Tituba, Reverend Parris's African American slave from Barbados, plays a major role in The Crucible, being one of the primary catalysts of the Salem Witch Trials. Tituba was the first person accused of witchery during the Salem Witch Trials by Abigail Williams, and the first person to, consequently, admit to witchcraft. Tituba, growing up in Barbados, never saw dancing and singing as a wild and satanic, as dancing was tied to her African roots. As she is transitioned to America, however, she had to conform to the Puritan lifestyle, in which one could not sing or dance. One night, at the girls of Salem, Massachusetts's requests, she decided to perform a ritual that would allow them a boyfriends, however, it quickly escalated into the event that would spill blood, reveal deep secrets of the time, and destroy the trust within the community in Salem. She began the ritual, in which the girls stated the men they wanted. One particular woman, Abigail Williams, had coerced Tituba to give her chicken blood, in order to kill a man's wife to be with him. Once all the men's names were said, the girls became rowdy and began to dance …show more content…
As Abigail pitted her guilt on Tituba, as Tituba did lead the gathering, Tituba, with no support and truly isolated, gives the people what they want: a witch. She claims to have seen the Devil, desperately trying to turn away, however his grasp was too strong. She claims she had seen others with him, calling out others. It could be said the Salem Witch Trials were of her fault, however, the blame could also be placed on Abigail, as she is the one who initiated the lies regarding the Devil. Due to her heavy contribution to the accusation of witchcraft, it cannot be said, despite how little she appears, she played a minor and insignificant role throughout the play, as every action can be connected to her admitting her
Abigail had accused Tituba of witchcraft
Rosenthal’s article focuses on Tituba’s life and how she played a role within the Salem Witch Trials. Rosenthal sheds light on the fact that Tituba was married, which is left out in several documentations of her. He also brings up the fact that she admitted to doing witchcraft and the infamous circle of girls she told stories to. He shares that not many people would know that her plan was not to cause a ruckus upon Salem but to ultimately warn people of the devil.
Parris named Tituba. Tituba came to America in search of a better life but, the girls in Salem heard of her background in Barbados and tricked her into believing that witch craft would help them. Abigail had the idea of meeting that night and conjuring spirts to kill Elizabeth. She even drank chicken blood after Tituba told her it was a bad idea. When rev.
Salem, Massachusetts, is Infamous in history for the Salem witch trials. A town in despair claims that witchcraft is among them. A theocracy that struck fear into many. In Salem where The Crucible takes place, there is much corruption. People are scared for their life.
Some people might infer in how she was the one who brought the kids to the woods to dance. Although this point seem as it is what caused the chaos, it was mostly when Abigail scared the girls off by drinking he chicken’s blood. Abigail had blamed Tituba by saying that Tituba would force her to drink the blood but Abigail has actually done it by herself. Abigail said “she makes me drink blood”(1109). She says that to save herself from a whipping but it only causes chaos throughout Salem.
It starts off by showing the girls running into the woods giggling and dancing shouting out boy’s names, whom they like. They don’t show this in the play. The reason for this, in my opinion, is they can’t show some of the things live in front of people. For example, A girl strips down naked, and Abby drinks chicken blood by smashing it on a rock. In the play this was only talked about.
Later in the story Tituba under the pressure of the court confest which ignited a hunt for witches. in both the salem witch trials and the red scare people where both paranoid of something. At the time of the witch trials the people were afraid of evil spirits, and the devil if you were accused of being a witch you would lose almost everything you owned. With the power of the church the people of Salem where easy overpowered by Propaganda and hysteria, with this people started so claim any was a witches for power, land, and even political strength. “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”
In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” (1953), it is shown that people seem to forget basic morals when dealing with mass hysteria. Puritans in the play do not want the devil or any other demonic figures such as witches in their community, they will go to great lengths, as far as turning their back on their own people to get rid of these demonic figures as shown in “The Crucible”. This idea of witches in the community caused chaos in the village which led to the deaths of 20 people in the village. Do people in the play not care about the consequences other people face because of their actions? In the play, loyalty falls far below self selfishness in the face of mass hysteria.
Tituba was slave of Reverend Samuel Parris, Reverend Parris called a doctor to examine his daughter and his niece and the doctor told him that the girls were “victims of witchcraft”. Tituba was later accused of being a witch, she was one of the first three women to be accused. Tituba was from an island in the caribbean called Barbados, Reverend Parris purchased Tituba on the Island. Many people thought that Tituba was a Native American because of her skin color. Her skin color can also be the reason why she was accused of being a witch, some may say that Tituba was used a scapegoat.
To begin, it is a popular belief that Tituba, a slave in the story, was justified in her confession to witchcraft in order to save her own life. After the girls of Salem peg Tituba as the culprit for corrupting their souls and torturing them, she is interrogated and accused by characters such as the esteemed Reverend Hale and town’s Reverend, Mr. Parris. Finally, Parris exclaims, “ You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” (1.941-942). Tituba instantly confesses, and saves herself from a terrible death.
This is called scapegoating. Although some believe that vengeance is the main purpose, it is actually scapegoating. The theme scapegoating is the main purpose of the play because the girls blamed innocent Puritans just to protect themselves. Abigail Williams
A slave brought to the Americas from Barbados, Tituba is a naive, and significant character overlooked in Puritan Society. She caused the uproar of witchcraft making Tituba responsible for the mass hysteria that occurred in Salem. Brought to Salem from Barbados, Tituba began working as Reverend Parris slave. Following her culturally rooted background, Tituba brought along a group of girls into the woods to start casting spells, and perform “black magic.” Eventually in the story the girls are found dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris and the blame is amongst Tituba.
Tituba was a servant of Reverend Parris that would dance with the girls in the woods around a fire. Abigail is the niece of Reverend Parris, which he adopted and a girl who also had an affair with John Proctor. Betty is the daughter of Reverend Parris who gets caught in the mess with Abigail and Mary. 4. Mrs.Putman believed that there are witches in Salem because she had talked to a witch to contact her dead children.
It is in this same intimidating mood that the girls follow her lead in beginning to call out the names of who they "saw" with the Devil at the end of Act I. Her dominance continues as the play advances and the girls are required to attend court and follow Abigail’s order. They all start pretending as if they have a special ability to identify those who are
Tituba, the slave of Reverend Parris, is the first to admit to dancing with the devil. Based on the background knowledge of the time, slaves were not considered part of the class system, so she was not valued as a community member. Tituba is conscious that she is in danger, “she is also very frightened because her slave sense has warned her that, as always, trouble in this house eventually lands on her back” (Miller, pg. 6). Tituba attempts to tell the truth about Abigail when she says, “You beg me to conjure! She beg me make charm” (Miller, pg. 44) but realizes that her word against Abigail will not stand.