Previous
Imagery
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Act 1
Explanation and Analysis—Wheels Within Wheels:
In this passage, Miller uses two interlocking metaphors to convey Ann Putnam’s perception of the underlying tensions and crises in Salem. Putnam, angry and looking for someone to blame about the loss of her seven children, comments on the state of affairs in the village:
MRS PUTNAM: There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!
Related Themes:
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Your Spirit Twists:
In this passage, Miller uses an implied metaphor and foreshadowing to convey the intensity of John Proctor’s resentment for Elizabeth’s reaction to his affair with Abigail. After she brings his indiscretion up, Proctor expresses his frustration with his wife’s inability to forgive him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+PROCTOR: I'll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Vengeance Walks:
In this passage, Miller uses personification and metaphor to convey the chaotic atmosphere in witch-trial-obsessed Salem. Proctor refuses to give Elizabeth up to the investigators who arrive at their house with a warrant for her arrest:
Unlock with LitCharts A+PROCTOR: I'll tell you what's walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant's vengeance! I'll not give my wife to vengeance!
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Brick and Mortar:
When he learns they are to be arrested, Francis Nurse uses a hyperbolic metaphor to passionately defend the character and piety of his friend Martha Corey and his wife, Rebecca Nurse:
Unlock with LitCharts A+NURSE: My wife is the very brick and mortar of the church, Mr. Hale—indicating Giles—and Martha Corey, there cannot be a woman closer yet to God than Martha.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Tip-Toe:
No matter what Proctor says, Elizabeth can’t seem to shake her sadness and frustration that he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Proctor uses a metaphor and a simile to emphasize how frustrated he feels, having reached his breaking point after months of contrition and after having fired Abigail. He shouts:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches around your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!
Related Themes:
Act 3
Explanation and Analysis—A Sharp Time:
Deputy Governor Danforth describes his belief in the new era of “clarity and justice” in Salem during the witch trials. As he speaks, he invokes a metaphor of light to illustrate the changes he believes are coming:
Unlock with LitCharts A+DANFORTH: This is a sharp time, now [...] we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.
Related Themes:
Act 4
Explanation and Analysis—Shred of Goodness:
In this passage, Miller employs a metaphor to illustrate John Proctor’s decision to act according to his morals instead of protecting his life when he is condemned. During his trial, after refusing to sign the “confession” to witchcraft, Proctor, with tears in his eyes, acknowledges his ability to refuse to sign his name to a desperate Hale:
Unlock with LitCharts A+PROCTOR: I can. And there’s your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs.
Related Themes:
