Abigail: I need you to help me do you understand Mary?
Mary: Abigail I’ll have naught to do with it goody Proctor will hang for this.
Abigail: I’m not sure that’s wise thinking Mary the courts treat me like a saint. I’m almost sure they would take my word if I were to tell them your siding with Lucifer.
Mary: [jumps to her feet her anger is raging she can barely contain herself.] You wouldn’t of all the things, Abigail, of all the things! [Pacing up and down in despair] Why? Why? What have I done? I’ve done you no harm at all Abigail!
Abigail: [very calm and pleased with herself] There is a way, help me get what I want Mary.
Mary: [with hesitation] I won’t Abigail I won’t.
Abigail: Maybe you’ll come to your senses Mary; you’ll gain naught from the truth.
Mary walks off into the sunset her head faced to the floor.
Commentary
Through this dialogue I wanted to portray how powerful and Abigail has become. In the play Miller describes how “the courts part for her like the sea parted for Moses” this biblical comparison of Abigail shows she is almost saint like. Therefore, she should be treated with the utmost respect as Christianity was something to be taken very seriously in the time the play was set. Her power is also significant as she is a girl and girls would have only been subordinate to men but also women in this society. Yet, Abigail has defied her position as girl and is now on par with religion which arguably makes her the most powerful character in the play. This Power Abigail holds is threat to anyone who wants to keep their life as if anyone were to cross Abigail it could ultimately end in there death. In the dialogue Mary was hesitant to agree to Abigail’s demands and even though Mary said she wouldn’t agree to help she ultimately did. This shows that Abigail’s power has dictated the actions of Mary.
I also wanted demonstrate how easily Abigail can get what she wants as the people in Salem either don’t want to die or have there name associated with witchcraft.
I decided to set the conversation outside the courts even though this is an obvious place for it to be set I believe it has much significance as this will be the place where Procter and Goody Procter will be sentenced to death. I decided that the “sun is just about to set” as I believe that this shows that if Mary does not do as Abigail tells her then her life will be just about to end. However, it also shows that goody Procter’s life is just about to end. I also mentioned a “breeze” and how the breeze “blows Mary’s hat off” The breeze represents Abigail and her power to knock people down. However, others may perceive Abigail as feeble character as she is just an orphan “I have given you a home child” this quote said by Parris could be suggestive that without him she would be homeless and have no power or rights whatsoever.
In the beginning of the dialogue Abigail is looking down on Mary and clearly expresses her hate for Goody Procter. This sets the tone for the dialogue and gives the audience an insight into the result of this conversation the death of Procter . Abigail also states her reason for hating Goody Procter and goes on to mention “our love would follow us to our graves” meaning Abigail’s and Proctor’s love. However, this ironic as Procter’s hubris and love for Goody Procter follows him to his grave. This statement could also be viewed as a rather insane quote form Abigail, as it is evident form the beginning of the play that Procter loves his wife and has much pride in him self. Therefore, he would never love Abigail.
Mary’s reaction as to what Abigail wants her to do can be seen as rather courageous “you’re a complete disgrace!” this shows that she is not afraid to stand up to Abigail. She did also almost go against Abigail as she tried to defend Elizabeth and Proctor. “Do which is good and no harm will come to thee” this is a quote said by Proctor and Mary does try to protect However, it is clear that Mary never truly defended her self or the other people of Salem. I think the audience would view Mary as one of there least favourite characters as she had no hubris. Furthermore, she was only interested in saving her own life and I feel she could have done much more to save the other characters in the play. This is shown in the play when Mary says she “you’re the devils man” this is when Mary goes against proctor and shows that she was to weak to defend Proctor.
Although, Mary’s main interest is to keep her self alive I do believe she had much guilt for the actions she was about to take. This was apparent when she was pleading with Abigail “you wouldn’t of all the things” this shows she was clearly unwilling to do as Abigail asked her. In addition she also said “God forgive me” this shows that she knows her actions are unforgivable so much that she turned to God’s forgiveness. Religion was also very important when this play was set, it played a big part in peoples lives. Therefore, I think turning to God shows she has much guilt for what she is about to do. However, this could be viewed as disrespectful as Mary’s forthcoming actions are about to end somebody’s life.
I believe that both Abigail and Mary could be seen as the villains in this play. It is obvious that Abigail is the main villain and is responsible for the deaths in Salem. However, Mary’s character is more complex although she has little hubris she did have a conscience unlike Abigail and knew her unwilling actions were wrong. I believe that because she was unwilling and tried to defend herself it makes her seem less of a villain. However, she did watch innocent people die knowingly and did nothing about it. She also took part in a plan to get Goody Procter executed, both of these factors make Mary more of a villain than a victim. However, if it were not for the hysteria of the girls then Mary would have gone ahead and tried to save Proctor. The girls were very dramatic “Stop it!” making them very intimidating to Mary therefore, Mary’s situation makes her less of a villain as most people would do as she did.
Word Count 1253