Mary Warren In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

One of the biggest fears a teenage girl can have is to be rejected from a group of friends. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, being excluded is Mary Warren’s biggest worry. Mary wants people to like her but she has a hard time making friends. Having a difficult time fitting in, Mary is shown to be easily influenced to do things for others. It is a time of hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts, and innocent people are being condemned for witchcraft. Mary Warren soon sees herself faced between two decisions, to either tell court the truth behind those accused or stay loyal to the lies her friends embeded into the scheme. Although Mary Warren wants to be a good person, she still remains a static character, naive, lonely, and desperate for

Abigail and her friends are sitting right behind Mary, listening to every word. Mary visibly shaken, stutters throughout her testimony to Danforth. She admits that she falsely fainted during previous witch trials saying “it were only a sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole word cried spirits, spirits, and I - I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not” (Miller 107). Mary only imitated Abigail and her friends so that she could feel like she belonged for once, but now she is confessing to the court that the fainting was all an act. Sensing a wrong turnabout for her plans, Abigail stands up as if she were to object but instead cries out that Mary has sent a bird above to hurt them. Aware of Abigail’s change of plan, Mary pleads, “Abby, you mustn’t!” (Miller 116). She desperately tries to tell the girls to stop but they just mimic her words and actions while Danforth assumes that it’s an outcome of Mary’s witchcraft. John Proctor frantically shouts out that the girls are lying. Unfortunately, the degree to which the girls tormented Mary caused her to accuse Proctor as “the Devil’s man” (Miller 18). Mary accuses John so the attention would shift to him. Unfortunately, this gets John sent to jail, Mary still feeling guilty, and Abigail upset that her plans have failed. Abigail and her friends manipulative ways have push Mary to the limit which is why Mary’s outburst is directed towards John. This reinforces Mary’s static character because she would rather blame someone else and be cowardly rather than stand against what is wrong. Unfortunately, Mary is still the same no matter how hard she