A crucible is a metal container that melts substances with its high temperature, while The Crucible is a playwright by Arthur Miller that demonstrates humanity with its severe trial.
Double Sided.
Mary Warren, a servant in Proctor’s house, a weak girl, is a hypocrite. A hypocrite that says justice and cover the truth at the same time. When Proctor banned her from going to the court, she answered:
“I must tell you, sir, I will go every day now. I am amazed you do not see the weighty work we do” (Miller, 56).
She is a weak girl, but she stands up this time, for her “justice”. She believed that she can help the village by going to court. However, what encouraged her was not justice, but the power she gets.
She was an inferior servant and obeys whatever wants her to. When she gets the power that she never had thought of in the court, she decided to protect this power. So when Proctor asked her to tell the truth, she said:
“I cannot, I cannot, I cannot……” (76).
Why can’t she? If she is trying to be fair and be justice, she should be able to stand up for the truth too. But she did not, and this shows that she’s a hypocrite.
Being a hypocrite is not Mary Warren’s own will though, it’s humanity. When a person without power suddenly gets control of something, they will want to keep it. Mary Warren actually tried to fix her problem later in the play, but in the end, she still shrank back.
Power has a powerful attraction.
The book Animal Farm by George Orwell is a good example of hypocrites and power. It is portraying a farm that is controlled by the pigs. The pigs lie to other animals, that everyone will be equal, but secretly save the goods for himself. The pigs say that:
“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”
In this case, he is using his power to be a hypocrite.
In conclusion, Power leads to hypocrisy, and hypocrisy leads to power.
Citation:
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Penguin Classics, 2003.
Hi Elaina, the comparison you made between Animal Farm and The Crucible is very Interesting! I agree to the point that you made saying that both Mary Warren and Napoleon was a weak character but stands up because they like controlling others with the power. However, I am curious about what if Napoleon is connected to Abigail? Because both characters are antagonists with the most power in the book. Great job with finding strong evidence to make it more convincing to the audience.
Hey Elaina, it is really interesting how you compare the Animal Farm to the Crucible. I have read both of the books. At the beginning of the Crucible, Mary Warren holds no power, but later on, she got power. She didn’t tell the truth in the court for all the power she holds and she doesn’t want to lose that and it contradicts what she had said earlier. In the Animal Farm, Napolean wanted everyone to be loyal to the 10 commandments, but when he got the power he went against what he has said before. So I wonder when people get more power they want do they start to contradict themselves?
Hi, Elaina.
The idea you mention in your post that Mary Warren stand up for her own “justice” makes me thinking deeply about her being. I think most people would agree on these characteristics of her: weak, easily influenced, and obsessed with power that she had never thought of before.
Mary Warren covered up the truth, but she struggled with the choice.
Mary Warren tried to stand up, yet she failed to and couldn’t help but turn on the person she intended to protect.
These conflicts within Mary’s value and actions eventually made her a hypocrite.
We cannot deny that her will and her actions contradicted with each other, and that she had had the time and chance to reveal the truth, but after all, human nature and environment could have shaped her and manipulated her choices –– which thus made her a hypocrite.
Between life and death, what would a girl choose?
Between life and death, what would we choose?