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In The Crucible, what is stated in Mary Warren's deposition?
Quick answer:
Mary Warren's deposition in "The Crucible" claims she never saw spirits and asserts that the girls, including herself, were pretending. This challenges the court's proceedings, as it accuses the girls of lying, effectively charging them with contributing to wrongful deaths. Despite her initial bravery, Mary is intimidated by Abigail's manipulation and ultimately succumbs to peer pressure, retracting her statement and rejoining the falsehoods that lead to the condemnation of innocents.
Judge Danforth's speech regarding the contents of Mary Warren's deposition is prefaced with the comment "Sit you down, children." This signifies the judge's contempt for the suspected playacting that has plagued the trials, and his frustration with the ways that the girls are wasting the court's time for what may be very shallow and childish motivations (such as wanting attention, pity, or admiration).
Then he says:
Your friend, Mary Warren, has given us a deposition. In which she swears that she never saw familiar spirits, apparitions, nor any manifest of the Devil. She claims as well that none of you have seen these things either. Now, children, this is a court of law. The law, based upon the Bible, and the Bible, writ by Almighty God, forbid the practice of witchcraft, and describe death as the penalty thereof. But likewise, children, the law and Bible damn all bearers of false...
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witness. Now then. It does not escape me that this may be devised to blind us; it may well be that Mary Warren has been conquered by Satan, who sends her here to distract our sacred purpose.
When he addresses them as "children" a second time, he emphasizes his authority over them and their immaturity. But he also shares his insight that the deposition may be the work of Satan, who has influenced Mary Warren in such a way as to cause the Judge to dismiss the charges of witchcraft and thus perhaps allow the Devil to continue his work. Mary's deposition is her honest account based on her desire to escape damnation, so it is ironic (as with so many of the other events of this historic legal debacle) that her honesty is suspected of being a lie instructed by Satan (also known as the Prince of Lies).
Mary, despite showing bravery in testifying, is ultimately weak in that she cannot stand tall against Abigail's manipulation. Abigail provokes her in front of the court, knowing that Mary will not be able to withstand the humiliation and scrutiny, so Mary joins the girls led by Abigail to once again take part in the playacting and falsehoods that condemn innocent people to death.
Mary Warren's deposition states, as John Proctor tells Danforth, that she never saw any spirits. Further, Mary tells Danforth herself, that when the girls claimed to see spirits, "It were pretense [...]." In other words, she was only pretending to see spirits. She claims, in fact, that all the girls are pretending to see spirits, that they are lying to the court. Mary is terribly frightened and cannot even speak at first because, by confessing to lying about seeing spirits and the like, she is essentially charging all of her friends -- the other girls -- with murder. We know that the deposition is fairly detailed and honest because, as Proctor hands it to Danforth, he says,
I would ask you to remember, sir, while you read it, that until two week ago she were no different than the other children are today [....]. You saw her scream, she howled, she swore familiar spirits choked her; she even testified that Satan, in the form of women now in jail, tried to win her soul away [...].
Therefore, it must differ dramatically from what Mary Warren has previously said, from what all the other girls continue to say, or else Proctor would not attempt to warn Danforth about the immense discrepancy between what he saw of Mary a couple weeks ago versus who she claims to be now.