The Crucibles; Irony
!.?.!? Paradox is utilized thoroughly in The Crucible. Go over 3 examples of paradox in the play and the significance of each example. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, paradox is used a variety of times throughout the play. The main example of paradox would most likely be how the town seems and acts to be like a group of friends and a tight-knit community, but by the end of the play, the town has actually turned against each other and it becomes a question of morality how everything turns upside-down.
The society that this town has prospered and lived in, turn’s bad, when lies are tossed around and the incorrect people understand how easy power can be achieved. The whole play is full of spoken and significant irony because in retrospect, every ounce of the trials, are certainly ironic. A terrific example of paradox is when Elizabeth Proctor lies about the affair that she knows that Abigail and John Proctor have. She states this when Danforth asks, “Is your spouse a lecher  and Elizabeth responses, “No, sir” (Miller 874, Act 3).
This shows that Elizabeth did not wish to confess about the affair. She was also uncertain of what to state at certain times due to the fact that she kept turning towards Proctor for responses or hints on what she must say. I believe that this example is ironic mainly since Elizabeth had never told a lie, previously when she does lie about her husband’s affair with Abigail Williams. What is likewise ironic about this event is the factor that it happened. When John Proctor was in trial, the judges required someone to tell them something about Proctor that they did not know.
When Judge Danforth tells Parris to go get Elizabeth Proctor, he asks John Proctor if whether she is of trust. Proctor responds that she had never ever informed a depend on her life, that she did not have the capability to lie (Miller 873, Act 3). I believe that this is ironic due to the fact that he stated that Elizabeth might not tell a lie, and to his surprise, she informed a lie for him. Amidst the drama of the court scene in Act III, Proctor and Mary Warren are being questioned in relation to Elizabeth’s possession of poppets.
Parris is trying to prove the reality that possibly they were unaware of her possession of these, that she could have hidden her poppets. In a response to Proctor, Parris sites that “We are here, Your Honor, precisely to discover what no one has ever seen.” Parris’ significance is really easy; he is simply commenting that the court is attempting to find the poppets that supposedly Elizabeth had actually concealed at her home, that nobody has actually seen. As many understand of the Salem witch trials, they specifically know the unjustified and deceived court system that was utilized to implicate the witches.
The words said from Parris’ mouth at that circumstances are so inconsistent of the court and ironic that from a reader’s standpoint, one is mixed in between the feelings of laughter and tears. For the knowledge of the witch trials would permit one to know that they were absolutely nothing however a hoax. The court is out to discover what nobody has actually seen. Knowing that there are no witches, then Parris is precisely right when he says this. It’s simply the irony of Parris’ ignorance that makes this quote affective.