What drives Mary Warren?

Why does Mary Warren take back her statement about the devils spirit being a fake?

Mary Warren is the servant at the Proctors house. She took over after Abigail, and tries to please mr. and mrs. Proctor in the best possible ways. She is a part of Abigail's group of young girls that accuses people for witchcraft. Proctor has seen through their games, and he is threatening Mary to tell the truth about what's really going on. Mary is terrified of Proctor, but at the same time Abigail has so much power that no one will step over her feet. Mary is brave and takes her statement to the judge. She soon learns that she has made a bad choice and the other girls now frame Mary for being in possession of the devil. The only wise thing Mary can do now is to turn to the girls and pretend that she actually was possessed, but has now turned to God. This is what Mary does, and John Proctor gets framed for being the devil as he pushed her to telling the truth to save his wife. 

I think this happens because Mary knows how much power Abigail has, and if she turns away from her, Mary is the only one that is going to pay for it. She tries to conquer her fear, but she fails. She knows not to lie and not to turn away from God, but she is too afraid of her own life to keep these promises. She is afraid of being hanged and afraid of what Abigail might do to her. 

So I mean that what drives Mary Warren is fear. First the fear of John Proctor, then the fear of ending her own life and last but not least the fear of what Abigail might do.

Act One: Reflection

While reading Act One of the Crucible we have gotten a clue of what the book is about and where the story leads us. 
The play is about the witch hunt in the town of Salem, and how innocent people got murdered for something they haven't done, and also for something that we know (or at least think) is impossible today. 


In Act One we get to know that the young girls in the town has been dancing outside at night, and the reverend caught them red handed. The town is baffled when two of the youngest girls faints and will not wake. The town starts buzzing with the talk of witchcraft, and that the devil has taken over the girls bodies. As this goes on we get to know one of the main characters, Abigail. She is somewhat the "leader" for the girls in the town, and you can tell that she has some sort of control over them. The other girls seems afraid of her, and she is the type of girl that always gets what she wants. Another character to watch out for is Tituba, she is the reverends slave and she was with the girls in the woods while they were dancing.


The feeling you get when reading Act One is that this town is a superstitious and judging community. Most of the characters put themselves first, and doesn't think about how their actions will affect others. 
People are already being framed for witchcraft, and it will be exciting to see what happens to them throughout the story.