I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem

In the 14 sentences comprising the single page of Chapter 5, the “jeering sailors” aboard the brigantine Blessing watch as a horrified and speechless Tituba is baptized then married to John Indian.

Aboard the Boston-bound ship, Tituba befriends Elizabeth Parris—the ill, fragile, and compassionate woman who is married to Samuel Parris but feels the same horror toward him as Tituba. They have two girls—Betsey, their daughter, and Abigail Williams, an orphaned niece they adopted.

Tituba muses to herself, “How frivolous was this man my body had chosen” (40), as she observes his tomfoolery whether amidst the sailors or at confession. Her desire for him, however, subdues her concerns. Reverend Parris forces them all to participate in prayers and confessions, accusing them “venomously: ‘I know that the color of your skin is the sign of your damnation’” (41). He is equally cruel and abusive with Tituba and his wife.

Tituba uses her massage oils to nurse Elizabeth and Betsey back to health. She and Elizabeth engage in intimate conversations about sexuality—Tituba’s celebration of sensuality always triggers fear in Elizabeth. Abigail, in contrast, remains aloof. Her stare, her questions, and her strange obsession with Puritan ideas about the devil make Tituba ill, and she is constantly afraid Abigail will report back to her uncle.