From The Crucible, what is the literary device present in the section below?As Hale is about to leave, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse enter. Their...

The literary device used from this selection from Arthur
Miller's The Crucible is a
metaphor.

A
metaphor is an analogy between two objects or ideas,
conveyed by the use of a word instead of
another.

The metaphor occurs
in the quotation of the final sentence: Francis Nurse beseeches, " 'My wife is the very
brick and mortar of the church.' " The metaphor actually works on two levels. The author
is comparing the wife to the foundation of the church: She is solid and firm.
Additionally, Francis Nurse knows that his wife is a moral and spiritual woman--devout
and highly religious. Had Miller chosen to use the word "like" ("My wife is
like the very brick and mortar of the church"), it would have
reverted to a simile.