this relationship were to come to light. As a result of that, Abigail believes it’s in her best interest to only admit to dancing in the forest and not admitting to the witchcraft.

Abigail makes a play with this threat to assert power over the other girls. She tells the girls that if they crack and admit to the witchcraft, she will stab them at night. The girls understand this is a legitimate threat because of Abigail’s previous experience with violence when her parents were murdered by Native Americans.

In this scene from act 1, Arthur Miller uses indirectcharacterization to shape the character of Abigail Williams. Her threat, uttered to Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren at the bedside of Betty, suggests that she is a character who seeks to control others through fear.

Miller employs imagery to add menace to Abigail's threat. The "black" of night connotes darkness, evil, and concealment.

The ambiguity of the words "some terrible night" serves to make Abigail's threat even more worrisome. The intention is to impress upon Mary and Mercy that Abigail is prepared to strike without warning if they give her a reason to do so. She also leaves vague "the other things" the girls did, likely to avoid an outright admission that she was practicing witchcraft. It is only Mercy and Mary who use direct language about the nature of the events in the forest.

Rhetorically speaking, Abigail presents an if/then conditional sentence. Her warning is that if the girls confess and implicate her in wrongdoing, she will be moved to act against them.

One of the literary devices is the author's use of dialogue. Because The Crucible is a play, most of the text is in the form of dialogue. Arthur Miller also includes a large amount of stage directions and commentary. Within the dialogue, the characters' voices, as distinct from that of the author, emerge.

Within these lines, the author uses second-person direct address. The speaker is Abigail Williams. Abby is directing her remarks at two other people. She employs the same phrase in parallel structure for emphasis, saying "I will come, … I will bring…."

Abigail employs two related rhetorical devices: logos and pathos. With her threats of punishment, through some unstated but scary method, she is offering a logical argument: if you do A, then I will do B. At the same time, as she is trying her best to terrify the other girls, she is using pathos, an appeal to their emotions.

Her threat uses imagery and metaphor. The time (or mental state) when the revenge would occur is a "black... terrible night." Abby makes the abstract concrete and frightening by images of sharpness, saying that a word has an "edge" and her revenge will have a "pointy" form—like the needles stuck in the poppet in another scene.

This passage comes as a quote from Abigail Williams, who is threatening the girls who had been attempting to "practice witchcraft" in the woods with her. Despite her status as a likely sociopath, Abigail has a far more practical mind than the other girls. For her, what is at stake is not the secret that she has been practicing witchcraft, but the secret that she has been carrying on an affair with John Proctor. In order to insure that her secret never gets out, Abigail coerces the girls in the only manner she knows to be effective, which is harsh intimidation.

The literary devices that are used in this threat are metaphor, imagery, and hyperbole. Imagery is the most prominent, and interestingly enough, she paints a picture of her vengeance in very "witch-like" terms. The tactile imagery of a "pointy" reckoning ads a physical attribute to the nature of her actions, implying that they will come in a stabbing motion, be that physical or metaphorical. The "black of some terrible night" is also a metaphor for the mood that will come with her revenge. Finally, the entire passage displays hyperbole, as it is unlikely that a young girl could dish out vengeance in such apocalyptic terms. The other girls no doubt know this, yet so powerful are Abigail's powers of persuasion that they are affected all the same.

Three literary techniques seem inherent in this passage: character development, external conflict, and the use of metaphor.

Characters can be developed in several ways, such as through their words, actions, and inner thoughts. In this passage, Miller develops Abigail's character through what she says. Her words are strong and ominous, threatening. There is the suggestion of violence in them. Abigail is shown here as the dangerous, controlling young woman she is, one who will stop at nothing to achieve what she wants.

There is conflict in the passage, an external conflict between Abigail and the other girls. Although they are consumed with fear and wish to tell the truth, Abigail will not let them. Her will is stronger than theirs, and the witch hunt continues.

Miller's use of language is seen in the passage. He sometimes created his own words and expressions to give the play the flavor of 17th century New England. His expression, "the edge of a word," is an example. It is also a metaphor for any hint whatsoever that would cast doubt upon Abigail, the girls, or their accusations. This shows Abigail's fierce determination to maintain power and personal safety by keeping the truth from coming out

The ICE acronym that this question contains is a useful writing tool for when a student has to write a research paper or literary analysis. The "I" stands for introduce, and it emphasizes the need for a writer to introduce a quote with some kind of introductory phrase. Perhaps your paper is a character analysis of Abigail, and you are trying to convince your readers that Abigail is a domineering person. You could use the quote that is provided in the question and introduce it by saying something like the following: "Arthur Miller shows readers how vicious Abigail can be when she says, 'Let either of you ...' "

The quote should be followed with a parenthetical citation, and you will need to consult the appropriate style guide to make sure the citation is done correctly.

The quote should also be explained. This quote comes very early in the play. Readers haven't had a great deal of time to get to know Abigail, so we aren't sure what kind of person she is; however, this quote most definitely lets readers know that Abigail is not someone to trifle with. She clearly threatens the girls with this quote, and that shows us she is unafraid to do this sort of thing. The quote also shows readers that "other things" did indeed happen in the woods beyond just dancing.