How Does Arthur Miller Present Fear In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible it is explicitly shown that fear induces people to denounce their beliefs in order to protect their life from being threatened, or taken away. As seen in The Crucible, when someone is in a situation that impulses fear one tends to lie about certain details in order to protect themselves, without minding the effects on others. In this play Mary Warren, a timid and weak young girl, was the first to announce that the witchcraft accusations were nothing but false claims that the were purposely made for the sole purpose of deception. However, when the accusing girls began making false accusations about her the fear of being hung quickly changed her statement, thus turning her back on John Proctor and accusing him
The repetitive usage of “don’t touch me” suggests that Mary Warren is truly fearful of Proctor, therefore generating her audience to feel sorry for ever making such horrible accusations against her. Additionally, Mary Warren plays an incredible performance when acting as a victim to Proctor, “her sobs beginning. ‘He waked me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign...” (Miller 119). In describing Proctor’s eyes like “coals” Mary suggests that his eyes are as dark as his heart and his true intentions. In fact, the usage of “claw my neck” proposes the idea that Proctor is a monster manipulating her into taking action in something she does not want to be a part of. By consecutively repeating the words “I sign, I sign” Mary makes her audience sense that she has been pressured into doing something she did not want to. She makes herself the victim in a story that is not even true in order to rescue her life from being demolished. Mary Warren dismisses the thought of saving the accused because she fears that she will end up accused just like