Rumours, Gossip And Lies : The Theme Of Power In The Children's Hour

One night the narrator encounters a red-haired girl standing in the snow without any shoes on, in just a bathrobe. She is clearly distraught and claims that "He doesn't love anyone…his ex-wife, or the one before that…and he doesn't love me" (11). The narrator takes her to the dean's house and thinks that "she is beautiful and she was someone's red-haired daughter, standing in a quadrangle how many miles from home weeping" (10). The girl reminds the narrator of the daughter he once had. Evidence of this when the narrator thinks, "I thought of her as someone's child, which made me think of ours, of course" (21). He suspects that the girl is having an affair with his professor after noticing that she shows up at the professors office and the professor calls her his "advisee" with a sly grin. After witnessing this he calls in

Power can be as easily obtained as it can be abused by any given person. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible displays the use of power dynamics in many of its characters. The exert of power presented by the proposed children of God, Abigail Williams and Mary Warren, rose to the extent of mass murder through the witch trials.

Mary Warren, for one, changed multiple times throughout the play. When introduced in the play, she was addressed as a “subservient, naive, lonely girl” (Miller 17). She truly believed that the girls should have confessed to the the truth about what happened in the forest. She is, however, threatened by Abigail Williams and some other girls to keep her mouth shut. Because of her fear of Abigail, she does not speak a word of the truth. Later in the play when the group of girls gain power because of their accusations, Mary Warren grows some new confidence. She takes advantage of her new power and then disobeys the Proctors’ orders claiming that she is “an official of the

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

A number of important themes are paralleled within both the play and Miller’s reality, including McCarthyism, which in contemporary times is generally referred to as, “reckless and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks, on political opponents”. McCarthy shares similarities with Abigail and the girls, who use their newfound political power to falsely accuse others and harness the power of fear as a means of control. Ultimately Miller draws a disturbing comparison – that despite almost two hundred years passes, the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 were no different to Miller’s trial in 1953, with fear and public hysteria ultimately the catalyst that drives American politics. This is eerily reflected once again in David Rothkopf’s TED Talk entitled How Fear Drives America Politics, released in 2015. Rothkopf’s focus on terrorism, resulting in hysteria and ultimately society’s civil liberties coming under attack draws similarities to both the power of the girls and their claims of witchcraft. “They posed an existential threat to no one.”, Rothkopf argues in reference to Al-Qaeda in the early 21st century, just as witchcraft did in Salem

Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis enter the house and Abigail tells them do not reveal that they were casting spells. Betty wakens and Abigail threatens the girls if they speak that she drank blood and casted a spell on Goody Proctor. John Proctor and Abigail talk about their relationship before the opening of the play. Abigail expresses her feelings toward Proctor, but he refuses to believe her. Abigail then becomes angry with him.

“Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty.” Based upon a few indirect details and various intuition, the ultra-strict, Sister Aloysius Beauvier believes that one of the priests, Father Flynn, at the St. Nicholas Catholic Church and School has been molesting a twelve-year-old boy named Donald Muller, the school 's only African American student. To help her, Sister Aloysius recruits a young and naive nun, Sister James, to assist her in monitoring the suspicious yet charismatic Father Flynn. She also addresses her concerns to Donald 's mother, who surprisingly is not horrified or even shocked by the allegations. She is more concerned about her son getting through high school and avoiding a beating from his dad instead of what her son is going through at school. Close to the ending of the play

Author also surprises readers, when he introduces conflict between a couple that used to love each other deeply. Diverting the story from love to betrayal, author develops an irony. In the story, reader sees two examples of betrayal. Ms. Maloney, while talking with her tired husband, finds out her husband no longer want to keep their marriage. Without giving any kind of reason, Patrick betrays her wife with a decision of breaking marriage. Mary shocks, when her husband, boldly, says, “ This is going to be bit shock of you”(P. Maloney) Author creates a total opposite picture of Patrick by describing him as a husband who used to give her wife surprises; he is now giving her shock in the middle of her pregnancy. Mary, who was previously shown as “anxiety less”(Dahl), with “a slow smiling air”(Dahl) and “curiously tranquil”(Dahl), had began to get upset and now inculcate her eye with a “bewildered look.” After betrayed by her husband, she, without any argue, she goes to the basement to look for frozen food. She decides to have leg of a lamb as a last dinner with her husband, but she smashes the frozen leg in to Patrick’s head with killing him. Mary betrays her husband by killing him and takes revenge of her betrayal. Later, Author confirms her as a murdered with the statement of “I’ve killed him”(Mary) from her own lips. Dahl, in the story,

When she enters the bedroom, her voice changes from present to past tense and she starts to reminisce and begins to talk about her mother and aunts. She seems happy to remember her mother’s room and introduces her aunts to the audiences. Mary delivers her dialogue saying that the dressing table and the small elephant statue figures are all same. When Mary gently touches her mother’s photo, she delivers a sad tone. Her performance conveys to the audiences that she misses her mother. The tone of her voice represents that she is a gentle, innocent and a loving child. Her verbal and non-verbal interactions conveyed the viewers with a message that she is an orphan.

A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating number of townsfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to denounce Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous, accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant and one in Abigail’s circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor tells Mary that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as being frauds and making up all these accusations just to gain the attention of others.

Throughout the novel, Mary reveals her own weaknesses when she is put in vigorous situations. During the trials, Mary was faced against the girls, because she told the truth in the forest. Mary did not need to tell the truth; she could have lied to hold power, but she defended John Proctor. Arthur Miller best explains this situation with, “I-I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your honor, you seemed to believe them, andI-It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I-I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not”(Miller 1096). Mary states she only followed the lie to gain power and importance from the court. Since Mary told the truth, she now has to grapple with the girls and court. This reveals how Mary cannot handle a lot of hate when it is all handed to her. In the novel, she betrays John Proctor by disobeying his word. Arthur Miller concludes this when Mary says, “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor”(Miller 1080). Mary could have obeyed Proctor’s word with no argument, but she realises Abby will hurt her. Mary Warren has strengths and weaknesses, but this builds her character.

As stated by the great Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse” (braniyquotes.com). Burke’s words are proven true in many facets of the human experience. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, a shift of power is portrayed through Abigal’s sly manipulation. Arthur Miller takes a historical context, that of the Salem Witch Trials, and shows how simple actions can alter the course of history. The disintegration of an orderly Puritan society into one that is governed by chaos and hysteria is caused by a radical change in the normally male dominated power by a woman whose pride has been bruised.

The loss of her husband causes Amanda to develop a dependence on her children. She wants Tom and Laura to become successful. Amanda complains that Tom does not earn enough money at the shoe factory. She wants him to attend night school so he can attain a better career.

Throughout the entire story, Mary is a very interesting character. She faces many issues in dealing with her husband’s news that he is leaving her. She reacts based on her instincts and kills her husband and this shows her cold heartedness. In the end she has to create an alibi to cover up her devious crime in which she has to manipulate the police into eating the evidence. Mary is a very unique complex character and she has, through her actions conducted a devious crime in which she will be proven innocent. Through the use of Many Maloney’s character, as well as irony and suspense, the author was able to maintained the interest of the reader throughout the entire short story.