What Is Mary Warren A Dynamic Character

The sudden change in Mary’s opinion of both the girls and John Proctor, exhibits her apparent inability to stand firm against the manipulative powers of Abigail. While this trait could seem negative, passed off as fickle, Mary was able to keep her true identity a mystery to Salem.

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.

Mary Warren chose to start telling the truth because someone she cared about about was going to die. Mary Warren says in response to Danforth’s question, “...you sat in my court, callously lying, when you knew that people would hang by your evidence?”, “I did, sir.” (Miller 45) Mary Warren has chosen to start being truthful. In response to Danforth’s question, she replied that she had been lying, knowing that people would die. Mary Warren says, “I never saw no spirits.” (Miller 47) Mary has become completely truthful. She has changed from killing people for fun to telling the truth. This evidence concludes that Mary Warren has turned from lying for the sake of others.

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.

In The Crucible, Mary Warren loyalty to Proctor and her desire to fit in creates the theme that peer pressure easily overpowers loyalty. Mary Warren easly proves this theme as she throws the attention off her and on to Proctor. She quickly escapes her imminent fate by abandoning her loyalty and betraying Proctor. She saves her life while ending another. Mary carved out her own niche for herself as V.S Niapaul said by returning to her comfortable corner and returning to her “following”

In Salem, Mary is a follower who doesn’t take charge for her own actions. In Act Three, the narrator says, “She glances at Abigail, who is staring down at her remorseless. Then, appealing to Proctor….” When Mary glances at Abigail, it shows that she is not confident in her position which puts her in a vulnerable place where she can’t defend and later jeopardizes her life. She additionally endangers other innocent people, as she did not speak up and prove that the other innocent people like Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse; if she has spoken up, she would not have initiated all of the tragic events in

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

Mary Warren wasn’t as smart as the other girls, and fell to the pressure of the court and the girls. Leading the court to believe, even for a moment, that John Proctor was in fact a man of the devil was going to be more than good enough for the Town of Salem, and Mr. Danforth. Mary Warren was weakened by the court and presence of the girls. While Danforth was trying to hear Mary’s

Arthur Miller Shows Mary Warren in different limelight’s of power. At the beginning of the play there is an aspect of her having no power but as you go through the play there seems to be shifts in her power. Miller uses Mary to demonstrate young, single women’s power and how when you have so much power it can just slip right out of your hands in one brief moment. Miller shows that power can be taken away pretty easily and quite absentmindedly from Mary Warren’s character. He demonstrates this by making her young and single and setting the scene to a subservient, naïve girl. This makes her prepared to answer and obey

Furthermore, many aspects of Mary's character contributed to the reasons behind her actions and therefore, why she is partly responsible. Accordingly, Mary Warren was not an intelligent character and this can be seen by the fact that she saw the accusations of witchcraft as "only a sport.” Arguably, this could be interpreted as a naivety for not realizing the sometimes fatal consequences of her actions. Meanwhile, some may also see elements of cowardice within Mary's character, a passage which demonstrates this in the play, "Don't touch me!" when Mary was about to re-confirm all the accused's innocence, yet suddenly changed her mind after had seen the threat of her own accusation by Abigail, who claimed to see Mary in the form of a bird. This cowardice then guides onto the main reason why Mary Warren is responsible for Proctor's death. Moreover, the author of “The Crucible” is trying to point out that her cowardice have got her reputation towards Proctor a let down. John Proctor’s death was not simply due to an affair, but the people he had conflict with, whereas himself. John Proctor, Mary Warren and Abigail Williams, all contributed to what ultimately ended his life, in which holds the blame for their actions, thus led to his

Explain Mary Warren's predicament. What consequences does she face from Abigail and the other girls, Danforth, and Proctor if she goes against each of

She confesses to the court that all the speak of bewitchment is a lie made up by the girls because she is afraid to face the wrath of John Proctor. When Mary says “I cannot they’ll turn on me”(Mary Warren 1141) she is referring to the other girls saying they will make up lies so she will be accused of witchcraft. Mary fears getting in trouble with the court and she also fears getting in trouble with John Proctor. After confessing the truth, Mary Warren was turned on by her peers. Fear motivated every single thing Mary Warren did in The

When Abigail turns on her and accuses her of being a witch, she knows that nothing she says will be trusted. The court “...cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims…” (112). The only way out for Mary is to accuse Proctor and run back to Abigail, hoping she will forgive her, otherwise, Mary would have hanged. Her lying to the court forcing the blame onto Proctor keeps Mary from the punishment that would have come if she

It was her fault that witchcraft was suspected because her cousin Betty, who was influenced to take part in it, showed signs of being involved with the evil. As a result, the rumors of witchcraft taking place in Parris' home spread, leading Abigail to confess that she had taken part in it because of Tituba, the slave who had apparently forced them into it, and that she had seen many people with the Devil. If she had never taken part in it, no one would have ever been accussed of witchcraft. She lied about seeing these people with the Devil, which led to the Salem witch trials. If she had not mentioned any names, these trials would not have taken place. She was then seen as a saint by the court for confessing to have seen them with the Devil, which led the judges to believe anything she said. As a result, when these innocent people denied to have done witchcraft, they were hanged. In addition, if Abigail had not accused Elizabeth of taking part in witchery, John Proctor would not have been hanged. In John's attempt to save Elizabeth, he forced Mary, a girl who had taken part in the witchcraft with Abigail to confess that it was all pretense and that it was a fraud. Mary, knowing that her life was at risk, turned against John and accused him of cursing her. This led John to confess adultery with Abigail, which Elizabeth denied in order to save Proctor's name, but also lead to his arrest. John then confesses that he was involved with the evil, but refuses to share it with the public. As a result, John Proctor is hanged. If Abigail had not accused anyone, the lives of so many people would not have been

The actions of Mary escalate from screaming things that she is confident in, such as her love of God, to sobbing and pleading with Abby to rejoin the group even though she knows that it is not her moral choice. Knowing that the group is wrong, but not wanting to die she joins them. In addition, her actions portray a large amount of distress and frustration that the group has caused her, in spite of her going against them. Putting direct pressure on dissenters to conform is one of the traits and the steps of groupthink. Her words of repentance and sorrow for the group, especially for Abby, shows her weakening confidence to express her voice after realizing there is no chance for her to win this corrupt battle between what is right and wrong. Regarding some people's frustration of her conformity, it is essential for the reader to understand why she changes her viewpoint, because without seeing the cautions of losing one's individuality due to the group, the cost of preserving one's opinion would decrease or be worthless. Another character who proclaims a similar message is John Proctor. He does this by not conforming to the group's orders of signing his name away to be displayed upon the church for all to see. Although groupthink occurs with John he does not succumb to the ways of the group and maintains individuality, rather than Mary who chose her life over her beliefs and