Examples Of Mary Warren In The Crucible

Mary the Shadow There’s always that one person in a friend group that hides in the shadows, bottling up any thoughts or opinions they may have about a subject. They have knowledge that could change the views of the people around them, yet they decide to stay mute. Whether they hide their view out of embarrassment or fear is another story. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Mary Warren is a prime example of this kind of person. She seems to be an unfortunate soul that was coerced into standing before the presence of the Devil, but she holds the truth about the witch trials. Mary Warren, maid of John and Elizabeth Proctor, is a bystander whose fear clouded her judgement, and her lack of change throughout the play helped cause many innocents to be executed and engulfed Salem in a dark age. In the beginning of the play, we find out that Mary Warren,

Mary hid in John’s shadow for most of the scene until John finally encouraged her to speak. Mary explained to Judge Danforth, Reverend Hale, Hathorne, and Parris that her and the girls had been faking everything. Judge Hathorne ordered Mary to faint like she had in the court when “spirits” had been flying around. If she could faint, it would prove that she had been lying about the witchcraft. Hathorne voices that “there are no spirits attacking you… let you turn yourself cold now, let you pretend you are attacked now, let you faint” (Miller 1203). Mary simply could not faint, and at this point the other girls had been summoned. As the questioning began, Abigail and her proxies started to scream, insisting Mary had sent her soul out to torment them. They begin to mimic everything Mary says and does to get under her skin and frame her for being a witch, upsetting the girl greatly. Despite her knowledge of the truth, Mary is involuntarily drawn back into the lies, backing down from the fight out of fear and placing the blame on John