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How Is Mary Warren Presented In The Crucible

1165 Words5 Pages

Jacob Skripchuk
Ms. Fleetwood
English 3
February 9th 2022

Fragile Like Glass: An Analysis of Mary Warren From The Crucible Glass appears sturdy and stiff, but it shatters under even the slightest amount of pressure, leaving permanent damage. And that minuscule force can lead to a large web of cracks. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible places readers in the late 17th century, during the Salem witch trials, showing us the power dynamics of the time, how characters wield power, and the fragility of others. One character, Mary Warren, throughout the play, attempts to influence others with her power. However, she crumbles like glass with even the smallest amount of resistance, webbing out to create substantial problems for herself. When others try to …show more content…

We are shown this in act two when a needle is found in the abdomen of Abigail and the poppet Mary sewed earlier in the play. This causes Mary's innocence to be called into question. Hale accuses Mary of attempting murder on Abigail in the quote “Mary–you charge a cold and cruel murder on Abigail.” (Miller 853-854) Mary is shocked and silenced and proceeds to make no effort to defend herself, leaving her susceptible to Hales's power. Hale has legitimate power in this situation and can accuse Mary of murder. Since Hale is known as an expert on the supernatural, he has the authority to accuse Mary of attempted murder through supernatural means. We are also shown an example of Mary crumbling under pressure in act three after Mary fails to faint in court; Abigail and a group of girls pretend to be bewitched by Mary to turn the court against her. Abigail proceeds to say “Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change shape” (1005 & 1006) and “Mary, please don’t hurt me” ( Miller 1016 and 1017) After faking being bewitched, Mary fails to defend herself, leaving Abigail to turn the tides of the court in her favor. In this scene, Abigail is using informational power against Mary to alter how the court sees Mary. Abigail is pretending that Mary is bewitching her and the girls in an effort to confirm to the court that Mary is lying about the girls faking the supernatural. These examples show that throughout The Crucible while Mary does try to wield her own power, she becomes susceptible to other characters' power, and is overshadowed by others'

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Danforth’s expert position further weakens Mary because as a Judge he has the power to make the final decisions. Despite this Mary continues to use her informational power to share her knowledge about Abigail’s deceitfulness, she also provides reasoning for the seeing of spirits and fainting. Once she reveals to Danforth and the rest of the court that her fainting was just a pretense, Hathorne questions “Then can she pretend to faint now?” (Miller 3.736). At this moment Mary has the potential to stop Abigail, for if she faints she can prove she and the girls were previously faking.

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