What news does Mary Warren reveal to John and Elizabeth about the trials?
jamie-wheeler Teacher College – Sophomore eNotes Editor Mary tells John and Elizabeth that thirty-nine people have been accused of witchcraft. The number is up considerably. At last count, John had known of fourteen. Mary also reveals that “Goody Osburn–will hang.” She tells John that the Governer “sentenced her…but not Sarah Good. For Sarah Good confessed…that she made a compact with Lucifer, and wrote her name in his black book–with her blood– and bound herself to torment Christians until God’s thrown down –and we all must worship Hell forevermore.” It gets even more bizarre as Mary tells more about what she’d seen that day in court. She says that Goody Osburn “sent her spirit out” and “near choked us all to death.” When the judge tries to see if Osburn really is in service to the devil, Mary tells John and Elizabeth that the evidence which convicts the woman is that she could not recite the ten commandments: “she could not say a single one. She never knew no commandments, an
