Mary Warren has always been understandably reluctant to support the Proctors with legal
testimony. She is bound to be called a liar, since her story now is that she was lying and
dissimulating earlier in the trials, and she does not stand up well under Danforth's initial
interrogation. Her inability to pretend to faint when required to do so makes it very clear that
her histrionic powers are vastly inferior to Abigail's.
When she is faced
with Abigail's convincing pretense that Mary has sent her spirit out, there is no serious
contest between the two of them. Abigail has Mercy Lewis, Susanna Walcott, and the other
"children" backing her up, and they engage in a sadistic and deadly version of
"the shadow game," repeating everything Mary says. This gives rise to hysteriawhich
affects even Danforth.
The pressure on Mary becomes intolerable at this
point. Abigail and her accomplicesDanforth and Proctor as well as the whole weight of both sides
in a deadly disputebear down upon her...
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