How does Miller present the character of Mary Warren in The Crucible? Arthur Miller Shows Mary Warren in different limelight’s of power. At the beginning of the play there is an aspect of her having no power but as you go through the play there seems to be shifts in her power. Miller uses Mary to demonstrate young, single women’s power and how when you have so much power it can just slip right out of your hands in one brief moment. Miller shows that power can be taken away pretty easily and quite absentmindedly from Mary Warren’s character. He demonstrates this by making her young and single and setting the scene to a subservient, naïve girl. This makes her prepared to answer and obey others unquestioningly and serving as a means to an end. In Act 1, Mary has a conversation with Abigail about the dancing. ‘I never done any of it, Abby. I only looked.’ This shows us that she lacks the confidence to get involved, making us see that Miller is trying to present a very timid, scared girl. Marys fear is also shown through this dialogue. A sense of her having no power is shown through Millers use of stage direction. ‘(Enter Proctor. On seeing him Mary jumps in fright)’. Miller is trying to illustrate the lack of confidence and courage she has to stand up to him. This is also a remark of the amount of importance he has upon her. This is also shown in dialogue. ‘I forbid you to leave the house’. In these quotes Miller shows that young, single women have very little to no power and importance in Salem at this time. By Act 2 Mary Warrens character develops, so much so that Elizabeth is starting to fear her, ‘She frightened all my strengths away.’ This shows that Miller is making Mary stronger and more confidence that other characters have to talk about her behind her back. Even though Proctor still believes she is a ‘mouse’ and still sees her as that, Elizabeth says ‘It is a mouse no more.’ Miller makes the other character...
Please join StudyMode to read the full document