when John Proctor comes to Reverend Parris’s house to tell Mary to go home and have no part in all this nonsense. As before, she is afraid to speak her mind to John Proctor and responds to his orders with “I’m just going home” (21), implying to the reader that she is doing what he wishes because she is afraid to speak her mind. As the play continues and as Abigail influences her, Mary begins to break this self-restricting mold and does what she wants in regard to the Proctors and herself. Mary Warren, along with many other girls, becomes enthralled in the hype of getting all the attention from the community and exercising power through initiating and obstinately continuing these “witch trials.” When John Proctor finally shows that when people like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor, who are the saintliest of people, stand accused of practicing witchcraft that something must be wrong, it affects Mary’s role. When John questions Mary after her day as an official of the court, she tells him “she [Goody Osborne] tried to kill me many times” (57). After saying this, Mary then realizes that her whole outlook on life bases on injustice and faces a difficult decision. This proves true when she begins sobbing and cries out in guilt, “Goody Osburn- will hang!” (56). Reluctantly, she must decide how she can extricate herself from Abigail and all her friends, not to mention her new feelings of confidence. Mary decides to speak out against Abigail and the others for their false accusations after John Proctor threatens her. Yet, as Mary does this heroic act of overcoming her old reality, Abigail pretends that Mary is also a witch, ironically using the same spasms of fits that Mary uses during the trials to convict so many others (108). Mary now faces yet another grueling internal conflict. Should she do what she knows is right and probably die for it or return to her old ways? Mary...
