Essay about I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem

The trouble in Salem began in January, 1692 when Tituba, a slave from the West Indies was talking to Elizabeth Parris, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Parris, and his niece, Abigail Williams about their futures. After telling them their futures, the girls begin to cry hysterically and act strangely as if bewitched. These fits could be brought on by the idea that their futures as Puritan child-bearing women was at risk or also by the girl’s wanted attention that they had no chance at getting regularly in Puritan society. Tituba also is undergoing torments at this time, seeing specters and having the same type of fits that the other girls are having. As the fits begin to happen to other

In The Crucible, the problem with blatantly accusing other people of witchcraft, is that you don’t really know whether or not these people have been practicing witchcraft. When Tituba begins to accuse others of witchcraft, it becomes a frenzy. It seems as though she is just calling

Tituba’s fear of physical harm motivates her to cry witch. Reverend Hale’s harsh treatment of Tituba causes her to cower from him even before being accused of witchcraft. Tituba’s fear increases when Abigail accuses her of making her “drink blood” (43). Reverend Hale in turn concludes that Tituba serves the Devil. Reverend Hale orders her to wake Betty who she has sent her “spirit out upon” (44). Initially, Tituba pleads that she “don’t compact with no Devil” (44) but when she realizes that she

In the evenings Tituba entertained little Betty and her cousin Abigail Williams by the kitchen fire. She played fortune-telling games and told them stories of magic and spirits from the Caribbean. Tituba was pointed out by the three girls and accused of teaching them witchcraft and fortune telling, which resulted in their strange behavior. Tituba did not deny the allegations. She confessed to being a witch after Reverend Parris beat her.

As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.

During the phase of witchcraft accusations, it was observed that generally women were both the accusers and the suspects of witchcraft. An Indian slave named Tituba was the first perpetrator of witchcraft, who used to work in Samuel Parris’ house (Ray, “Satan’s War against the Covenant” 82). She was severely tortured and interrogated during her capture. At one stage of interrogation, Samuel Parris brutally assaulted her, which resulted her to confess about her involvement in

Tituba’s role in society was to be a slave to the family of Rev. Parris. Tituba was a foreigner to Salem, as Parris had bought her in Barbados. Slaves had no rights at all in this time period therefore; Tituba’s only job was to care for Parris’s children and house. This situation presented to Tituba contributed to her role in the witch trials because, being a slave didn’t get her much respect in society, therefore people wouldn’t object to her being a witch because she is not much of a respectable person to defend. For example, while Tituba would be caring for Parris’s children, “In the evenings Tituba entertained little Betty and her cousin Abigail Williams by the kitchen fire. She played fortune telling games and told them stories of magic and spirits from the Caribbean” (Tituba, par. 4). This proves that Tituba’s role in society affected her role in the witch trials because these trials were based on how others saw you in society. If someone of high social status were to be accused of witchcraft, people would protest. However, if someone of low social status were to be accused, it wouldn’t mean much to the common

Elizabeth Parris and Abagail Williams, the pastor’s daughter and niece respectively, were two of the six young ladies that Tituba watch over. In the beginning, Tituba would perform witchcraft in an attempt to lure the girls into witchcraft but the girls rejected Tituba’s actions. Eventually, the girls would begin to act out and were proclaimed to have become bewitched. After Parris discovered that his girls’ actions were not of physical nor mental disease and of spiritual doings, an aunt of one of the afflicted girls used Tituba to experiment using a urine-cake (eventually this aunt would be scorned for practicing counter magic) to determine who bewitched the young girls. When the girls cried out that it was Tituba’s doing and made several accusations of her acts of witchcraft, Tituba rejected all allegations. In theory, Tituba made herself out as a witch. In the end of her trial, Tituba would confess to practicing witchcraft. She confessed that she had signed the Devil’s book along with eight other witches including Goody Osborne and Sarah Good, as well as seeing the Devil various times in the form of a tall man, a hog, cats, a great black dog, and wolves and birds. Sarah Good and Goody Osbourne worked in command of Tituba taking the Devil’s orders to terrorize the young women of the household by pinching, harming, and performing acts of levitation. Tituba being the first to

