“Envy is a deadly sin, Mary.”
Por qué es buena
A doctrinal one-liner turns the accusation back on the accuser with no room to argue.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
Envy is a deadly sin, and that review was pure envy.
00:00 / 04:39
00:00 / 04:39
The Girls Turn on Mary Warren, Explained
The Crucible · 2014
Capítulo 23 de 29 · 4'39"
The girls save themselves by faking a vision — "Why do you come, yellow bird?" — and pointing it at Mary Warren. Danforth stops asking what is true and presses her instead: "You will confess yourself or you will hang!" Mary breaks and rejoins them, and Proctor, watching the court collapse into theater, denounces the proceedings.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:02–0:53
The Girls Fake a Yellow Bird
51s - 3:47–4:23
❝ Monólogo · 4 frases Proctor's courtroom outburst
It builds from fire to the devil's face and drags the judges into the same flames.
36s
The Girls Turn on Mary Warren, explained
What happens
In the Salem courtroom, the girls suddenly see a 'yellow bird' on the beam and accuse Mary Warren of sending it to attack them. Danforth stops examining the evidence and threatens Mary: confess or be hanged. Terrified, Mary abandons her testimony and rejoins the accusers. Proctor denounces the court as a fraud and says he quits.
What's really going on
The scene is the moment the trial stops pretending to be a trial. The girls' 'yellow bird' is pure performance — Mary says so: "They're pretending, Mr. Danforth!" — but Danforth does not care whether the vision is real; he cares that Mary can be made to break. His threat, "You will confess yourself or you will hang!", offers her only two outcomes, both controlled by the court. Mary chooses survival and returns to the accusers, and that choice is the trial's verdict in miniature: the court rewards those who perform its story. Proctor's response is the opposite of Mary's. Where she saves herself by joining the lie, he destroys himself by naming it, seeing the fraud as a kind of fire: "I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth!" He refuses the choice the court offers and walks out.
Key lines & what they mean
- “Envy is a deadly sin, Mary.”
- One of the girls turns Mary's protest into a charge: wanting to hurt them comes from envy, which is itself a deadly sin.
- “You will confess yourself or you will hang!”
- Danforth gives Mary only two choices, confession or death, both controlled by the court rather than by the truth.
- “I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face!”
- Proctor's outburst: he imagines the Devil walking into the room, and the evil he names is the court's own fraud.
- “And it is my face, and yours, Danforth!”
- Proctor turns the vision on the judges: the evil he sees is not only his own but the judges' too, since they know the trials are a fraud.
Theme
- Lies — The girls survive by faking a vision, and the court rewards the lie, showing that performance, not truth, decides the outcome.
- Courage — Proctor refuses to play along, denouncing the court even though it dooms him, while Mary chooses survival over truth.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel1/6
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“You will confess yourself or you will hang!”
Por qué es buena
It lays out two dead ends and calls it a choice, the cleanest kind of threat.
Registro
Formal
Úsala tú
You will send it tonight, or you will explain it to the client.
“I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face!”
Por qué es buena
Boots and a filthy face make hell concrete instead of abstract.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
I hear the boot of the new owners, I see the empty desks.
“And it is my face, and yours, Danforth!”
Por qué es buena
He hands the devil's face back to the judge, turning the trial against its owner.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
And it is my mistake, and yours, Danforth, so let us both own it.
Monólogo
Un personaje sostiene la escena: practícalo entero❝ Proctor's courtroom outburst
A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud - God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!
It builds from fire to the devil's face and drags the judges into the same flames.
Siguiente · 24his majestyLa escena: Tituba and Sarah Go to BarbadosIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- The yellow bird is a shared illusion, not a real animal.
- Stand fast means hold your ground under pressure.
- Proctor hands the devil's face back to the judge.
- God damns is a heavy curse, not mild scolding.
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy do the girls accuse Mary of sending a bird?
To deflect attention from themselves. By faking a vision and naming Mary as its source, they make her the accused instead of the accuser.
Why does Mary finally give in?
Danforth threatens her with hanging if she does not confess, and the girls' performance isolates her. Faced with death, she rejoins the accusers to save herself.
What does Proctor accuse the court of?
He says the trials are a fraud and that the judges know it. He calls them the Devil's work and declares that he quits the court.
What does 'deadly sin' mean?
It is a serious sin, in Christian teaching one that leads to spiritual death. Here a girl uses the phrase to make Mary's anger sound like a crime.
What happens to Mary Warren after she rejoins the girls?
She stays with the accusers and never takes back her confession. Her return gives the court the victory it wants, and Proctor is left facing arrest on the very charges Mary now supports.