Have you ever been so afraid to stand up for what you knew was right that you instead followed the crowd and participated in something that you knew was wrong? Mary Warren, from Arthur Miller’s famous play The Crucible, did this exact thing. The play is set in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, where the town is abuzz with rumors that certain individuals are bewitched and under the control of the Devil. Mary Warren, a servant girl who works for the Proctor family, knows that the girls making these accusations are lying, but when called upon to testify to the court, she freezes. Mary struggles to speak coherently and then tells the entire town that her master, John Proctor, is a witch. This accusation puts John’s life in jeopardy and later becomes the driving force behind his hanging. Mary Warren’s lack of loyalty, obsession with being
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This fault is an obsession with being well-liked by others. Mary Warren cares deeply about her reputation, and this sometimes blinds her to the consequences that will be caused by her actions. A good example of this comes from Act 2 of the play, when John asks Mary to testify to the court that the accusations being made are false and that her friends are liars. However, Mary has seen others in the town lose friends and others close to them during this ordeal because they testified against them, and she wants no part of this. She says, “I cannot- they’ll turn on me also!” (Miller 2). In saying this, Mary lets John know that she values her friendships more than the truth. She believes that to be bereft of all her friends would be much worse than to endanger those who she works for. Clearly, Mary Warren doesn't care about doing what's right if it isolates her from those close to her, and she does not believe she would have the fortitude to face her friends if she were to reveal their
This fault is an obsession with being well-liked by others. Mary Warren cares deeply about her reputation, and this sometimes blinds her to the consequences that will be caused by her actions. A good example of this comes from Act 2 of the play, when John asks Mary to testify to the court that the accusations being made are false and that her friends are liars. However, Mary has seen others in the town lose friends and others close to them during this ordeal because they testified against them, and she wants no part of this. She says, “I cannot- they’ll turn on me also!” (Miller 2). In saying this, Mary lets John know that she values her friendships more than the truth. She believes that to be bereft of all her friends would be much worse than to endanger those who she works for. Clearly, Mary Warren doesn't care about doing what's right if it isolates her from those close to her, and she does not believe she would have the fortitude to face her friends if she were to reveal their