The result was much unexpected as it was revealed that preparation of the witchcake had taken place. The other girls, already frightened by the previous symptoms displayed by Betty and their involvement in the occult games, would become even more frightened with the knowledge of the counter-magic. They too would start to experience such symptoms that would become even more violent than those presented before to include hallucinations; the witchcake did not relieve but instead intensified their hysteria as well as the town’s fears and fantasies of evil among them. The girls would soon confirm the town’s suspicions of evil implications by identifying two women, Sarah Goode (38), and Sarah Osborne (49), who they believed were witches tormenting them, those women also accused Tituba (between 25-30 years old). Warrants of arrest were prepared for the three women on February 29 and Tituba’s testimonies would proceed from March 1-5, resulting in the commencement of the greatest-known witch hunt of all time.

Before being sold into slavery, Tituba was a native of New Spain. She was purchased by Samuel Parris in Barbados and brought to Boston in 1680. She, along with two others, was a slave to the Paris family. One was a Spanish Indian named John and the other was an African American boy who died at the age of fifteen due to unknown causes. Tituba did house work and cooked while John did the more labor-intensive work. Tituba also looked after Samuel’s daughter, Betty. Tituba and John got married in 1689, the same year the Parris family picked up and relocated to Salem Village. When the family moved to Salem, it was calm for a few years. However as rumors of witchcraft floated around the village, things became less than ordinary. (Roach, M. K. p. 819, 871,)

Tituba was a Caribbean slave owned by the Parris family. Sarah Good was a homeless woman. Sarah Osborne was a poor elderly woman. Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good pleaded innocent. Tituba admitted, “The Devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She described seeing red cats, yellow birds, black dogs, and a black man who asked her to sign his “book”. She confessed to signing the book. All three women were put in jail. Soon, more children had started to experience similar episodes. People were tried and found guilty of witchcraft.

Tituba was a women considered to be an outcasts of the village since she has very little dignity in being a slave. These false accusations lead Tituba to be condemned to death. This unjust act is only the beginning of a series of false allegations that take control of Salem, as well as the spreading of paranoia and hysteria through the village. This finally results in the deaths of the some of the main characters, such as Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, for carrying out acts of witchcraft.

That was a quote from Mrs Putnam. I think the fact that she has lost 7 babies makes her think it is work of the devil trying to punish the “good”. Once everyone believed it was the work of the devil, they blamed Tituba who is only low class person in the household and her being a black slave makes it easy for everyone to blame her because as she doesn’t have any power or authority she won’t react and her coming from a completely different culture to than the people in Salem makes the believe that she is affected by the witch and devil.

The decisions that Tituba made throughout her trial, contributed in a substantial magnitude to the American history that’s known nowadays. If it wasn 't for the confession of the actions that Tituba made, the unfolding of the witch trials might have had a different angle. Braslow discuses, “Tituba is perceived during the trials as a woman, as a slave, as an American Indian, and as an outsider in a Puritan society”. Being an outsider in a world where if you make one mistake, must have been terrifying for Tituba, and perhaps she felt that by confessing, she would have more opportunities to survive. She initiated an era of terror among the European society, an era of witchcraft and hostility towards women, like Tituba, that were only mostly peasant and ignorant women, without any knowledge and influence over people. Church communities, manifested hatred towards women that were merely part of an injustice act. These women did not understand what was happening, and even some were convinced of

Some relatives accused others of using witchcraft because illness struck their family or their crops died. Some were accused and imprisoned in Salem for months because they presented inexplicable behaviors. While many historians now believe that the erratic behaviors of several of the persons accused as witches were caused by the fungus ergot growing on their grain, it certainly leaves the question open to whether or not any of these people were actually secretly witches. Whatever the truth is, we may never know. I do, however, know that they are my