cannot sing, and them that cannot weep – my wife cannot lie. I have paid much to learn it, sir';(Miller 111) In the quote Proctor is telling the court that some people cannot sing and some are to strong to weep and his wife will not lie. Another example of irony that can be used in the situation is that the husband thinks his wife will never lie and to prove she will never lie he admits that he has committed adultery which his wife already knows about and the court puts his wife to a test. The court asks his wife if her husband has the affair and instead of the wife saying yes she says no, thinking it will save her husband. 'To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever commits adultery and she is saying no. By these couple of scenes in the story it shows how irony can change the outcome of the story.

Another example of irony in the story is when Abigail is trying to kill Proctor's wife by accusing her of witchcraft but instead gets Proctor killed. Abigail is in love with John Proctor in the story and the whole point of Abigail being in the woods is to make a love potion so John will fall in love with her again.