“Nobody, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time (Laurence Sterne).” In The Crucible, playwright Arthur Miller wrote the character of Mary Warren to be coerced into two differing conflicts driven by her obligations and influences in acts two and three, just as Sterne’s quote describes. Throughout the play, the character of Mary Warren was pulled by the compelling influences and obligations put on her by John Proctor and Abigail Williams; this relates to the theme of power and what people do for it that was presented throughout the play.
Furthermore, in acts two and three Mary Warren was obligated to help John Proctor get Elizabeth out of jail. She had an obligation because it was her poppet that got Elizabeth thrown in jail in the first place. This was proved when Cheever went to the Proctor’s house with a warrant where he asked Elizabeth if she had a poppet to prove she
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Mary Warren liked the amount of power she held in the court. She even argues with Elizabeth and says she had a reason to not show up to work since she considered herself a vital judge of the court. On one hand, Mary Warren knows it was the right action to do; help Elizabeth because she contributed to Elizabeth’s arrest. On the other hand, she knows she will lose Abigail's alliance if she testifies against her, and she does not want to lose the power that she was given through being associated with Abigail. Abigail was by far Mary Warren’s most significant influence. She was able to make Mary Warren go into mass hysteria and convince her to take back the truth, and support Abigail's claims of seeing demons and spirits as truth. This shows one of the main themes of the play, the actions people take, ultimately betrayal, to keep their