The Devil's Tongue Analysis

Article Review In the article “The Devil’s Tongue”, the author looks to answer two questions; How did the epidemic gather so much speed, and how did it come to involve a satanic plot? Both of these answers lie in an Indian slave named Tituba. In early 1692, many young women started to act differently. “They contorted violently; the complained of bites and pinches. They alternately interpreted sermons and fell mute…” The local people had no great explanation for all of this so, the women were “declared to be bewitched.” The girls then accused the people they beloved bewitched them. Tituba was one of these women. Tituba was a colored woman who belonged to Samuel Paris. She worked in the house, and she would eat and sleep with the daughter and niece of …show more content…
At first, Tituba denied the accusation. Nobody bothered to hear her out on this. Tituba found that is was much easier for her to admit to that she was following a powerful leader, being a slave, rather than denying it entirely. Hathorne tortured the girls until the spoke. Tituba repeatedly told authorities that it was the devil who they followed. She even went as for as to describe to the entire meeting house how the devil appeared to her. She described the different signs, such as “...a hog, a great black dog, a red cat…” and many other things. Tituba described these in great detail, so the people believed her. She admitted to pinching many girls from many different house. She could also describe any book Hathorne mentioned. Tituba was very vague in her descriptions, but she made them very believable. She then claimed the “..devil had incapacitated her…”, because she was telling secrets she was not entitled to tell. Tituba caused the investigation to become urgent. She “...assured the authorities they were on the right track.” The authorities began to arrest many more suspects, and accusing many more women of being witches with very little evidence. She made them believe there was a “... satanic