Where there is humanity, there is weakness. This is a large aspect of the 1953 play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Throughout the play, various characters illustrate human fallibility, consisting of dishonesty, vindictiveness, weakness, and mass hysteria. The Crucible encapsulates the worst aspects of mob mentality, and exposes the individual ‘sins’ and secrets of each character. From the very beginning of the play, Abigail Williams proves to be a dishonest and vengeful character. In Act One, she threatens the other girls who were in the to keep to her version of what happened in the woods so that none of them end up in trouble. “Mark this—let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you …show more content…
She is weak-willed, and a prime victim to the mob mentality that befalls Salem. After returning to the Proctors’ home after being in the court all day, Mary Warren recited to John and Elizabeth what had happened while she was in the court. “I hear a voice, a screamin‘ voice, and it were my voice… and all at once I remembered everything she (Sarah Good) done to me!” However, in the act that immediately follows, after a small amount of pressure from Proctor, Mary Warren confesses that their charade was ‘pretense’ and that she ‘never saw no spirits.’ This is one example of Mary Warren’s cowardly nature. She contradicts herself throughout the play with a lack of structural values that the audience, or even other characters, can rely on her for. Her weak nature becomes a source of frustration on several occasions, such as at the end of Act II, when after a long struggle between herself and everyone else in the court, Mary turns completely against John Proctor and proclaims that he is, “...the Devil‘s man!” This is a much different claim than the one she made when first arriving in the court, and when speaking to John himself. This shows why Mary Warren is a character most notable for her weakness and …show more content…
By the end of these trials and accusations, Hale considers himself the same as those whose death warrants he signed. “Why, it is all simple. I come to do the Devil‘s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves.” He no longer has complete faith in the court, but he also does not hold as much power after going against it. His confidence in his own accusations has faltered tremendously. He chooses to return to the Salem jail only to counsel those set to hang. His confidence within himself and the courts did little but lead to his and those accused's downfall in the end. He begins blaming himself for these circumstances, due to the power and confidence he first had upon entering
Mary Warren is afraid because it is more people on Abigail 's side. The court already is against her and John who she came to court with. Eventually Mary turns on John confessing that John made her sign her name in the Devil 's book and persuade her testify against her girls in courts. She joins the girls
Mary is right in the middle of all the chaos in Salem. Therefore, when it comes down to making a decision she gets stuck with the devil's bargain regardless of the path she takes. For intense she is being compelled by the manipulative character of Abigail Williams to claim that she's seen various people practicing witchcraft. Miller creates the character of Abigail to represent the powerful leaders that emerged throughout the 1950s by utilizing people's fears. This devious tactic is also used by Abigail as she asserts fear into Mary Warren.
Despite not directly rebelling against the court’s authority, Hale is still striving for true justice and clearly disagrees with the unfair rulings of the court. Crushed under the guilt of “sign[ing] seventy-two death warrants” (Miller 99), Hale attempts to undo his errors by returning to Salem to convince the accused witches to confess in order to save their lives. Hale realizes what he has done wrong and attempts to make amends unlike Judge Danforth who refuses to even postpone the hangings, as “twelve are already executed…. Postponement now speaks a foundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now” (Miller 129). Hale, on the other hand, recognizes his injudicious actions and shows his guilt by admitting, “there is blood on my head!
Mary warren failed completely. Each character is different and handles things in very different ways. John confessed falsely to witchcraft for a noble reason of avoiding loss for his children and wife. On a more vast scale Mr. Proctor has refused the signing of his confession. Mr. Proctor cries “It is my name… I cannot have another in my life.”
As someone living in close quarters to Elizabeth and John Proctor, she is very influential in court when their devoutness is questioned. She also knows the truth about Abigail's fabrication. When she testifies against Abigail’s claims in court, Abigail responds by accusing her of witchcraft. She 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.’”
When Hale returns to Salem, he is initially hopeful that the court can be persuaded to abandon the trials. However, his hope quickly fades as he realizes that the court is too invested
In Act III Mary Warren is forced by John Proctor to go to the court and admit she was lying. She turns on him and tells the court he is “The Devil’s man!” (Miller 110). When Mary first went to the court to tell everyone that her and the girls were lying she realizes that either way she will get in a lot of trouble because she lied. Not only would she be in trouble with the law but Abigail and the other girls were very mad at her.
and “‘I’ll murder you’ he says’” (Miller 121). Proctor was the one who suggested Mary testify against the girls in the first place. Mary is torn between doing what is right, and she fears herself of being accused of witchcraft by the other girls, as they hold great influence in the community. She cares more about what the group thinks of her and what they will do to her, rather than the impact her consequences will have on others.
Mary was scared of her almost lifelike acting and started to waver faith. Go a step further to shatter Mary determination, She began repeating every words Mary says to bulldoze Mary into giving up telling truth and joining their “performance”. “Mary Warren, turning on them all hysterical and stamping her feet: Abby, stop it! Girls, stamping their feet: Abby, stop it!”(Miller 1312) One knot tied to another, By manipulating people,she hits her ultimate mark --accused Elizabeth as a
She turns the court against Mary Warren by telling the court that she sees spirits and claims that Mary summoned the
He does not believe Abby is capable of causing such hysteria, and believes what the Salem people say to be completely honest and is overwhelmed with the amount of evil in the town. He does not
But the mainly because everyone thinks she is a witch. Due to the women in the court room continuously repeating it with details to support, making everybody believe Mary warren is a witch. Mary was the one caught in the dancing in the forest and being accused of witch craft. When Mary was in court she admitted she was witch craft but, also made everyone to think it was an act. In act 2 page 80 Mary Warren is pressured by Proctor to go to court and confess that Abigail is guilty.
In the first Act, Abigail manipulates the girls into helping her lie about the forest “incident” in the beginning of the play. "Now look you, all of you we danced and Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam 's dead sisters, and that is all. Mark this 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." (Miller I, 20). In this quote, Abigail becomes aware of what she did in the forest along with the girl and threatens them to keep silence if they want to keep their lives.
Mary Warren was at first, a little cold-blooded. At the beginning of “The Crucible”, she was one of the girls caught dancing and conjuring spirits in the forest with Abigail. She becomes an element of the court that chastises witches. At first, she seems to savor the competence it gives her, but then soon becomes softhearted when she realizes innocent people are being accused of witchcraft.
The setting plays a large role in this play, especially the fact that the entire story takes place in a Puritan society. The Puritans were a theocracy, where legalities and the church were intertwined. This is a major key in understanding why the notion of witchcraft made the town so hysterical, and they vowed to get rid of all of them, to “purify” their community. Mary Warren feels as if this is an important job, and tells Mr. Proctor about how important her role as a court official is: I must tell you, sir, I will be gone every day now. I am amazed you do not see what weighty work we do.”