Tituba
Tituba was an enslaved servant who lived during the 17th century in Salem, Massachusetts during the infamous witch trials of 1692. Tituba also served as a character in the 1953 play; The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. In the play, she has the same life and background as she did in 1692 however, Miller makes her participate in witchcraft, thus adding to the mystery as to if she ever really was guilty of witchcraft.
Tituba had a very interesting and mysterious life. She was born in an Arawak village in South America and captured as a slave and sent to Barbados during her early childhood.(Brooks) In Barbados, she was sold to a man named Samuel Parris who brought her to Massachusetts in 1680, and in 1689 he brought her to Salem village, where he had just been appointed the new minister. (Brooks) When mass hysteria began to break out in Salem, Tituba was one of the many accused. Many people believe
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After the trials, Tituba remained in jail in Boston until an unknown person bought her for the price of her jail fees. After
being bought out of jail, no information is known of what happened to Tituba or her husband John.(Brooks) In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Tituba was a more darker person than she likely was in real life, although she has the same background and life up to the point where the play begins. Arthur Miller believed that Tituba engaged in devil worship and made Tituba the starter of it all when she agrees to perform witchcraft at the request of Abigail Williams.(Schiff) Tituba’s actions in the beginning of The Crucible, were likely fueled by Miller’s suspicion that Tituba was a witch and performed voodoo, even though there is no evidence to prove it. As in the actual trials, Tituba confesses but not much really happens to her after that point. She becomes like all the other “witches” in Salem, innocent and