“ Oh, you’re a great one for lookin’, aren’t you Mary Warren?
What a grand peeping courage you have!
It is possible that the other girls are in fact terrified of her, knowing that she is weak and can easily slip up under pressure, reviling their doings in the forest that night.
When she meets John Proctor, a strong willed character who is not afraid to speak his mind, Mary expectedly is very frightened of him as he regularly threatens her and occasionally refers to giving her a whipping!
“I’ll show you a great doin’ on your arse one of these days.
Now get home; my wife is waitin’ with your work!”
Mary very quickly jumps to the sound of his voice and as Miller describes in a stage direction, ‘trying to retain a shred of dignity, she goes slowly out’. This highlights the control some like Proctor has on someone like Mary.
In Act two, the audience learns a great deal about the events happening in Salem through Mary, hence she being made an official of the court.
This in a way speaks on it’s own, how totally out of hand the situation in Salem has become with someone of Mary stature being made an official of the court and the share pace of everything in just eight days.
Mary later informs us on the amount accused,
“No sir. There be thirty-nine now”
This being thirty-nine women, thirty-nine charges and trials of those being accused of witchcraft, in just eight days from when Abigail fist accused Tituba of witchcraft!
Through Mary, the audience is made aware of the influence Abigail has on the court and the Salem community and reveals how Elizabeth was accused with sending her spirit out against Abigail. This was due to Abigail dislike of Elizabeth and desire to get rid of her so she could have John Proctor all to herself. Hence Mary immediately connects herself to the condemning of Abigail’s accusation and saving of Elizabeth’s life.
“I saved her life today!”
Miller ensures that the audience are aware of the absurdity of the situation in Salem, due to the court appointing a servant girl like Mary as an official. Unlike Proctor, she doesn’t speak out of her place and listens and does everything she is told to by such people like Parris or Danforth which could explain why the court were keen to appoint some like her as an official. Although we also notice a change in Mary Warren’s character from being a good, obedient servant to a slightly ruthless more and self confident young woman.
“I’ll not stand whipping anymore!”
This is directed at Proctor as he tries to order Mary around, but fails.
Furthermore, on her return from court, Mary unknowingly condemns Elizabeth by giving her a ‘poppet’ with a needle placed in it as a gift she had earlier on that day in court. We later discover that this proves to be very unfortunate on Elizabeth’s behalf as she is later charged for sending her spirit out against Abigail and stabbing her.
After Elizabeth is taken away, Proctor realises that in order to save his wife, he needs Mary to support him in court as a witness against Abigail and the other girls. To prove all their outbursts in court of being attacked by spirits were false and just an act. At the end of Act two Mary is clearly frightened by Elizabeth’s arrest, as she really begins to see Abigail true influence over the court and ends up being bullied to give evidence against her.
In Act three when Mary arrives in court to accuse the girls of lying, she seems to refer to her previous characteristics in Act one of being very quite and frightened, as to what the other girls might do to her if she talks.
“I cannot, they’ll turn on me”
This taken from the end of Act two and shows the hold of fear someone like Abigail still has on her.
On of the most dramatic incidents in the play, is when all the other girls turn on Mary by saying they see her spirit and begin to repeat whatever she says:
Mary: “Abby, you mustn’t!”
Abby+ other girls: “Abby, you mustn’t!”
This eventually make Mary realise that she will be accused of witchcraft if she continues to oppose Abigail and evidently Mary turns against Proctor and accuses him of making her defy the court and turning her to the devil. Thus Mary returns to her new found personality of being confidents and only thinking of herself.
In conclusion, Mary Warren’s character makes ‘The Crucible’ tenser through Arthur Miller’s dramatic presentation of her. Presented through his description of her being “naïve and subservient” in the begging of Act one, to her speaking and acting on, with more confidence in Act two.
In addition, in Act three Mary is once again bullied by Abigail and Proctor to an extent that she breaks down into tears at one point and speaks out of proportion to save herself. Therefore once again she ends up being described in the manner of being ‘terrified, pleading and almost collapsing’, when she is finally pushed by Abigail and Proctor to designate between them. Thus she is once again a pathetic loner!
