“We must tell the truth Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’ and other things!”. This was said by Mary Warren in The Crucible. It shows two of her character traits, that she is anxious and honest. Mary Warren was a teenage girl caught in the wrong place at the wrong time while she was “just watching” her friends dance in the woods. Throughout the play she was very conflicted with whether she should tell the truth or follow what Abigail told her to do. I can relate to Mary Warren because we both can be anxious, we have tendencies to be a follower rather than a leader, and we both can be honest. Mary and I are both similar in that we both have tendencies to be anxious. After the girls danced in the woods, Mary was very nervous that they …show more content…
Mary’s conscience must have kicked in, because she decided to tell the truth and go to court with John Proctor. She finally told Judge Hathorne that the whole thing was pretense, nobody was actually a witch, and the girls were pretending to be sick. She later went back on her word because she was afraid she would be charged as a witch,but Mary was once again following Abigail. Honesty is the one quality I wish I did not have at times. Although it is a good thing to be truthful, there are a few times I wish I was not. I cannot tell a lie to save my life. Every time I have tried, I end up laughing or smiling, which makes it obvious to everybody that I am not telling the truth. When I was about five years old, my family and I were eating dinner. For some reason my parents left the room and I decided I did not want my food anymore, so i threw it away and placed a napkin over the chicken I was eating. When my parents came back they asked if I ate it all. I told them yes, but I started smiling, then my brothers started laughing. My dad knew we were up to something so he asked again if I ate everything. I guess the lie was too much for me to handle, because I started crying and showed them my chicken in the garbage
There is not just one definition for a witch hunt. A witch hunt can be looking for and possibly punishing people who are accused of having unpopular opinions. It can also be when a group of people go after another group of people that either have opposing views or are outsiders. Just like in the isolation of HIV/AIDS patients in the 1980’s/1990’s, many people go along with the hysteria of a witch hunt out of fear about something that may or may not be true. These persecutions are often “justified” by those participating in the witch hunt. Whether they blame others to save themselves, or do it out of guilt and greed, they
The definition of fear is when someone feels scared or threatened or feels like they’re in danger. For example think you’re in a house by yourself and you hear something outside and you hear something outside in your backyard or in another room, and your heart start beating and our thinking in your mind what to do. That’s fear and it’s something that you feel time to time. It’s something from a little spider to a fear drowning. The main point or theme of The Crucible is when people accuse each other of witchery but, not knowing if so.
Unlike her peers, Mary Warren is innocent of and wishes to tell the truth, "We must tell the truth, Abby! You'll only be whipped for dancin', and the other things!" (Miller, Arthur. "Act 1." The Crucible. 50th Anniversary ed. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1976. 18. Print.). Upon hearing this, Abigail immediately shoots down Mary's request, threatening her life if she dare
During the trial the girls and Abigail pressure Mary into conforming to them by pretending that Mary was bewitching the girls. When she plays along with the girls; Proctor screams at Mary with much rage, “Mary god damns all liars!”(224).Which is ironic because John Proctor has been lying to everyone about his deadly secret. Which he knows will eventually come out and ruin everything for him. Proctor finally comes out and tells the court when there seems to be no way out for Elizabeth he points out, “I have known her sir, I have known her” (220). Proctor finally confesses about his affair in front of Judge
A basic sense of honesty is another of Mary Warren’s traits. In Act I she goes to Salem to convince Abigail to tell the truth about what really happened in the woods. When the witchcraft scare gets out of hand, Mary joins Abigail and the other girls in falsely accusing women of being witches. These false accusations are motivated by hysteria. There is evidence that Mary really believes that the women in court are bewitching her. She tells the judge that she thought she saw spirits. The other girls were screaming, and before she knew it, Mary was screaming with them. When she realizes that there are no spirits, Mary is willing to be truthful. After Elizabeth Proctor’s name is brought up in court, Mary Warren defends her against the accusation. At the end of Act II, the reader hopes that the basic sense of honesty will remain strong enough to allow Mary to testify on behalf of the accused women in Act III.
(80). Mary demonstrates her fear of Abigail by the fact that she thinks Abigail could actually kill her. Mary Warren’s last lie and most consequential is when she gets fed up with the torture and pressure that Abigail puts on her when Abigail is trying to convict her of murder. Once Mary Warren can no longer handle the pressure she says, “He [John Proctor] wake [her] every night his eyes… like coals and his fingers claw[ing]
When people are put in tense and difficult situations, they lose control. John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Mary warren, all exhibit this throughput the play. John exhibits courage, in the sense that he found the strength to keep his name and lose his life rather than keep sinning and lie. Mary Warren displays weakness when she falls to Abby once again, in the end, instead of sticking to her story and assisting John, in freeing Elizabeth. Elizabeth illustrated how difficult it was to tell the truth in life or death situations. All three of these characters, and their traits, represent what “The Crucible,” is about, courage, weakness, and
In Arthur Miller’s book “The Crucible” there is an inadequacy of honesty which is a very important trait for everyone to learn. In this essay I am writing to prove that the paucity of honesty is negative and was very prevalent in Salem, and that very few people remained truthful throughout the Salem Witch Trials. The dishonesty in The Crucible would soon lead to the deaths and imprisonment of many residents in Salem. Those accused would lie and accuse other people of staying out of trouble from the authorities, but this took the lives of many innocent victims. In Miller's book Dishonesty is expressed by almost everyone included in The Crucible such as Abigail, Mary, and Elizabeth.
