Mary Warren Quotes

Mary Warren quote in The Crucible

Abby, we’ve got to tell! Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two years ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 1. After the girls dance in the wood and drink chicken’s blood, the Proctors’ 17-year-old servant Mary Warren fears being hanged as witchcraft rumors swirl around Salem. Confronting Abigail, she says that they should confess to dancing and accept whipping rather than go to the gallows for witchcraft. This shows the brutal and intolerant Puritan justice system in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where dancing and witchcraft were crimes punished with the utmost severity. Mary’s "we must tell the truth" cry foreshadows her confession later in the play that the girls made up stories of seeing the Devil and spirits of other people – she recants that confession when Abby pressures her.

It is a mouse no more. I forbid her go, and she raises up her chin like the daughter of a prince and lays to me, "I must go to Salem, Goody Proctor; I am an official of the court!"

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Elizabeth Proctor is talking about the transformation in her servant Mary Warren. Her husband John has questioned why a mouse like Mary would frighten his wife. Elizabeth uses a "mouse" metaphor and "like the daughter of a prince" simile to describe how the once submissive Mary has become more assertive after working with Abigail and the other girls in the witch trials. This speaks to the theme of power, something the teenage Mary has now acquired because of her new status in court.

MARY WARREN: I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor. I had to sit long hours in a chair, and passed the time with sewing.
ELIZABETH: Why, thank you, it’s a fair poppet.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren makes a gift of a what seems a harmless poppet or doll to her employer Elizabeth Proctor. The child’s toy, which Mary made while in the court that day, will assume a sinister role in the play. Abigail will claim that Elizabeth has been using it like a voodoo doll to injure her. It will form the basis of accusations of witchcraft by Abby against Elizabeth.

MARY WARREN: Mr. Proctor, in open court she near to choked us all to death.
PROCTOR: How, choked you?
MARY WARREN: She sent her spirit out…She tried to kill me many times.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren makes this absurd and almost comical allegation about Sarah Good, knowing it is a lie. However, there is nothing funny in it for the unfortunate Sarah, a homeless and mentally unstable woman. She is an easy target for Mary and the other girls with their lying accusations of witchcraft.

I never knew it before. I never knew anything before. When she come into the court I say to myself, I must not accuse this woman, for she sleep in ditches, and so very old and poor. But then – then she sit there, denying and denying, and I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air; and then I hear a voice, a screamin’ voice, and it were my voice – and all at once I remember everything she done to me!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. The ramblings of Mary Warren provide a flavor of the mass hysteria, fear and panic enveloping the town of Salem and the court. Letting her imagination run riot, she vividly describes to the Proctors an episode in court that prompted her to accuse homeless woman Sarah Good. She claims to have been possessed by some force so that she couldn’t breathe. Using personification, she describe a cold sweat climbing up her back and her skin starting to crawl. Then suddenly she claims to recall a forgotten memory of what Sarah Good had done to her. Sarah, said to be old and poor and sleeping in ditches, is an easy target for Mary and the other girls to accuse of witchcraft.

MARY WARREN: So many time, Mr. Proctor, she come to this very door, beggin’ bread and a cup of cider – and mark this: whenever I turned her away empty, she mumbled…and I thought my guts would burst for two days after.
ELIZABETH: Mumbled! She may mumble if she’s hungry.
MARY WARREN: But what does she mumble? You must remember, Goody Proctor. Last month – a Monday, I think – she walked away, and I thought my guts would burst for two days after. Do you remember it?
ELIZABETH: Why – I do, I think, but – .
MARY WARREN: And so I told that to Judge Hathorne, and he asks her so. "Goody Good," says he, "what curse do you mumble that this girl must fall sick after turning you away?"…Aye, but then Judge Hathorne say, "Recite for us your commandments!" – and of all the ten she could not say a single one. She never knew no commandments, and they had her in a flat lie!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren tells the Proctors that the latest woman convicted of witchcraft Goody (or Sarah) Good was condemned after Mary’s evidence. The unfortunate woman "mumbled" something that caused Mary pain and then couldn’t say her commandments. In Salem hysteria and fear of the Devil is so strong that a corrupt justice system has abandoned all reason and fairness. The court makes decisions of life and death without proper evidence or proof. People like homeless woman Goody Good, old and poor and socially marginalized, become easy targets for accusations of witchcraft. In the theocracy that governs in Salem, she is yet another victim of Puritan intolerance.

