Mary Warren is a character in The Crucible who plays a pivotal role in the Salem witch trials. She is initially one of the girls who accuses others of being witches, but later recants her testimony. This ultimately leads to her arrest and imprisonment.
Mary Warren is first introduced as one of the girls who has been “afflicted” by witches. She is brought before Reverend Parris and asked to name the names of those who have afflicted her. However, she refuses to do so.
Later, Mary is brought before Judge Danforth and again asked to name names. This time, she does accuse others of being witches. However, she later changes her story and says that she was only pretending to be afflicted in order to get out of doing her chores.
This change in story leads to Mary’s arrest and imprisonment. She is ultimately hanged for her part in the witch trials.
Because it depicts a period when standards flipped and fanaticism swept into the town of Salem, the Salem witch trial mystery continues to fascinate people. Arthur Miller re-creates these well-known trials in his play The Crucible, bringing them to life. He infused his own experiences into the tale and breathed fresh life into the individuals who had lived through the witch hunts first hand.
The character of Mary Warren is a perfect example of someone who was caught up in the hysteria and ended up betraying her friends.
Mary Warren is first introduced in The Crucible as a servant in the Proctor household. She is a weak person who is easily influenced by others. This is evident when she agrees to go to Salem with Abby, Betty, and Tituba to see the fortune teller, despite knowing that it is against the law.
Mary is also very impressionable and easily swayed by the opinions of others. This is again shown when she goes along with Abby and Betty’s plan to accuse Tituba of witchcraft, even though she knows that Tituba is innocent.
When Mary arrives in Salem, she quickly becomes caught up in the hysteria surrounding the witch trials. She begins to believe that she is seeing spirits and starts to accuse others of being witches. Mary’s biggest moment comes when she testifies against her friend, John Proctor. Even though she knows that he is innocent, she still testifies against him because she is afraid of being accused herself. In the end, Mary Warren is a weak character who is easily influenced by others. She is not able to stand up for what she believes in and ends up betraying her friends.
While The Crucible is a work of fiction, it provides a realistic portrayal of the Salem witch trials. Arthur Miller does an excellent job of bringing the characters to life and showing how easily they can be swayed by hysteria. The character of Mary Warren is a perfect example of this, as she goes from being a normal girl to being caught up in the Salem witch trials.
Her weakness and lack of strength ultimately lead to her downfall, and she ends up betraying her friends. The Crucible is a story that shows how quickly hysteria can take over and how easily people can be influenced by it. It is a cautionary tale that is still relevant today.
Mary Warren was one of the three girls who accused Tituba in Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials. She subsequently admitted that the children made up their stories, but they turned on her and she was charged with witchcraft as a result. Mary starts off The Crucible by being obedient and speaking very little on her own behalf, but near the end she begins to speak out for herself.
The turning point for Mary’s character is when she is asked to testify against her friends in court and she refuses. This act of defiance shows that Mary has finally begun to think for herself and stand up for what she believes in, even if it goes against the majority. Although Mary Warren does not play a huge role in The Crucible, her journey from a submissive follower to an individual thinker is significant. It demonstrates how anyone has the potential to change and grow, even in the face of difficult circumstances.
Abby and the other girls refused to ask Mary to confess her guilt. When Mary came to court eager to tell the truth, John Proctor would say these words to her: “Do what is good, and no one will be injured.” (page 88) To make sure she understood the importance of telling the truth, Proctor would repeat this Bible verse to her.
The consequences for lying were much greater than the consequences for telling the truth. The girls threatened Mary and said that if she told the truth, they would all hang together. The girls had more power over Mary than her own conscience. The Bible verse that Proctor repeated to Mary showed her that there was a way out of this situation–if she just did what was good, then no harm would come to her.
Mary Warren is a character in The Crucible who is caught in the middle of the Salem witch trials. She is torn between doing what is right and what is easy. On one hand, she knows that the accusations of witchcraft are false and that confessing to them would be lying. On the other hand, the other girls in Salem are pressuring her to lie and say that she, too, is a witch. In the end, Mary chooses to do what is right and confesses that the accusations are false.
Abby, on the other hand, wanted to continue her plan and avoid being arrested for lying and for actually murdering innocent people. She and the other girls acted as though Mary’s spirit had possessed them, working with the Devil. “Abby, Abby… I will never hurt you again!” (page 110)
Abby subsequently manipulated her into “confessing” to witchcraft rather than telling the truth because they both knew that if Mary did not confess, the jury would refuse to believe her and she would be hanged; therefore they did not want to serve time in jail for telling lies.
The only way out for Mary was to denounce Abby and the other girls. But, Abby threatened Mary by saying that if she did denounce them, they would kill her spirit just like they killed Tituba’s. So in the end, Mary Warren decided to lie and say that she saw Goody Proctor with the Devil.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of 20 people, 14 of them women, all but one by hanging. Five others died in prison. Twelve more men were formally charged but not brought to trial. More than 150 people were accused during the hysteria.[1][2]
