Character and action:

  • Reverend Hale
  • Giles Cory
  • Reverend Parris
  • Abigail Williams
  • Mrs Putnam
  • Tituba
  • Betty
  • Reverend Parris admits he saw Abigail and the girls dancing in the forest.
  • Abigail blames Tituba for the witchcraft.
  • Tituba confesses as this is the only way she can live.
  • Tituba goes on to blaming people she disliked as this is the first time she has power.
  • Abigail’s jealous of the power Tituba gains so she confesses to witchcraft as well so she can have the power as well.
  • Abigail then goes mad with the power and accuses lots of people she dislikes and the girls follower her and copy what she is doing.

Themes and context:

Witchcraft– when Tituba confesses to witchcraft and compacting with the devil which leads to Abigail confessing.

Power- when Abigail and Tituba confess to witchcraft they gain a lot of power which they didn’t have and accuse people they disliked.

Revenge- Abigail, Tituba and the girls blame people they dislike of witchcraft so this way they can get back on them and get their revenge.

In context girls in the 1900s did not have any power it was usually the males that had the power. So at the point where Abigail and Tituba confess and gain power they go mad with it because this is the first time they had the feeling to know what having power felt like and is their first encounter with having power.

Language:

Metaphor – ‘you are god’s instrument put in our hands to discover the devils agents amongst us’.

This quote tells the reader that now that Tituba has confessed  of being a witch, he and everyone else will treat her better because they want to get the names of the other people to blame upon. This shows that the 16th century puritans were selfish because before they beat her up and now they are calling her ‘God’s instrument’.

Simile – ‘The devil is out and preying on her like a beast upon the flesh of the pure lamb’.

This quote tells the reader that Tituba is being guilt tripped because she won’t tell the names of the people to blame.

Double negative – ‘I don’t compact with no devil’

This quote tells the reader that language is archaic and today this would mean that you would compact with the devil.

Rule of 3 – ‘a mouse, perhaps, a spider, a frog?’

This quote tells the readers that hale was trying to get as much information out of Reverend Paris as possible.