The Salem Witch Trials categorizes as an unnecessary event. In the Salem Witch Trials, “more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed.” (Blumberg 1). If the judges who examined the accused witches were not dimwitted and believed that witchcraft actually existed, then maybe lives would have been saved. In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, puritans started to be accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible, the community believed that any Puritan who showed any signs of destruction to the population were witches and had to be hanged to dispel of the devil from Salem. Abigail Williams, niece of Reverend Parris, brought chaos to the community when she was questioned about dancing in the woods. She had many girls lied with her except for her best friend Mary Warren, the new servant of John and Elizabeth Proctor. The unique character of Mary Warren reveals throughout the witch trials that she is selfless, oblivious, weak, and indecisive. Mary Warren is a confused teenager in the Salem Witch Trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays Mary Warren as being a truthful teenager during the Salem Witch Trials. In the Reverend’s house where Betty will not wake, Abigail wants to discreetly say that all they did was dance. Mary awares the girls that there has been talk of witches in the town and just wants Abby to tell the truth because “‘[she]’ll only be whipped for dancin’’” (Miller 467). Mary wants to speak the truth and receive her
The Crucible is a play is referred to the Samel Witch trials that takes place in Massachusetts in 1962. Abigail Williams is the leader of a group of girls who are a part of the Samel witch trials. Abigail is Betty Parris cousin and the niece of Reverend Parris. She never went down without a fight. Abigail is selfish and only cares about her own goals. Throughout the whole pay she shows her greedy, dishonesty, manipulative character.
Life in the 1600’s was arduous for members of Puritan society. Strict social rules, including defined gender-specific roles, mandatory attendance at church, no self-indulging activities, and limited personal freedoms, forced people to repress their feelings and opinions to maintain a good reputation. God was involved in every aspect of life, and punishment fell upon those who were seen as not doing God’s work and deviated from the norm. The Crucible, a play set during the events of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts during this time, focuses on the mass hysteria which plagued the people and their reactions. A group of girls went dancing in the woods, and were caught by Reverend Parris. To avoid getting in trouble, the girls, led by Abigail Williams, claimed being the victims of witchcraft. John Proctor, who previously had an affair with Abby while she worked for his family, refused to believe the accusations of witchcraft. After Abby accuses his wife, Elizabeth, John does his best to prove her innocence, yet ultimately ends up being hanged himself. The events are tragic, and many people died as a result. Abigail’s “in the moment” survival is evident in her disregard for virtue in favor of reputation throughout The Crucible, whereas John Proctor ultimately decides integrity is more important than survival through his admission of guilt.
Many people would go straight to accusing Abigail Williams for all the mayhem in Salem Village, but she definitely should not have all of the blame. Many others were falsely accusing people and one in particular even had opportunities to end it all, and that girl is Mary Warren. Driven by fear, Mary Warren, in Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, lies and falsely accusing innocent people; ultimately leaving 20 people dead and many more in an awful jail. Mary Warren accused innocents of witchcraft, did not end all the hysteria even with opportunities, and is the reason many people are dead, specifically John Proctor.
Defense of Mary Warren When it comes to Arthur Miller’s allegorical work, The Crucible, very few characters can be deemed completely innocent. While just about every person in this story has a flaw of envy, pride, or selfishness, characters can often be sorted into the “accuser or accused” categories. One exception to this is Mary Warren. Throughout the story, her loyalties switch back and forth between these two sides. Due to this, she may seem like a selfish and unsympathetic character; that is not the case, however. Mary Warren is an abused and manipulated child, whose decisions in the story are certainly justified, given her situation. The first we see of Mary is when Betty falls ill after the the girls are caught congregating in the woods. Immediately, we see she is terrified, fully aware that them being accused of witchcraft would be “a hangin’ error” (1268). Abigail responds to her fear with an order to lie; she threatens them with violence should they not obey her. Abigail is one of Mary Warren’s main abusers in the story. John Proctor, Mary’s employer, enters the scene next. When he sees her away from his house, he scolds her in a humiliating fashion, even threatening to whip her. From the stage directions, we see she tries “to retain a shred of dignity” (1269), when this happens, leading to the belief that this reproach from Proctor is common in her life. We don’t hear from Mary again until the beginning of Act II. She
Can you imagine a life without internet? Or phones? Nothing but you and God? In the 17th century life, for both men and women, consisted of church. Most people were Puritans, colonists who fled from England’s religious persecutions.
