Who Is Mary Warren In The Crucible

Abigail is a selfish and manipulative person which gives her the courage to do the things that she does. In act 3, Abigail says "Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; It's God's work I do" (III.115). Abigail claims that she is doing God’s work, but she is actually doing the devil's work because she is lying and forcing her friends to agree with her and go against Mary. She has the courage to go through with anything that comes to her mind, no matter what harm it could cause. “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word nor warning she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demanding of her how she come to be so stabbed, she --- testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in”(Act II.1282). This explains how Abigail is willing to go through with anything to be with John Proctor. She shows a monstrous amount of intrepidness just to do so. Abigail Williams has the courage to do anything when it comes to John Proctor. She stabs herself with a needle just to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.

Mary Warren’s behavior foreshadow about her testimony in court by giving Elizabeth a doll she made, “a popper,” which later leads to her arrest. They found a needle inside the doll, in the same spot Abigail was stabbed in. She seems to be manipulated by Abigail, due to the fact that she feared to have to testify against her in court. “She’ll kill me for sayin’ that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!” Mary kept saying over and over again that she cannot, which also indicates that she knows that Abigail will do something terrible to her.

Mary resorted to self- preservation because of the ear instilled by Abigail. Mary wanted to confess to faking and tell the truth. Mary was a loyal worker for the Proctors and when Elizabeth Proctor was accused of being a witch Mary’s conscience weighed upon her heavily.When one of the girls that was caught dancing, Betty, fell ill Mary felt guilty, “MARY WARREN: Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You'll only be whipped for dancin', and the other things!” (Act 1, p.144-147). Mary Warren felt the blood of the hangings on her hands and wanted to come forward and tell the truth. Abigail would not let that happen because she was too concerned about the repercussions and her reputation getting ruined. Mary was stuck between John Proctor begging her to confess and Abigail threatening her life if she did. Marry ended up taking Abigail’s side in order to save herself in the end by incriminating John Proctor, “MARY WARREN, hysterically, pointing at proctor, fearful of him: My name, he wants my name. “I’ll murder you,” he says, “if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,” he says!””(Act 3, p. 110). At this point Mary was so confused by the violence in the situation she cracked under the pressure. Then, Mary Warren turned and accused John Proctor of threatening murder, twisting the truth in order to save herself. By saving

Since Abigail is the Reverends niece and grew up with a pastor in the household it seems as if she should be very humble and a good person but her human nature took a toll making her greedy therefore making her dishonest and deceptive. She is afraid that people won’t agree with her, that motivates her to get people on her side. She then falsely accuses others of witchcraft and her being the victim. Witchcraft was taken very seriously back then and it ended up ripping apart the town and caused non stop fighting by almost everyone. Abigail’s main motive is John Proctor so she tries to lie to John about his wife to get him to fall for her “She is blackening my name in the village she is telling lies about me she’s a cold swiveling

Through turning against John, Mary deceived not only him, but indirectly Abigail too. After Mary had sided with Abigail and the other girls, she accused John of personifying “. . . the devil’s man” (524), meaning a wizard. Previously, Abigail and John Proctor were involved, a relationship in which Mary knew of. By accusing John of wizardry, Mary hurt the only person in Salem Abigail had strong, positive feelings towards, likely knowing the consequences of her accusation. While the accusation of John could have been simply the opportunity of the moment, it is likely Mary used her personal knowledge of Abigail to get revenge after being accused of witchcraft. A facade of innocence allowed Mary to deceive those around her, often without their knowledge.

Abigail and Mary Warren have one final similarity; they both are apprehensive. While in court when about to be convicted, both girls blamed someone else for being witches and said they saw them with the devil. Then they would say explain that they have found God again so they are off the hook. When all this shenanigans first started, Abigail shouted “I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil. I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!” By saying those names she was taken off the hook, and Goody Hawkins and Goody Booth were now being accused of witchery. This shows that Abigail is apprehensive because, she was scared of what would happen so by blaming it on someone else she didn’t have to worry about what would happen to her. Mary Warren also did the same terrible thing. Right before Mary Warren was to be called a witch by the court she said “You’re the Devil’s Man!” to John Proctor. That made the court decide to convict Proctor instead of her because she cried that she had found God. It made Mary not have to be fearful for her own life anymore.

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 way people reacted when someone tried to be good and tell the truth wasn't expected. Marry Warren knew the girls were lying and wanted them to tell the truth. She told Abigail, "Abby, we've got to tell. Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two years ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You'll only be whipped for dancin', and the other things" (18). Even though she wanted to tell the truth, she couldn't. Abigail won't let her confess. Later in the book, she finds out that they're using the poppet she gave to Elizabeth against her. Marry never wanted Elizabeth to be accused of trying to kill Abigail. Proctor wanted Marry to tell the truth to the court. But Mary is afraid of what Abigail might do to her and Proctor. Mary is also afraid of the court. "I cannot, they'll turn on me" (80), she said. You would expect that the court would want you to tell the truth. In this case, if she told the truth the court members' reputation will be ruined. It shows that they react in a way that it will be beneficial to them.

