Discussion Topic
Danforth's Manipulation and Suspicion of Mary Warren in The Crucible
Summary:
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Judge Danforth manipulates and confuses Mary Warren during Act 3, when she attempts to confess that the girls' accusations of witchcraft were false. Danforth's suspicion arises because admitting the truth would undermine the legitimacy of the witch trials. He questions Mary's change of testimony and pressures her to demonstrate her fainting, which she fails to do under scrutiny. This leads Mary to recant her confession and accuse John Proctor of witchcraft, reinforcing Danforth's belief in her initial claims.
In Act 3 of The Crucible, how does Danforth confuse Mary Warren?
In Act Three of The Crucible, Mary Warren comes to the courts and attempts to explain that the accusations that the girls were making were false, and were based on fear and mass hysteria. It started with wanting to get out of trouble for dancing and conjuring spells, but continued because of fear of reprisal from Abigail, and because of the power of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is where everyone around you exhibits a particular emotion, and so you feel yourself experiencing that emotion too. For example, if you are in a crowded movie theater watching a horror movie, and someone screams in fear at a part that isn't particularly scary, you might feel fear and scream yourself--just because everyone else is screaming. Mary tries to explain this happening in the courts when someone was accused. She says to the judges,
"I--I heard the other girls screaming, and you,...
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Your Honor, you seemed to believe them, and I--It were only sport in teh 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."
What Mary is describing is mass hysteria--everyone was crying out and screaming they felt spirits, so she too felt it. Her logical mind realized that they weren't there, but the emotion was contagious.
Danforth, Parris, and Hawthorne decide that if she was able to fake it in court, then she should be able to fake it right then and there. They hypothesize, "let her turn herself cold now, let her pretend she is attacked now, let her faint." Mary tries, but can't--since all of the other girls aren't screaming, and because she is under intense pressure, she can't do it. And, because of that, the judges assume she is lying about it all, and that there really were spirits. Her attempt to tell the truth falls flat, simply because the judges think that if she can't faint alone, then she must not be under the spell of a spirit at that time.
In The Crucible, what does Mary Warren tell Danforth and why is he suspicious of her?
Mary Warren is in court because John Proctor has brought her there to submit her deposition and testify that "She never saw no spirits [...]" (Act 3). He is attempting to save his own wife, as well as the wives of Giles Corey and Francis Nurse, all of whom have been accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams. He also wants the court to understand that Abigail has ulterior motives in her accusations. Danforth is immediately suspicious that Proctor's assertion that he only wants to save his wife is untrue, and so he tells Proctor that Elizabeth is pregnant, and thus will be saved for at least eight more months. When Proctor says that he also wants to free his friends' wives, Danforth with "an almost imperceptible hardness in his voice" says, "Then your purpose is somewhat larger." Since he and Parris believe that innocent people are happy for the courts in Salem, Proctor's dissatisfaction with court automatically singles him out as a potential problem.
Concerning Mary Warren's former statements that people sent their spirits out on her, she now says, "It were pretense, sir." She admits that she lied before, when she accused them, even though she "knew that people would hang by [her] evidence," according to Danforth.
Judge Hathorne instructs her to pretend to faint, as she did before, but she cannot: "I -- have no sense of it now, I --," she cries. Finally, when the girls begin to insist that Mary is sending her familiar spirit to attack them, she calls Proctor "the Devil's man" and returns to Abby's fold.
To Proctor, then, Danforth says, "What are you? You are combined with anti-Christ, are you not? I have seen your power; you will not deny it!" By the end of the act, Danforth is sure that Proctor is in league with the devil to tear down the courts in Salem.
In The Crucible, how does Danforth confuse Mary Warren?
In Act III of The Crucible, John Proctor brings Mary Warren before the judges to testify against the other girls. In an effort to save his wife, John plans on revealing that the girls are frauds, and Mary Warren's written deposition is his proof.
Danforth does little to confuse Mary Warren. The extent of his questioning is aimed at the girls. He emphasizes the penalties for both lying and for being a witch, telling the girls that Mary Warren will hang it she is being used by Satan to overthrow the court. He does question Mary Warren about her change in story, wondering if it is possible that spirits are causing her to present a false confession. He also plants the idea that John Proctor is bewitching her, an idea that she acts on later by condemning John Proctor and recanting her claim against the other girls.
The person that most confuses Mary Warren is Hathorne. Hathorne puts Mary on the spot, asking her to pretend to faint for them right then and there. Afraid for herself, she tells Proctor that she has no sense of it now as she did before. At this point, Hathorne and Danforth join in questioning Mary Warren, asking what has changed and why she cannot "sense" it. The girls then turn on Mary, and eventually Mary turns on John Proctor.