Who Is Tituba In The Crucible

Arthur miller wrote “The Crucible” which was first performed on Broadway in 1953. Miller’s book “The Crucible” was based on the Salem witch trials because he wanted to show people how similar McCarthyism was to the Salem witch trials. He wrote The Crucible because he didn’t like the idea of McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the use of unjust methods that was used to hunt the communist back around 1950. Communism is a government controlled economy that is run by a dictator.

Tituba is a negro slave from Barbados whose job it is to tend to the household members within a Puritan household within the god-forsaken town of Salem. Even though Tituba is very caring of the household occupants, she, of course, is not at all pleased with her role as their slave. In fact, she is rather intimidated by her owners,

In the play, The Crucible, a story told where the reader learns about lies, deceit, and hypocrisy. The play highlights how the puritans viewed witch trials in 1692. The character that was the most to blame for the Salem Witch trials and dreadful hangings, is Abigail Williams. There are two reasons Abigail Williams became the cause of all the Witch trials and hangings, the first being that she refused to admit to what she was doing in the forest with the other girls, the second was that she was resentful of the Proctor family.

Tituba was accused of witchcraft by the girls and sent to jail (Loiselle). Tituba reported that the devil had come to her and five others, including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, and declared they aid him in hurting children. Sarah Good’s husband and their four-year-old daughter, Dorcas, both vouched that Sarah was more than likely a witch (Currie 12-14). Other girls who were accused of witchcraft brought up the chance of Dorcas Good being a witch.

Witch craft was illegal in the town of Salem and considered a black art. But these girls didn’t care they wanted to have some fun. They gathered at the home of the avid preacher Cotton Mather. His Caribbean slave, Tituba, was a person of the dark art and entertained these girls most likely by the reading of tea leaves and palms. Then Ann Putnam, one of the girls in the circle, wanted to take it a little farther.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. Arthur Miller wrote the play because he was inspired by McCarthyism. McCarthyism was the hunt for communists that was taken too far. In The Crucible he presented a universal message. He was comparing how communists did exist and witches did not, but yet they were both taken as serious.

The girls could not have possibly brought this condition onto themselves, and they were questioned and forced to name their tormentors. The girls named three townspeople, including Tituba, as witches. In trials, the accused would be asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer in order to prove if they are under the control of the Devil or not. Also, “individuals who had birthmarks, warts, moles, or other blemishes were seen as possible portals through which Satan could enter the body” (Latner). The Puritans believed Satan could not take the form of a person that is unwilling.

Hysteria in Salem The Crucible is a play written by American author, Arthur Miller, in 1953. It is a somewhat fictional play about the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote it as an allegory to the Red Scare, the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism. Miller himself was blacklisted for refusing to testify in front of the HUAC, a committee that was created to investigate any person who might be a communist.

¶“A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife 's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat.

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.

When the examination occurred, a confession was made from Tituba that she along with Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne had communicated with Satan and that they had agreed to let him bind them as witches. This confession created chaos and caused the hunt for witches to become larger and more common. More than 200 people were later accused of being a witch. Of the 200 accused, 19 of them were hanged. Those accused whom survived were either pardoned, escaped jail or were found non-guilty (Brooks, Rebecca B).

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.

The Crucible is a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller. It is amplified and somewhat novelized story of the Salem witch trials. Miller wrote the play as a parable to the McCarthyism persecution of communist sympathisers. In this play, a group of Puritan girls are found dancing and conjuring with the devil in the forest. Soon the whole village of Salem knows about the dancing and starts accusing people of witchcraft.

[Title]: [Subtitle] The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller about the witch trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692. In the play Miller uses metaphors, dramatic irony, and symbolism in order to convey the reoccurring theme that mass hysteria causes distrust among communities. Throughout the play Miller uses metaphors in several occasions. In Act II Reverend Hale says to John Proctor, “Theology, sir is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be considered small,” (64).

Arthur Miller constructs his play upon the famous Salem witch trails. Miller's Crucible was written in the early 1950s. Miller wrote his drama during the brief reign of the American senator Joseph McCarthy whose bitter criticized anti- communism sparkled the need for the United States to be a dramatic anti- communist society during the early tense years of the cold war. By orders from McCarthy himself, committees of the Congress commenced highly controversial investigations against communists in the U.S similar to the alleged Salem witches situation. Convict communists were ordered to confess their crime and name others to avoid the retribution.