Leo Tolstoy, author of the critically acclaimed novel War and Peace, wrote, “It’s too easy to criticize a man when he’s out of favour, and to make him shoulder the blame for everybody else’s mistakes.” Throughout history, social pariahs have served as scapegoats for the privileged; perhaps the most notorious--and treacherous--example of this were the Salem Witch Trials, where vengeance forced blame and death upon usually low-tiered citizens. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Parris’ slave Tituba confesses to witchcraft in order to escape death, while also recognizing the immense power she previously could never dream of having. It is undeniable that Tituba’s accusations and lies perpetuated the hysteria: she is not entirely blameless. However, the reader must also acknowledge the circumstances leading up to her wrongdoing in order to understand why Tituba’s innocence truly outweighs her guilt: the way in which Tituba is regarded as a slave speaks to the traumatizing powerlessness that she faced; her paganistic religion presented a rare opportunity for Tituba to attain trust and amusement from the girls; and she needed to lie and falsely accuse others so that she could both escape death and gain newfound freedoms. Throughout The Crucible, especially throughout Act One, the dialogue towards Tituba gives way to her unfortunate background and her treatment in a racist theocracy. For instance, when discussing the dancing, Abigail and Reverend Parris make references to
In examining both versions of The Crucible, a noticeable discrepancy is the difference in expositions. The film initiates with a scene showing the Puritan girls and Tituba, a black slave, performing a ritual in the forest. As opposed to the text, which opens up with Reverend Parris praying by the bedside of his unconscious daughter, Betty; the incident in the forest is only mentioned as a flashback. From Mercy Lewis’ nudity to Abigail William’s consumption of chicken blood, the audience gets an insight of these taboo activities. It emphasizes intolerance
Imagine living in a society where you are guilty till proven innocent, instead of innocent til proven guilty. Due to the bias preference of the word of “God” in the story The Crucible By Arthur Miller, it is greatly implied that many of the casualties such as John and Elizabeth Proctor to name a couple was due to the restricted theology of church and state. In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. These girls are who create most of the controversy, as they lie to get through most circumstances. A specific individual is Abigail Williams, playing the victim for example as she blames Tituba in page 43 saying “She makes me drink blood!” leading to Tituba to being pulled to the side in page 44 and yelled at “you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to death” making her give in, in order for him to spare her life. leading to further unjustifiable atrocities.
A society that praises moral righteousness and piety is destroyed by a series of witch trials that are ironically immoral and unfair. The Salem Witch Trials are fueled by personal motives and feuds that emerge because of the restrictions in Puritan society. The society nurtures a culture of fear and distrust that stems from dread of the devil and strict adherence to the Bible. Salem is the perfect environment for fear and vengeance to spread through witchcraft accusations, because people have no other means to gain power or get revenge on enemies. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays how the Puritan society in Salem influences the witch trials and increases their impact, because of the religion-based justice system, women and
In the beginning of the play, Tituba, Reverend Parris’ servant, takes Abigail, Betty, and many other girls into the forest. They dance around a fire and Tituba sings songs, seemingly innocent. The day after, people are saying that Tituba is a witch and was performing a black magic ritual. Then later, she is asked to forgive her sins and “call out” the other supposed witches she has seen practicing witchcraft. I don’t think that Tituba is justified in doing this.
In The Crucible, we are introduced to a group of girls who are in the forest dancing around a fire with a black slave named Tituba. As their dancing around, they are caught by the local minister Reverend Parris and suddenly his daughter falls into a coma-like
Salem is not what it appears to the naked eye for dishonest children accuse and condemn the innocent to swing on the gallows. The Crucible a tragedy by Arthur Miller, relates to the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692. The reputation of Salem at the time is that no one is safe, anyone can be a witch in their eyes in order for their own benefit of freedom. Truth can stand on its own against any circumstance. Such as John Proctor stands up against Abigail for the troubles she is causing. In the same way it is almost impossible to be an outlaw to this way because of the substantial consequences if you are not just like society. This ultimately brings out the darkness in Salem. Due to envy, revenge, and lies this town
On a similar note, both of us are unique individuals that make us stand out with the crowd. In The Crucible, Tituba is an African American woman from the island of Barbados when all the other characters in the play happen to be white Americans. This makes her stand out amongst everyone else in the play. On the heartbreaking side, Tituba is made a slave due to this and a victim of racism later in the play. There are no direct quotes of racism in the play, but she was being convicted for all of practices. Her practices were clearly African descended practices but the townspeople thought that her practices are evil. How I
Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Tituba is most to blame for the Salem Witch Trials. Tituba was a slave from Barbados that worked for Reverend Parris. She performed the roles of the wife, even though they were not married. Tituba practices what the Puritans contemplates as black magic, but she only practices at the appeal of Abigail Williams. She never considered spell casting, dancing, and singing was premeditated evil because those practices were spiritual and common descending from her African roots. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Tituba’s flaws Gullibility, Immaturity, and Ignorance that led her to be most responsible for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a rich and enticing play set in the late 1600’s describing the epic horrors and emotions through the events of the Salem witch trials. The Crucible, focuses primarily on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. The play begins with the discovery of several young girls and an African American slave, Tituba, in the woods just outside of Salem, dancing and pretending to conjure spirits. The Puritans of Salem stood for complete religious intolerance and stressed the need to follow the ways of the bible literally without exception. The actions of the women in
The accusations against Tituba began when Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, Tituba’s slave master’s daughter and niece, began to show signs of abnormal
In “The Crucible”, a play about people being accused of witchcraft in 1692, both class and race played a part in who was accused and executed. The play began when the minister, Parris, catching local girls including his daughter, Betty, dancing at night with the black slave, Tituba. As soon as Betty became ill, Tituba was the first to be accused of witchcraft, and eventually executed. Soon, Tituba and Parris’s niece, Abigail started pointing fingers at many others in the community. Meanwhile, men with wealth or power such as Reverend Parris and Thomas Putnam, were trying to gain wealth and property by accusing others of witchcraft. An example of this was when Thomas Putnam wanted his daughter to accuse George Jacobs of witchcraft so Putnam could get his land. Judge Danforth, the person with the ultimate power, did not seem to seek justice for the powerless who were falsely accused. (Miller)
“He say Mr. Parris’ must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man, Mr. Parris mean man and no gentle man, and he bid me, rise out of my bed and cut your throat!” This quote was said by Tituba in The Crucible after being accused of bewitching the girls. Tituba was a slave from Barbados and was taken to Salem after being bought by Reverend Parris. She was mistreated by Mr.Parris and was constantly whipped and beat. After confessing to witchcraft, Tituba goes crazy in jail and starts saying she and Sarah Good are going to fly with the devil to Barbados. Tituba and I have a variety of similar personality traits in that we are unique, caring, and an outcast.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.
[Sitting down, eyes closed and hands gathered, praying] "Dear heavenly father, I bow my head down to you now, asking you for your forgiveness. I have committed a grave sin even resulting in someone being executed. I wronged you father and I shouldn't have confessed to having connections with the devil.