Between 1692 and 1693 the Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts. During these trials more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed for practicing witchcraft. Although many people can be accused for causing the Salem witch trials, the person who is ultimately responsible for the deaths is Abigail Williams, the servant of Mr. and Mrs. Procter. She is the instigator of all accusations, gets the girls on her side to have a stronger argument, and she tries her very best to get Elizabeth killed.
In a small town in 1692, a Massachusetts bay colony called Salem. The story “The Crucible” tells us a story in that particular town in Salem. A young girl named Abigail Williams goes to show what it is like to want power and the consequences of those actions. She goes through ridiculous lengths to try and achieve what she wants, but in the end led to a tragedy she couldn't stop. Although some people may find Abigail innocent, actually she's not.
In Arthur Miller’s work, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is most to blame for the Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693, people were heard and prosecuted for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. A total of thirty individuals were convicted, and nineteen of them were executed by hanging. During the story, Abigail Williams leads a group of girls who cast charms and dance in the woods, which leads to the events in Salem.
The witch trials of Salem are often thought to be a hysteria that can be categorized as fake and sometimes “crazy”. The trials started by the belief of the supernatural and the practice of the devil’s ability to grant people the ability to hurt others. Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams are the two young ladies that began the stereotypical beliefs in witchery. Williams and Parris started having hysterical fits and “uncontrollable” tantrums filled with screaming and crazy-like seizures. The result of all the insane opinions and conclusions to society were nineteen hangings, and one pressing. The Salem witch trials were a result of hasty decisions and the fear of God’s anger on the people of society. Today, the trials would be seen as crazy or fictional.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller displayed many heroic factors done by village folk when accusations of witchcraft were being spread left and right throughout the land. The character Mary Warren stuck out to me because, even though she was mostly a wimp, she committed some heroic actions of her own that not many people in the twenty first century can find in their hearts to do. There were many aspects that Mary had, but I have decided to narrow it down to timid, dishonest, and weak as her three characteristics for this essay.
Mary Warren, a young woman living in Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials, shows no exception to differing viewpoints. Throughout The Crucible, in which Mary Warren is a character, the very children whom the town considers holy, appear also to perpetrate the vicious crime of murder through false allegations of witchcraft. Unable to recognize the children’s crime because of their innocent appearance, citizens of Salem conduct dozens of
American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible (1952), suggests that witch hunts still exist in American society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph McCarthy Trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals (pathos) and logic (logos) to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The main way, however, that Miller achieves his ultimate goal of demonstrating the dangers of individuality vs. ideology is through the vivid characterization of Mary Warren. Mary Warren is an example of an outwardly conforming character because in the play she tells Abigail that she wants to tell
Witchcraft is scary and a big deal in 1692, and if you get caught up in it then you’re in for a rude awaking of being tricked into political paranoia and hysteria. Mary Warren is a good girl, she tries to do what's right; although, when she tries to tell the truth Abigail might accuse Mary of witchcraft, if Mary chooses to go with her gut and tell them that the bird isn’t real. Mary takes a turn on trial and joins back with Abigail's group and helps lead to another persons arrest. Abigail, Mary, and the others are put on trial for witchcraft.
The townspeople of Salem feared that they would be called witches so they lied and blamed their family and friends. Mary Warren being one of those people feared being hung and Abigail’s vengeance. When John tells Mary to go to court and confess, Mary refuses, knowing that Abigail will act out of revenge and in court she faces what she had been avoiding “ABIGAIL. Her eyes fall on Mary Warren. MARY. Abby!”(101). Mary Warren knows that Abigail will claim she is a witch so Mary goes along with it to escape death and she blames John Proctor by saying “You’re the devil’s man!”, instead of possibly ending the trials once and for all.
The Salem Witch Trials: a time where the innocent were guilty and the guilty got away with murder. This horrendous event can be further explained through Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. Miller has won many awards in his time for writing many dramas that are very popular amongst the people and The Crucible just so happens to be one of them. It tells a story about a harsh time that many people faced when they were losing loved ones who were found guilty since they didn’t confess to a crime that they never committed. While reading the play, a person will find a theme of power. One specific character, Mary Warren, helps show this theme because as soon as she gains power, her character changes drastically. Throughout The Crucible, Mary Warren is portrayed as a very dynamic character since she begins as being very wimpy, then she gains confidence and becomes brave, and then she goes right back to being timid and controlled by Abigail.