the crucible Essay

Submitted By sruiz97
Words: 790
Pages: 4

Rhetorical Analysis: The Crucible Horrifying tragedies cause us to feel fear and what is fear? It is a mental state in which a person is latent by a certain essence that they have no knowledge of. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, he uses logos, ethos, and pathos to create fear which culminates in mass hysteria. The people that participated in this widespread panic were “under the influence of the devil” and this also includes suspicion from all times, such as the early human race to the communists, and for example the actions happening around the world today. The logic that these people used contributed to what caused all of this paranoia to arrive. Some people act deranged. Arthur Miller uses logos to inflict the people of this panic by having Reverend Hale use his book of “symptoms” of the portrayal of acting like a witch, on Betty and other convicted witches. The so called witches of this time got poked and prodded just to see if they had the malevolent witch’s teet, which served as mark that the devil left after someone signed his book. They also used the book of symptoms, which told them if the person that they searched, had any of those problems or illnesses, then they resembled a witch. Reverend Hale, when he comes to Salem, wants to examine Betty, reverend Parris’s daughter. Hale tries to see “all of our familiar spirits” ( I. 793-94). Hale explains all of the different types of wizards and witches in the books. The people of Salem all believe that if a person acted a certain way, then they “go to Satan” (I. 808) and they stand as witches. He uses logos in this way, which is the logic that reverend Hale uses with his books. The ethical belief of some people also contributed to this suspicion. If one person in society believes an object that may or may not exist, then more than likely everyone will too. Arthur Miller uses ethos by portraying it though the characters morals. John Proctor, for example is not licentious, and reveals his morals by staying with his wife after he committed adultery. He rejects the young and beautiful Abigail, by resisting her touch “I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.” In this, we see that sins do not define us, we define the sin that we complete. “Give me a word John. A soft word. No, no Abby. That’s done with.” Abigail wants john to love her again and leave his wife Elizabeth, but he does not want to. He knows that he committed a wrong sin and he doesn’t want it to happen again. In using this, Miller makes the reader know about the morals of the town. Although John Proctor was not a good person, in the end Miller makes you feel bad for him because you kknow what he really deserves. Which play with emotions. Emotions take a toll on the story, and he uses this to his advantage in making us believe his proposition on the mass hysteria.
Emotions and interests make up what a person does and how they act. In The Crucible, Miller uses pathos to play with emotions toward the so called witches, the girls, families, and