Abuse Of Authority In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In this quote, Abigail is accusing Tituba of using witchcraft on

Abigail was telling her Christian uncle ,Parris, that his slave Titiuba was calling on the devil. This created hysteria because this was not allowed in the Chritian world and it created fear in the eyes of Salem because they are afraid that the Devil will drag them down to Hell. Many in Salem made speculations that Tituba would come after them due to her talking to the dead, the devil, as well as her conjuring spell. Due to all of the events she did it caused hysteria within

Later in the act, Hale interrogates her, asking her questions such as “have you enlisted these children for the Devil?”(43). Abigail joins in on the accusations, claiming that her “Barbados songs” tempted her. Everyone believes that Tituba is a witch because they trust a white girl’s accusations over that of a slave. Betty is accused of participating in witchcraft because she was also there in the woods, found sick. Due to association with Abigail and Tituba, she too is accused.

In Act one Abigail stated “ Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sister. And that

At the beginning of the play, Abigail triggers the mass hysteria in Salem as she spreads rumors about the witchcraft directed to Betty, Reverend Parris’ daughter. She continues to have effects on the other characters that soon become involved with the situation at hand. Abigail consistently denies her own accusations and passes the false allegations on to other girls in an attempt to save her reputation. The rumors Abigail spreads eventually lead to a questioning for witchcraft. Tituba, her family’s servant, falls to be the victim of the issue and is interrogated by the town.

Abigail told everyone that Tituba was doing witchcraft, which she then falsely confesses to simply because she knows she cannot win and be hanged if she denies it. Tituba states, “No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir” (42).

Once Tituba walks in, Abigail immediately points to her and says “She made me do it! She made Betty do it! She makes me drink blood!” (Miller 43). This is when hysteria begins; when Reverend Hale triggers a reaction from Abigail and causing her to falsely accuse Tituba of forcing her to do the things that might show signs of witchcraft.

Abigail seems like an innocent girl to everybody however it is later found out that she is one of the people who puts herself before others and makes things worse to get herself out of trouble. In act one Reverend Hale was questioning Tituba, a slave from Barbados. Tituba was explaining what the dancing and the disturbance in the woods and Abigail says she “wasn’t conjuring spirits”(Miller ??)

When the first thought of witchcraft enters the town Abigail goes on accusing Tituba to Mr. Hale, “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! … Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-”(Miller 44).

Tituba is a woman from Barbados who practices what the Puritans view as, “black magic.” Of course, she mainly implements this because the conniving Abigail Williams who manipulates her into summoning it. But when Reverend Hale finds out all that Tituba knows, he relies on her to speak the truth. “Hale, with rising exaltation: You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are chosen to help us cleanse our village.

Abigail Williams officially places the blame on Tituba in front of the Reverend and the rest of the girls by stating, “It was Tituba. She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” (Miller 41). After this broad statement made by Abigail, all hell breaks loose. It begins with the rest of the girls from the forest coming forth to the Reverend at once and shout out who they saw with the Devil which was caused by Tituba’s potential practice of witchcraft.

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.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.

Upon first mention of Tituba’s affiliation with witchcraft Parris responds with utter disbelief saying “Now I am undone.” He refuses to believe that Tituba, a women with a reputation of low social status, could have any connection to such sorcery. However, throughout the play, Miller individualizes Tituba in terms of her dialect, place of origin, and skin color which ultimately shows how individuality can be subverted into a cause for fear. Tituba uses this sense of isolation and individuality to her advantage and self benefit.

Definitions such as these describe certain events which occurred in Salem. The hot tempers of many created severe witch trials costing the lives of many innocent people in 1692. The highly acclaimed, The Crucible by Arthur Miller was first published in 1953. The Crucible follows the story of an extremely Puritan religious village of Salem in Massachusetts and the so called witchcraft exploited by individuals in the village. Within the play personal integrity is illustrated by multiple characters and others lack individual moral integrity.