Throughout the book The Crucible we see many, honest, courageous, and even weak characters who significantly change the stories direction. In this book we experience Betty Warren, the weakest character, Rev. John Hale who is the most courageous character, and of course John Proctor who is the most honest character in the story. All three of these important characters are the very roots of this book and make the story what it is.
In conclusion, Mary Warren is a perfect example of a coward, a follower and she lies. She can neither stand up to others who are immoral nor stand up for what she knows is right. Mary Warren falsely accuses John Proctor of witchcraft to save herself from hanging. She takes the easy way out, and blames others instead of admitting her own wrongs. Her lack of courage gets innocent people killed and allows sinners to control her
Hysteria makes people go as mad as a boss who just lost his business. Many people suffer Hysteria even today. The crucible is about the Salem Witch trials which was when innocent people were wrongly accused of being witches. The author of this, Arthur Miller, was in the same situation, he was wrongly accused of being a communist on the blacklist. During the Salem Witch Trials over 200 people were accused, 20 of them who were killed. Many of the lives could have been saved if the girls just told the truth. Or if there were more brave people who stepped up and less cowards who were afraid of being accused by the girls if they said anything. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller depicts characters who demonstrate through their actions different themes. John Proctor shows courage through everything, Mary Warren shows weakness when she is trying to confess, and reverend Hale seeks truth about the girls.
There’s always that one person in a friend group that hides in the shadows, bottling up any thoughts or opinions they may have about a subject. They have knowledge that could change the views of the people around them, yet they decide to stay mute. Whether they hide their view out of embarrassment or fear is another story. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Mary Warren is a prime example of this kind of person. She seems to be an unfortunate soul that was coerced into standing before the presence of the Devil, but she holds the truth about the witch trials. Mary Warren, maid of John and Elizabeth Proctor, is a bystander whose fear clouded her judgement, and her lack of change throughout the play helped cause many innocents to be executed and engulfed Salem in a dark age.
Mary is part of the courts and seems to use this to manipulate her employer, Mr. Proctor. Her first act of defiance was when she told him that he could not order her to bed, give her whippings, or stop her from going to court proceedings (Miller, pg. 59). It is not certain if she knew the intent of Abigail to use the poppet to condemn Elizabeth Proctor. However, when she asked by Mr. Proctor to tell the truth about the poppet, she adamantly says that she cannot because she fears the girls will turn on her. When she does have a change of heart and is put in front of the courts, she shows her weak side and you can see her confidence wane. “Mary Warren, very faintly: No, sir. Hathorne, with a gleam of victory: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you - Mary Warren: That were pretense, sir. Danforth: I cannot hear you. Mary Warren: Pretense, sir” (Miller, 106). The girls turn on her and she again goes back on her story and doesn’t tell the truth. Because she is aware that she may not be believable in court, she goes mad and then, accuses Proctor of
In The Crucible, logic and reason play an active role as the counterpart to the fear that fills the Puritan society and the characters themselves. The characters Proctor and Hale represent the voice of reason against the voices of fear. Though they are outnumbered by those who give in to the paranoia, they stick with what they believe is right despite knowing they will become a pariah. On the other hand, Danforth and Parris represent the driving forces of fear and paranoia that plagues the minds of the people in their society. Society’s reaction to their driving force is to comply because to do otherwise is to be an outcast, and to be an outcast could result in one’s death.
During the play, persecution is led to by many causes of vengeance. Abigail Williams has an affair with John Proctor. After John calls off the affair, Abigail wants him to herself, and tries to get her revenge by accusing Elizabeth of having a voodoo doll. Mary Warren is sitting by Abigail in the courtroom when she is making Elizabeth a poppet. After Mary finishes her poppet, she sticks a needle in its side. Abigail notices this and ends up stabbing herself with a needle in the exact same place as the doll and says it was because of Elizabeth. Elizabeth is then arrested in claims of witchcraft. Soon after Elizabeth is arrested, John Proctor confesses to adultery. Elizabeth
In what ways are women abused and discriminated against inside literature and throughout history? In many patriarchal societies, men have held authority over women due to gender. This power imbalance between men and women sometimes led to unjust treatment of women; men exert their authority over many women in the play, The Crucible. In The Crucible¸ male characters intimidate women to achieve specific outcomes and mark their superiority.
