Tituba's Abuse In The Crucible By Samuel Parris

Tituba’s humiliation and abuse at the hands of the four ministers including Samuel Parris illustrates that the witch scare served a political end for the patriarch also. The witch trials are intended to control and force people back into religious submission. Parris words “May something good at least come out of the hell you have unleashed” (90) clearly conveys a double meaning. He insists Tituba to confess that she is a witch as well as name her accomplices. Upon Tituba’s refusal they physically abuse her. The Puritan minister was in control of the Salem village as it was meant to be a theocracy. “Calef claimed that Samuel Parris had beat Tituba in order to coerce her into a false confession. Parris did this so he and his associates could

Further the very term witch cake is of European import and was unfamiliar to the African diaspora as shown by Conde in her novel. Sean Purdy views the Salem Witch Trials as, “religious bigotry, unbridled abuse of power, discrimination, and persecution as well as the perils of a society possessed by irrational fears.” (1) Tituba’s revenge maybe then be seen as justice, a rightful purging of those who oppress the voiceless and weak. “I was going to take my revenge. I was going to denounce them from the pinnacle of these powers they accorded me.” (93) It is important to note that the young women Abigail Williams, Anne Putnam and Mercy Lewis out of their spiteful nature use Tituba as a scapegoat. Tituba particularly senses Abigail to be the spiteful and recognizes “the power of her imagination to give a particular twist to the slightest everyday incident.’ (59) They manipulate the suggestible child Betsey to betray Tituba. The girls’ attempt to scapegoat Tituba inviting her to recount stories of the devil is meant to bolster their own self and their own superstition. They procure a sense of power and validation from the realization that they are superior to Tituba. Their fanciful stories and fits empower them allowing them some agency where earlier they had none. They are able to influence a whole room of people. The instance of Anne Putnam claiming to see the

Her ancestors come to her aid claiming, “we’re tough, us niggers! And those who want to wipe us off the face of the world will get their money’s worth. Out of them all, only you will survive.” (85) Deliverance from Salem comes in form of a Jew whose fate is no better than witches who also flee from “religious persecution”. (123) The smashing of Tituba’s shackles signifies her escape from an impending painful and unacknowledged death to the return of hope as if being “born twice” from a recluse to witch to a beloved witch and finally as mother of her community who leads her race into revolt. (122) As healer Tituba offers the household of Benjamin Cohen the much-needed consolation and hope. Through her power of divination and necromancy she helps Benjamin and her daughter Metahebel reunite with her mother. The Jew as a lover and alley grants Tituba the respect she longs for calling her his “beloved witch” (131) Yet Tituba’s peace and happiness is short-lived. With the lynching of Benjamin’s children, he grants Tituba her wish for freedom paying for her passage back to Barbados. Unfortunately, the label of ‘witch’ does not abandon Tituba till death. Even when freed Tituba is unable to escape the white demonizing for, there is no pardon for” a witch. (135) The clearest instance of white hypocrisy maybe seen when the captain of the ship Stannard