In order to get what she wanted, she had pulled a group of friends to get involved in it, which they willingly obeyed Abigail in fear she would accuse them next. Many of her friends began to slowly fall apart because the guilt was taking over their minds. One of them had said, “She’ll kill me for sayin that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!”(Miller) Mary Warren feared that if she were to tell the truth, that the other girls would accuse her for witchcraft, and have her hung. It is hard to say who the hero is in this play, but the ones who know the truth and try and explain seem to be at war with Abigail and the other girls. One might say, “it is unfortunate that the play itself aligns a group of heroes against a group of villains."(Budick) Abigail and her group of girls are the villians in this play, having men and women wrongfully hung to save

This is later confirmed when she threatens to “come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and … bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder” (Pg.175) Mary Warren and Betty Parris if they dare to tell the truth. This shows her determination at killing Elizabeth Proctor and securing her own reputation. Unlike many naive villains in other literatures, Abigail sets out a meticulous scheme to frame Elizabeth. First, she witnesses Mary Warren leaving a needle in a doll. Then she “[sticks] two inches [of a needle] in the flesh of her belly”(pg. 203) to frame Elizabeth of performing witchcraft. So mendacious is Abigail that she is willing to injure herself to accomplish her plan. Under her beautiful appearance also lays a manipulative heart. She is capable of manipulating not only the girls into doing things her way, but also the members of the court to her advantage. When questioned by Danforth whether the spirits she has seen are illusion, Abigail steps it up a notch by making the members of the court feel sorry for her and madly refutes, “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people—and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a—” (Pg.210) This, following by Elizabeth's failure to tell the truth and the girl’s verisimilar acting toward the “yellow bird”, further demonstrates her manipulative power which brings the court in her favor. Altogether, many

In the beginning of The Crucible, Mary Warren is timorous and afraid to speak up. On pages 37 through 38, John Proctor is trying to convince Mary Warren to go to court with him. He wants her to tell the judges the truth about how Abigail is manipulating the judges, but Mary Warren refuses. In this conversation, Mary Warren spurned to go to court and tell the judges the truth. She does this because she knows the trouble that can come out of attacking Abigail. If she blames Abigail for all of this mischief, the girls will turn on her and accuse her of witchcraft. On page 38, Mary Warren frighteningly says to John Proctor “I cannot, they’ll turn on me” In this direct quote, Mary is expressing her fear of what Abigail and the rest of the girls are capable of doing to her. She understands

Not only is Abby an improper girl, she dirties her name even more by making threats and lowering herself to violence to conceal her wrongdoing. For instance, Abigail shakes Betty, and smashes her across the face. Her anger is clear and may justify her actions somewhat, but what she says afterwards goes too far. Speaking to Betty and Mary Warren, she says “...Let either of you breathe a word...and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it…”. She afterwards tells Mary to shut up (Act I,18,19) These terrible threats, along with Abigail’s violent nature to cover her sins, condemn her to a life of treachery which she does not turn from. Mary Warren adds further proof to Abigail’s guilt when she is asked by Proctor to testify in court as to the nature of the poppet she had made. Mary speaks in fear of Abigail and what she might do to both herself and Proctor (Act II,

Abigail put on an act, mimicking Mary Warrens every move as though her spirit was possessing the girls and could be found guilty of witchcraft. “Suddenly, from an accusatory attitude, her face turns, looking into the air above—it is truly frightened. ‘What is it, child?’ ‘I—I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come.’ Her eyes fall on Mary Warren. ‘Abby!’ ‘Your Honor, I freeze!’ ‘They’re pretending!’… ‘Mary, do you send this shadow on me?’ ‘Lord, save me!’” (Miller p. 108-109). Abigail uses this in order to draw attention away from Danforth questioning if Abigail is only seeing illusions and not true spirits. Abigail uses the idea of witchcraft to repeatedly cover up her affair with John as well as uses it to an advantage to complete the envious attempt to kill

In the play, Mary Warren was one of the girls that was seen in the woods by Reverend Hale. When they go caught she told him that she was not participating she was just watching. In the book she felt guilt for the poppet, and it causing suspicion on Elizabeth. She was also scared of Abigail, because of the things that she did and she she wanted John Proctor to love her the way she loved him. ( Miller 2)

In the beginning of the play, Mary Warren’s character is well known as being wimpy and afraid. She is under Abigail’s control and will do everything she says. According to Sara Constantakis in Literature Resource Center, “she is weak and easily influenced. She is one of the girls who took part in the voodoo ritual and is terrified when the talk of witchcraft begins, as she knows people who are convicted of being witches are hanged.” This opinion of Mary is further proven by her action of not telling the truth about what happened in the woods because she knows Abigail would kill her. Abigail even screams “I say shut it, Mary Warren!” (Miller, Act I). Mary is always listening to Abigail’s demands, even when she knows the right thing to do. Mary Warren is seen as a poor little mouse who is too quiet to ever stand up for herself. In addition to this, Mary wants to confess about what happened in the woods, but Abigail won’t let her. Mary cries, "Abby, we've got to tell. Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two year ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You'll only be whipped for dancin', and the other things!" (Miller, Act I). Mary knows she is innocent and for that reason, she is ready to own up to her sins, however Abby knows that she