Lies In The Crucible

John unintentionally and unknowingly caused the trials, after he had an affair with Abigail Williams and she began accusing women of witchcraft, her end goal being to eliminate John's wife. Mary was one of the girls, led by Abigail Williams, who were supposedly bewitched by members of the community and accused them of being witches. Throughout the story, their actions and behaviors display the angry nature of John Proctor and the strong-willed nature of Mary Warren .

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

Mary Warren is seen throughout the play as being the lovable servant that is loyal to the Proctors and appears to pose no threat whatsoever. However, Mary holds a dark secret that the entire audience finds out in the middle of the play, she is a cold-hearted liar. Mary proves to be the second biggest liar in the entire play right behind Abigail as she will pick those who oppose her and will accuse them of witchcraft so that they may be silenced before they can continue with the truth. Mary proves this little claim true when she has both Elizabeth and John Proctor thrown in jail as they have both learned the truth and are making an attempt to stop everything that is happening. Mary Warren is probably the biggest liar in the story right behind Abigail Williams as she will turn against the family that gave her a place to sleep and a home to live in, in order to be saved by the truth that is leaking out.

It is shown that people will often lie so that they can keep things they feel that they need or want in life. People also lie to avoid punishment, just like in the book when being accused of witchcraft. (why do people lie?). Whether they decided to have faith in god and have faith that if they do tell the truth whether they were involved in witchcraft or not. One example of this occurring in the book was when Abigail accused Elizabeth Proctor of being

In society, we are blind to lies that are taking place around us everyday. Small lies, big lies, lies right in front of our face, and we are oblivious to almost all of it. This is shown really well in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Throughout the play, which takes place during the witch trials that took place in Salem, lies make up a big portion of the plot. Some of these types of lies that are used are described very well in Stephanie Ericsson’s essay The Ways We Lie. These variations of lies amplify the outrage created, through McCarthyism, and the Salem Witch trials that take place in the play The Crucible.

Humans should lie down. There are times in life when people should lie to protect someone else or to protect themselves. In The Crucible, many people lie to protect others and themselves. The witch hysteria in this book caused many people to lie when they felt they “had” to. People who didn’t lie ended up being hanged, so that is why sometimes it’s necessary to lie.

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.

From Mary Warren’s speech it is evident that she has little confidence and very shy as she is scared to admit to the other girls what they are doing is wrong and how they should admit. The main reason she is wanting to admit it to save herself. Mary then goes on to mention that ‘It’s a sin to conjure.” The word ‘sin’ connotates to the devil. Not only is conjuring a sin but so is lying. This links to what the girls are doing as they are also lying about what they did and who they are accusing. The word ‘conjure’ also links with summoning and tricking which therefore links with witchcraft. This leads to magic which reveals what Mary and the girls may have been up to. Furthermore, Mary Warren’s lack of confidence is clearly seen through the stage directions when Proctor

People are often told that lying is the wrong thing to do; it is evil, inhumane, and overall terrible. Despite this fact, lying has been shown to hand people multiple benefits. These benefits can be anything from getting out of doing house chores to looking cool in front of classmates. Because of this, many people use this form of deception to remove themselves from unwanted problems in the community. The Crucible, a play written Arthur Miller, portrays a disrupted society where people are accused of witchcraft for any abnormal activity. The accused witches are either forced to “confess” to their involvement with witchcraft or be executed in the gallows. The characters in the play display to the readers that lying provides protection towards people in different ways.

and Mrs. Proctor’s servant, for being a witch and doing witchcraft. Mary Warren had turned against Abigail so Abigail came back and when they were both in court together, Abigail had imagined that there was a bird in the courthouse, and that Mary Warren was controlling it because she was the “devil”. All the other girls were in the court with Abigail and Mary Warren and they went along with what Abigail was doing. Abigail and all of the other girls were repeating exactly what Mary warren was saying but in a terrified voice. Mary Warren had no idea of what was going on. Everyone else in the courtroom had no idea what was going on either but they believed Abigail for two different reasons. They believed her because she was the one telling on everyone and she also had a reputation. They also believed her because Mary Warren had lied before and she came back to tell the court that she actually lied about what had said before and that now she is here to tell the truth of what happened. There was also a lot of truth that happened in the play. For example, when John Proctor admitted that he had an affair with Abigail, he was stating facts about his

The main lie told in the play is that of a great one. The main characters Abigail, Mary Warren, Mercy, and Betty lie to the entirety of the Salem community in which they deny practicing witch craft. Of course they were, so they lie about it. Witchcraft was an offense fit for execution back when this book was set, so naturally they would lie about it to save their own skins. As you know, almost every lie starts to snowball out of control and other lies are told. The main lie of story causes catastrophic events to happen, ultimately ending the play with a clean-handed man being hung for advocating the Devil and witch craft just because he refused to tell a lie he was the Devil’s advocate in order to avoid the Hangman’s noose. The theme of lying fits right in with the times. In general, the Salem Witch Trials weren’t very judicious. They were all plagued with accounts of people “practicing” witch craft, which later have been debunked as either lies or misunderstandings considering there was no real substantial evidence. In a time where religion could be used to justify one’s own hatred for their neighbor, it is only natural for a person to pull out the “He/she practices witchcraft!” trump card in order to rid of that person. This theme also transcends the book and becomes a universal theme. Universally, it conveys the message that nothing good ever comes from lying. Even if you yourself aren’t

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.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.

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.

Mary Warren is a girl who is forced with this inner turmoil throughout this play. At the outset of the play she is perceived to be a very shy girl who will never speak her mind as shown when Proctor sends her home and she responds with " I'm just going home". As the play continues and as she is influenced by Abigail, Mary begins to break this self induced mold and does what she wants. Mary Warren, along with many other girls gets caught up in the hype of getting all the attention and exercising power via initiating and adamantly continuing these "witch trials". Finally John Proctor, the rationalist, shows that when people like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor who are the saintliness of people are accused of being witches, something must be wrong.