Abigail Williams the main character in The Crucible by Arthur Miller draws the interest of the reader as she is a wicked, confident girl who lies to get what she wants and defends her name and her life.
They say “Honesty is the best policy”, but that isn’t necessarily true especially for those who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Honesty may have been a good trait for someone to have, but during the witch trials people rethought that. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrayed many people as good puritans. Always loyal and honest throughout their lives, and avoiding any sins that they possibly could. But there were people who had to sin to save their lives or even to save their reputation. Abigail Williams was just an young girl who turned to lying in order to save herself during the Salem Witch Trials. At the same time, Elizabeth Proctor was not agreeing with the witch business that she was accused of. You could tell lies during this time, and no one would think that you were turning too sins because the entire town was becoming obsessed about all those accused of possible witchcraft. While some were being accused, others were avoiding the truth when confessing. Like when Abigail never confessed to drinking blood when she was with Tituba and Betty. In The Crucible, Honesty was portrayed
Mary shows her honesty in The Crucible by not lying to Danforth no matter what it costs. She would not change her answer to Danforth even though he was badgering her in court, which is currently not allowed. Honesty is one of my best traits because it makes me trustworthy. I am trustworthy because it gives me a better chance to keep the people that I also trust. My honesty also shows that I won’t lie to others. I don’t lie to others because I feel that it isn’t right and I do not want lied to in return. Honesty is the final trait that Mary and I have in
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a mean and vindictive person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts. Through out the play her accusations and lies cause many people pain and suffering, but she seemed to never care for any of them except John Proctor, whom she had an affair with seven months prior to the beginning of the play. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth used to employ Abigail, until Elizabeth found out the affair and threw Abigail out. Although John told Abigail that the affair was over and he would never touch her again, she tried desperately to rekindle their romance. "Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." (Page 23) She claimed that she loved John and that he loved her. Before the play began, Abigail tried to kill Elizabeth with a curse. She thought that if Elizabeth were dead John would marry her. Further into the play, Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. She saw Marry Warren, the Proctor's servant, making a poppet. Mary put a needle into the doll, and Abigail used that for her accusation. She stabbed herself with a needle and claimed that Elizabeth's soul had done it. Although Abigail claimed she loved John, she may have just loved the care and attention he gave her. John cared for her like no one else had. In a way he could be described as somewhat of a father figure to her. When Abigail was just a child, she witnessed her parents' brutal murders. "I saw Indians smash my dear parent's heads on the pillow next to mine..." (page 20) After her traumatic experience, she was raised by her uncle, Reverend Parris, who is somewhat of a villain. In the play it was written, "He (Parris) was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them." (Page 3) Parris regarded children as young adults who should be "thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak." (Page 4) Therefore, it is obvious to see that Abigail grew up without any love or nurturing.
The people in Salem were ruled by the fear being killed. All the lying that occurred in Salem began the build of fear. Abigail is the main character that caused the lying. Her first lie starts in the beginning of the book after being caught dancing with other girls in the woods. Abigail herself feared the consequences she would face if the town found out about what happened in the forest. She made sure to threaten all the girls by saying “...Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, 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 20). Her threat established a fear into the girls’ heads that would prevent them from their normal action of telling the truth. Following this event Abigail must save her reputation, In order to do this she lies to Reverend Hale saying “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!”(Miller 43). Abigail's accusation toward Tituba also leads to the accusation of Sarah Good and Goody Osburn. The way Abigail acted was a result of fear, if she feared nothing bad would come from telling the truth then she wouldn't have lied. The girls may have set the wi...
In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Mary Warren started off as a quiet, easily persuaded girl. As the play progressed and more innocent people were accused of witchcraft and were hung, Mary grew a thicker layer of skin and exposed Abby’s true colors. Mary developed into a strong, independent young girl who does not let others tell her what to do or how to act to protect their own
Out of all the characters in the crucible was great, but in my opinion, Elizabeth is the best character in the cast in the Crucible. She was a faithful wife, a good mother, and strong in her faith/religion. Even though her husband cheated on her she still remained faithful to him. Elizabeth demonstrates a very truthful woman. She’s the wife of John Proctor. Nicknamed Goody Proctor, because she was a good christen woman. Everyone liked her, because she was a woman who never lied. Until, she lied in court one day to save her husband’s life. She acts very frigidly to others. The only person that didn’t like her was Abigail Williams. Abigail wants Elizabeth to die because Abigail wants John Proctor all to her self.