In order to reach the climax of the play -- the moment when Proctor decides whether or not to allow the magistrates to retain his false confession -- Proctor must be accused of witchcraft, and since Abigail herself would never do it, someone else must. That someone else is Mary Warren. She is someone who the court would believe because she works for the Proctors and people would think that she has intimate knowledge of...
In order to reach the climax of the play -- the moment when Proctor decides whether or not to allow the magistrates to retain his false confession -- Proctor must be accused of witchcraft, and since Abigail herself would never do it, someone else must. That someone else is Mary Warren. She is someone who the court would believe because she works for the Proctors and people would think that she has intimate knowledge of their home and family. Without Mary Warren's involvement in the trials as one of the accusers, her voice would be relatively unimportant in town; however, since she is both an accuser and an employee of the Proctors', she is in the unique position to accuse him and be believed. Without her accusation, he would not be arrested; neither would he go to prison nor be tempted to confess to witchcraft. Without Mary's accusation, the play's climax would never occur, and John would never have the opportunity to redeem himself in his own eyes and regain a sense of his own goodness.
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