PROCTOR: But the proof, the proof!
MARY WARREN: I told you the proof. It’s hard proof, hard as rock, the judges said.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. John Proctor is rightfully doubtful of the "proof" against the beggar Sarah Good that she is guilty of witchcraft. But his servant Mary Warren sides with the court, which earlier that day condemned Osburn because Mary testified that she "mumbled" to her and she could not recite her ten commandments for the judges. Mary uses an ironic simile to compare the non-existent proof against Good to "hard as rock." This is an example of the unfair justice being meted out to the accused in the Salem witch trials.

PROCTOR: You will not go to court again, Mary Warren.
MARY WARREN: I must tell you, sir, I will be gone every day now. I am amazed you do not see what weighty work we do.
PROCTOR: What work you do! It’s strange work for a Christian girl to hang old women!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. In this act we witness Mary Warren’s transformation from a shy and timid serving girl for the Proctors to an outspoken and assertive young woman of power. This follows her involvement in the witch trials. She boasts with pride of the "weighty work" she and the other girls are doing to help drive the Devil out of Salem. But the irony is, and Proctor sees it, the "work" she is doing is helping to hang vulnerable women like beggar Sarah Osburn.

But, Mr. Proctor, they will not hang them if they confess. Sarah Good will only sit in jail some time – recalling – and here’s a wonder for you; think on this. Goody Good is pregnant!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren says that those who have been accused of witchcraft will not hang if they confess, but will spend some time in jail. This is how the concept and practice of justice is perverted in Salem: if you are accused and innocent you have to confess to avoid hanging. Mary also announces that Sarah Good is pregnant, with Elizabeth asking is the court mad as Sarah is nearly sixty!

You must see it, sir, it’s God’s work we do. So I’ll be gone every day for some time. I’m – I am an official of the court, they say.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Newly empowered teenage servant Mary Warren challenges her master John Proctor, when he commands her not go to court again. With a sense of pride in her new powerful role as court witness, she boasts that she must attend court daily to do "God’s work." The irony is that that means hanging innocent people. Mary is part of a group of young girls, led by Abigail, who are falsely accusing people of being witches.

The Devil’s loose in Salem, Mr. Proctor; we must discover where he’s hiding!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Flaunting her new power as an "official of the court," Mary Warren makes her contribution to the growing hysteria about devil worship rampaging through Salem. Proud that she has joined the hunt for the Devil, she presents herself as being on the right side of the battle between good and evil. But the irony is that the real evil in Salem is in the form of the lies of Mary and the other attention-seeking girls, the greed of adults and a court that follows the maxim of "guilty until proven innocent."

Somewhat mentioned. But I said I never see no sign you ever sent your spirit out to hurt no one, and seeing I do live so closely with you, they dismissed it.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren responds to Elizabeth, when she asks if she was accused at the witch trials. Mary assures her that she testified to her good character and the court rejected claims of witchcraft against her. But Mary’s power in the court is not as great as she thinks, certainly not enough to stop the devious Abigail having Elizabeth arrested. Mary’s warning that Elizabeth’s name was mentioned in court is foreshadowing of her arrest later in the act.

I am bound by law, I cannot tell it. I only hope you’ll not be so sarcastical no more. Four judges and the King’s deputy sat to dinner with us but an hour ago. I – I would have you speak civilly to me, from this out.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren demonstrates her new sence of power over her employers, the Proctors, and demands that they show respect to her. She reminds them of her elevated status at the court, with the judges and deputy having dinner with her and the other girls testifying about witchcraft. Mary tells Elizabeth that she cannot divulge the identity of the person who named her in court.

Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. Mary Warren admits to making the poppet doll herself. Speaking to Hale, she says that Abigail witnessed her sewing the poppet in court and sticking the needle into it for safekeeping. This casts doubt on Abby’s claim that Elizabeth’s spirit stabbed her with a needle while eating at Parris’s house. It suggests Abby stabbed herself with a needle in order to frame Elizabeth, knowing that the doll would be in the Proctor house at the time.

