The pressure that Tituba is under is shown in the language used. All the characters involved in this scene are ganging up on her, as she is an easy target because she does not speak their language well and is of another race, a foreigner. She is seen as someone needing to be converted, to become a good Christian woman. Hale uses a lot of religious language as a threat and repeatedly shouts at her with saying’ like, ‘are you gathering souls of the Devil?
‘ Hale often cuts her off and does not give the ‘guilty’ woman a chance to defend her life, ‘mister reverend, I never -‘. Parris, who thinks rather highly of himself and his authority, takes this as an opportunity to show his slave who really is the master by saying, ‘you will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba’s! ‘ This is a devious way of putting pressure on Tituba and threatening her into confessing as it is playing on her fears.
Still using religious language, It is only after Hale and the others have got the confession they were striving for, that they start to back off with the religious threats, and as seeing she is not a witch and still has the chance of being a good Christian woman, they choose to help her unbind herself to hell. ‘We are going to help you tear free’. There are not many stage directions and this scene’s success depends heavily on the self feeding hysteria that seems to grip the characters; a commotion that is not needed but is the fuels the beginning of Salem’s mania.
Another character that uses religion for his own good is Judge Danforth. Danforth uses religious language to gain power. In this quote Danforth uses his words wisely to make Mary feel pressured and unsure of herself. ‘How were you instructed in your life? Do you not know that God damns all liars? (She cannot speak) or is it now that you lie? ‘ Danforth does this in order to create a sense of his authority to Mary.
Danforth feels that he is a representative of God and this is what gives him the power to send people to the jails or send them to their deaths. ‘ It might well be that Mary Warren has been conjured by Satan… If so, her neck will break for it’. Again, this is showing us that Danforth is not afraid to throw his beliefs, weight and authority around. Religion means everything to the people of Salem. In Proctors accusation against Abigail he is willing to cast away his good name and reputation of a true Christian to save his wife.
We can see Miller building up the tension by first setting the scene with a commotion of nonsense which has been built by Abigail, the girl at the heart of Proctors rage. This winds Proctor up and is the fuel to his fire. When Proctor is ignored whilst trying to tell Danforth the girls are merely ‘pretending’, the commotion carry’s on, making Proctors rage at the highest point possible which leads him to his breakdown and confession to the Judges of an affair with Abigail.
‘Without warning or hesitation, proctor leaps at Abigail and, grabbing her by her hair pulls her to her feet. Because the society of Salem takes its lifestyle so seriously this shows us that Proctor is not afraid, and that this might finally prove his love for Elizabeth and prove that Abigail, to him is just a ‘whore’. Apart from showing his devote love for his wife Elizabeth this tells us that something so great as religion and that people will now refer to him as a lecher, can not stand between his love for Elizabeth.
