The crucible by Arthur Miller - Mary’s monologue
Performed by Sophia Leung.
1.
What is the
play about? (Short summary)
The crucible is set at a time during the Salem witch trials, which were momentous events
within American history. Salem was rigid and individual behaviours were closely monitored.
The story started with a group of girls spotted dancing in the forest. People started rumours
about the girls doing witchcraft when they were dancing and caused a huge fuss. One of the
girls then confessed under pressure that they were communing with the devil and accused
some other townspeople of doing the same thing. Some other girls in the group joined her
and started naming others as witches to deflect the attention, which they then found their
accusations convenient for getting rid of people they detest, leading to trials of harsh
interrogations and dreadful executions of lots of innocent people occurring throughout the
rest of the play, known as the Salem witch trials.
2.
Describe
your character / describe your role (short sentences or word)
My character is Mary Warren, the servant of the Proctor family. She was one of the girls
spotted dancing in the woods. She tended to avoid punishment and switched sides between
the girls and her employer out of the characters’ manipulation which caused her fear. Her
stance made an impact on the trials as she gained the title of an official in the court since the
start of the interrogation.
3.
Age / name /
clues as to how he/she is played using voice and movement – how do they sit,
stand, walk and talk)
Mary Warren is an 18-year-old female character in The Crucible. She was narrated as timid
and impressionable at the early part of the play, then progressed to become more conflicted
and stressed throughout the events. In the act where my monologue was placed, she was
informing her employers about the ongoing trials after returning from the court, and she was
apparently intimidated by them as authority figures because John was an angry and frustrated
man. She speaks in a soft and agitated tone. When Mary is standing or sitting, she hunches
over a bit to make herself smaller and less noticeable to her employers. Her movements are
hesitant and unpredictable, which reflects on her turmoil of anxiety. In my monologue, she
acts out her narrative on the court at the house to the Proctors to deliver her emotional
instability and struggling state. She grips on her arms and fidgets with her hands when she
feels under pressure or threat.
4.
List the emotional
roller coaster they go on in the speech – what is their dominant emotion.
The dominant emotion of Mary in the monologue was fear. She was very conflicted and
struggled to find a way to avoid getting punished, where the community would neglect her if
she spoke against the girls but was threatened to leave the house and get whipped if she
didn’t confess that the girls were lying about their accusations.
5.
Why is this
character written in this play? What’s their motivation /what’s
their reason for being in the play?
Mary Warren was written in the play to represent the weak and fearful society that was
easily influenced by drama and self-interest, resulting in sheep-if thinking. Her motivation
was her fear and trepidation of suffering and punishment.
6.
What is your intention for this character (what’s
the main purpose) in your monologue and why?
Mary’s main purpose in my monologue is to convey to the Proctors that she was starting to
believe in the girls’ saying about witchcraft as she recounted her accusations as an official
against Sarah Good, one of first victims to be claimed to have bewitched others. This making
contrast with Mary’s sayings in the previous acts, where she strongly denied any witchcraft
was involved, but was now acting sincere about her falsely influenced beliefs as she sees her
nonsensical statements as valid evidence of witchcraft, indicating that she was completely
brainwashed by the hysteria in the witch trials and deeply driven by fear and ignorance.
outfit