What Do You Think Is The Importance Of Mary Warren And How Does Miller Present Her?

1268 words - 6 pages

Miller presents the character of Mary Warren in an important way to show the message of status and power. Mary Warren’s character is seen to be vulnerable and timid. The key events that makes her role important are her roles in the girls’ group, the scene with the poppet and her confession in court. Through the events in the play Miller portrays Mary Warren with tension and suspense. This makes the audience question her status and power.

Mary’s importance is evident in Act 1 through her role in the group of the girls. Miller does this to show what little power she has within the group at the start of the play, compared to the end,
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Miller presents her to have little confidence in this way because he is trying to show that in society some people; were at the bottom of the hierarchy and in fact did not have much power but were the victims.

Throughout the play the character of Mary Warren seems to have more power. Miller presents her character to increase in power as the play progresses. He does this to show how the hierarchy can change suddenly and those with little power can gain power and status quickly.
“As though to compensate, Mary Warren goes to Elizabeth with a small rag doll.”
This quote shows how Mary Warren’s guilty nature is appearing. She thinks that as Elizabeth’s name is mentioned and that is partly her fault then giving her the ‘rag doll’ will make Elizabeth forgive her. The word compensate connotes to reward or paying someone off as if it is a bribe. Miller shows that she may be bribing the Proctors to keep quiet about the girls. This links to McCarthyism because people used to bribe police and others in order to keep them silent and if they were arrested to be allowed to be freed. With Miller showing this it mirrors the real life and what actually used to happen in America. A ‘rag doll’ may have been made as a way of consoling Elizabeth just in the way that children are meant to be consoled. This links with Mary Warren being an innocent and naïve character as it may have been made more to comfort Mary. To further develop this it is mentioned in Mary Warren’s speech,
“I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor…”
She uses the word “I” to make the speech personal about herself and Goody Proctor as of the conversation is between themselves. The mention of the word ‘gift’ can be ambiguous as it may mention a present or good connotations or could be used in a form and way of apologising. Mary Warren may be apologising for her behaviour and the behaviour of the girls. This is because she was there when Abigail made Tituba place a curse on Elizabeth. Not only this but Mary was there when Abigail brought up Elizabeth’s name in court (knowing she was innocent) all this shows that Mary knows from the beginning Abigail is doing this plan for vengeance and revenge on anyone she can but trying to blame Elizabeth as she swore she would and she still loves Proctor. This may be the reason that she testifies in court against her. Even though she is scared for her she feels as if it is her duty as she...

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