Did She deserve the death penalty Did Mary deserve to die. In 1864 the surreal assassination of president Lincoln and, the near fatal attempt for homicide on the Secretary of state William Seward. The plot that killed the president was connected to Mary Surratt and her son John. Mary had a boarding house in Washington city. It was known for confederate conspirators and spies. When the manhunt started the police searched Booth’s hotel room and found Mary’s name in the plot. The police searched the boarding house and found nothing. She was later arrested for lying to a police and was taken to the old penitentiary in Washington. Than she was sentenced to be hanged. She was the first women in history to be hanged. Mary
Your parents are still mad at you because of that one time you pooped in the bathtub when you were a toddler.This obviously doesn’t happen because, as they have done countless times, your parents forgive you. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, depicts how by forgiving someone’s faults, one’s relationship with them can overcome the error and move on to flourish into something better. Miller shows the importance of forgiveness and how it removes the chains of resentment and spite through the characters of the play such as: Elizabeth truly forgiving Proctor, Mary-afraid of not being forgiven-lies to the court, and John Proctor forgiving himself for not being a good man. would’ve
A woman named Mary Mallon is an asymptomatic typhoid carrier. Everyone around her are innocently dying from this disease. Everyone thinks this woman is causing their disease through her cooking. Is Mary innocent of this disease or is she passing it for her own pleasure to kill? Questions are up in the air and people want to know the answer. In the book, Terrible Typhoid Mary the author Bartoletti illustrates the main character by explaining how unvirtuous, this menacing woman really is and how she will intentionally kill people with her disease.
Mary Warren liked the amount of power she held in the court. She even argues with Elizabeth and says she had a reason to not show up to work since she considered herself a vital judge of the court. On one hand, Mary Warren knows it was the right action to do; help Elizabeth because she contributed to Elizabeth’s arrest. On the other hand, she knows she will lose Abigail's alliance if she testifies against her, and she does not want to lose the power that she was given through being associated with Abigail. Abigail was by far Mary Warren’s most significant influence. She was able to make Mary Warren go into mass hysteria and convince her to take back the truth, and support Abigail's claims of seeing demons and spirits as truth. This shows one of the main themes of the play, the actions people take, ultimately betrayal, to keep their
The story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl takes place in and the time is around 5:00 pm. Mary Maloney is a devoted wife to her husband Patrick Maloney. But one day Patrick Maloney comes home and acts in an unusual way. He tells Mary Maloney he wants to leave her. Sp Mary Maloney hits Patrick Maloney on the head with a lamb and kills him. Mary Maloney makes up an act and gets away with the murder. Mary Maloney is a dynamic character because she changes throughout the story. She changes from a caring and loving wife to a murderer and a crazy person. Mary has more traits like caring, ruthless and clever.
In Arthur Miller’s historical fiction play The Crucible (1953), he created loyal and unloyal figures that either stay true to their beliefs or falter in order to save themselves. Multiple selfish characters such as Thomas Putnam, his wife, and Abigail Williams manipulate others for their own gain- with no regard to any loyalty toward those people they have known for years. In The Crucible, the town of Salem goes into a panic when people are accused of witchcraft, and long-term friends start turning on each other. Loyalty does not matter, because people are either trying to save themselves or get something from it by using other people. Many people disregard loyalty and allow self-interest to overcome their integrity. Why do people seem to expect
Roald Dahl's short story Lamb to the Slaughter is a very intriguing read. Dahl uses a lot of characterization throughout the story, giving subtle descriptions of what the characters are like. This happens the most with the main character, Mary Maloney. In the beginning of the story, Dahl describes Mary as as being six months pregnant, with big calm eyes. This displays a picture of innocence. The way she addresses her husband, Patrick, is caring and compassionate. As the story progresses she gets more and more uneasy until Patrick tells her very bad news, and the entire mood of the story shifts. Mary becomes removed, cold, in shock. At this point, she “simply walked up behind him and without any pause, she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head” ( ). Patrick died within seconds. Since the audience previously saw Mary as innocent and harmless, the audience is even more surprised by this sudden murder. By now her entire character has changed. She is cold, calculated.