PROCTOR: Make your peace with it! Now Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pretense is ripped away – make your peace! Peace. It is a providence, and no great change; we are only what we always were, but naked now. Aye, naked! And the wind, God’s icy wind, will blow!
MARY WARREN: I cannot, I cannot, I cannot.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 2. John Proctor grabs Mary Warren by the throat "as though he would strangle her" and demands that she tell the court about Abigail’s lies. Yelling at her in frustration after Elizabeth is taken to jail, he pleads with Mary to be on the right side of the battle between good and evil. Hell and Heaven are personified, when John compares the struggle between them to a wrestling match. He speaks of Mary and himself are metaphorically naked to the elements with their sins exposed, as they face the "icy wind" of God’s judgment and punishment. He wants Mary to explain to the court that it was she and not Elizabeth who put the needle in the poppet and placed it in the Proctors’ house. But the act ends with Mary sobbing and repeating the words over and over, "I cannot." This is an example of how terrified the girls, and especially Mary, are of Abigail.

I cannot lie no more. I am with God, I am with God.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren finds her courage and integrity, when she decides to tell the truth to the court and risk the anger of Abigail and the girls. A deposition on her behalf is presented to the judges by Proctor, in which Mary swears that she saw neither spirits nor the Devil, despite her and the girls testified that they had. The irony is that Mary uses much the same words at the end of the act when she reverses her testimony again and returns to the lies of the other girls: "I love God, I bless God." Mary is a girl who is weak, fickle and easily manipulated.

I – I cannot tell how, but I did. I – I heard the other girls screaming, and you, Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I – It were only sport in the beginning, sir, but then the whole world cried spirits, spirits, and I – I promise you, Mr. Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren admits to the court that she and the other girls were lying when they said they saw spirits. It began as sport, she says, and then when the whole world cried spirits, she thought she saw them but didn’t. Mary provides an insight into how fear, peer pressure and mass hysteria combine to ignite a chain reaction in court of girls screaming that they could see spirits.

DANFORTH: A little while ago you were afflicted. Now it seems you afflict others; where did you find this power?
MARY WARREN: I – have no power.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. During her interrogation Mary Warren claims to have no power after Abby and her girls accuse her of attacking them with her spirit. This is an example of irony, Mary being a member of the original group of accusing girls who enjoyed considerable power in the witch trials court. But now Mary feels powerless, as stated in the stage directions: "Mary Warren, utterly confounded, and becoming overwhelmed by Abigail’s – and the girls’ – utter conviction, starts to whimper, hands half raised, powerless, and all the girls begin whimpering exactly as she does."

You’re the Devil’s man!…I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I love God.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Proctor’s pleading with Mary Warren to tell the truth because "God damns all liars" falls on deaf ears and she finally breaks. Under pressure from Abby’s gang of girls and Danforth’s questioning, she cracks and screams this at Proctor. As she returns to the fold of the accusers and their pretense of seeing spirits, she scapegoats John as a devil worshipper to save herself. Mary is weak-willed, morally ambiguous and easily manipulated, especially by Abigail. Mary’s switch back to the side of the girls follows the remarkable "yellow bird" scene in which Abby convinces the courtroom that Mary is attacking her in the shape of a demonic bird. After Abby’s scheming, Mary falsely outing Proctor as the Devil’s disciple proves to be the final nail in his coffin. As with many other instances in the play, the division between who is good and who is evil it not clear-cut, with the sides often getting mixed up.

He come to me by night and every day to sign…My name, he want my name. "I’ll murder you," he says, "if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court," he says!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. According to the stage directions, Mary Warren screams this out hysterically while pointing at John Proctor. She lies that he asked her to sign her name in the Devil’s book. She claims that Proctor forced her with threats of murder to change her testimony and "overthrow the court" in order to save his wife from hanging.

He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign.

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren goes from being servant to the Proctors to their mortal enemy as she provides false testimony that John Proctor is working for the Devil. She throws her employer under the bus, telling the court that he forced her to sign the Devil’s book. She uses demonic imagery and simile – "eyes were like coals," "fingers claw my neck" – to describe how Proctor woke her up every night until he got her to sign.

Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you no more!

– Arthur Miller

The Crucible, Act 3. Mary Warren, as she sobs in court, declares her love for God and rushes to Abigail. In speaking her final line in the play to Abby, Mary acknowledges that the 17-year-old is now one of the most powerful people in Salem. Mary has changed sides again, returning back to Abby for her protection. The stage directions underline Abby’s power: "They all watch, as Abigail, out of her infinite charity, reaches out and draws the sobbing Mary to her, and then looks up to Danforth." As for Mary, she proves too weak and submissive and cowardly to stand up for what she knows is morally right. She is a symbol of evil triumphing over good.
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