The Crucible (9 page)

 

Old Giles must be spoken for, if only because his fate was to be so remarkable and so different from that of all the others. He was in his early eighties at this time, and was the most comical hero in the history. No man has ever been blamed for so much. If a cow was missed, the first thought was to look for her around Corey’s house; a fire blazing up at night brought suspicion of arson to his door. He didn’t give a hoot for public opinion, and only in his last years—after he had married Martha—did he bother much with the church. That she stopped his prayer is very probable, but he forgot to say that he’d only recently learned any prayers and it didn’t take much to make him stumble over them. He was a crank and a nuisance, but withal a deeply innocent and brave man. In court, once, he was asked if it were true that he had been frightened by the strange behavior of a hog and had then said he knew it to be the Devil in an animal’s shape. “What frighted you?” he was asked. He forgot everything but the word “frighted,” and instantly replied, “I do not know that I ever spoke that word in my life.”

 

HALE: Ah! The stoppage of prayer—that is strange. I’ll speak further on that with you.

GILES: I’m not sayin’ she’s touched the Devil, now, but I’d admire to know what books she reads and why she hides them. She’ll not answer me, y’ see.

HALE: Aye, we’ll discuss it. To
all:
Now mark me, if the Devil is in her you will witness some frightful wonders in this room, so please to keep your wits about you. Mr. Putnam, stand close in case she flies. Now, Betty, dear, will you sit up?
Putnam comes in closer, ready—handed. Hale sits Betty up, but she hangs limp in his hands.
Hmmm.
He observes her carefully. The others watch breathlessly.
Can you hear me? I am John Hale, minister of Beverly. I have come to help you, dear. Do you remember my two little girls in Beverly?
She does not stir in his hands.

PARRIS, in
fright:
How can it be the Devil? Why would he choose my house to strike? We have all manner of licentious people in the village!

HALE: What victory would the Devil have to win a soul already bad? It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister?

GILES: That’s deep, Mr. Parris, deep, deep!

PARRIS,
with resolution now:
Betty! Answer Mr. Hale! Betty!

HALE: Does someone afflict you, child? It need not be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some bird invisible to others comes to you—perhaps a pig, a mouse, or any beast at all. Is there some figure bids you fly?
The child remains limp in his hands. In silence he lays her back on the pillow. Now, holding out his hands toward her, he intones:
In nomine Domini Sabaoth sui filiique ite ad infernos.
She does not stir. He turns to Abigail, his eyes narrowing.
Abigail, what sort of dancing were you doing with her in the forest?

ABIGAIL: Why—common dancing is all.

PARRIS: I think I ought to say that I—I saw a kettle in the grass where they were dancing.

ABIGAIL: That were only soup.

HALE: What sort of soup were in this kettle, Abigail?

ABIGAIL: Why, it were beans—and lentils, I think, and—

HALE : Mr. Parris, you did not notice, did you, any living thing in the kettle? A mouse, perhaps, a spider, a frog—?

PARRIS,
fearfully :
I—do believe there were some movement—in the soup.

ABIGAIL: That jumped in, we never put it in!

HALE,
quickly:
What jumped in?

ABIGAIL: Why, a very little frog jumped—

PARRIS: A frog, Abby!

HALE,
grasping Abigail :
Abigail, it may be your cousin is dying. Did you call the Devil last night?

ABIGAIL: I never called him! Tituba, Tituba ...

PARRIS,
blanched:
She called the Devil?

HALE: I should like to speak with Tituba.

PARRIS: Goody Ann, will you bring her up?
Mrs. Putnam exits.

HALE: How did she call him?

ABIGAIL: I know not—she spoke Barbados.

HALE: Did you feel any strangeness when she called him? A sudden cold wind, perhaps? A trembling below the ground?

ABIGAIL: I didn’t see no Devil!
Shaking Betty:
Betty, wake up. Betty! Betty!

HALE: You cannot evade me, Abigail. Did your cousin drink any of the brew in that kettle?

ABIGAIL: She never drank it!

HALE: Did you drink it?

ABIGAIL: No, sir!

HALE: Did Tituba ask you to drink it?

ABIGAIL: She tried, but I refused.

HALE: Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?

ABIGAIL: I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!

ABIGAIL: She made me do it! She made Betty do it!

TITUBA,
shocked and angry:
Abby!

ABIGAIL: She makes me drink blood!

PARRIS: Blood!!

MRS. PUTNAM: My baby’s blood?

TITUBA: No, no, chicken blood. I give she chicken blood!

HALE: Woman, have you enlisted these children for the Devil?

TITUBA: No, no, sir, I don’t truck with no Devil!

HALE: Why can she not wake? Are you silencing this child?

TITUBA: I love me Betty!

HALE: You have sent your spirit out upon this child, have you not? Are you gathering souls for the Devil?

ABIGAIL: She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!

PARRIS: She have often laughed at prayer!

ABIGAIL: She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!

TITUBA: You beg
me
to conjure! She beg
me
make charm—

ABIGAIL : Don’t lie!
To Hale:
She comes to me while I sleep; she’s always making me dream corruptions!

TITUBA: Why you say that, Abby?

ABIGAIL: Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with—

TITUBA: Mister Reverend, I never—

HALE,
resolved now:
Tituba, I want you to wake this child.

TITUBA: I have no power on this child, sir.

HALE: You most certainly do, and you will free her from it now! When did you compact with the Devil?

TITUBA: I don’t compact with no Devil!

PARRIS: You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!

PUTNAM: This woman must be hanged! She must be taken and hanged!

TITUBA,
terrified, falls to her knees:
No, no, don’t hang Tituba! I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir.

PARRIS: The Devil?

HALE: Then you saw him!
Tituba weeps.
Now Tituba, I know that when we bind ourselves to Hell it is very hard to break with it. We are going to help you tear yourself free—

TITUBA,
frightened by the coming process:
Mister Reverend, I do believe somebody else be witchin’ these children.

HALE: Who?

TITUBA: I don’t know, sir, but the Devil got him numerous witches.

HALE: Does he!
It is a clue.
Tituba, look into my eyes. Come, look into me.
She raises her eyes to his fearfully.
You would be a good Christian woman, would you not, Tituba?

TITUBA: Aye, sir, a good Christian woman.

HALE: And you love these little children?

TITUBA: Oh, yes, sir, I don’t desire to hurt little children.

HALE: And you love God, Tituba?

TITUBA: I love God with all my bein’.

HALE: Now, in God’s holy name—

TITUBA: Bless Him. Bless Him.
She is rocking on her knees, sobbing in terror.

HALE: And to His glory—

TITUBA: Eternal glory. Bless Him—bless God ...

HALE: Open yourself, Tituba—open yourself and let God’s holy light shine on you.

TITUBA: Oh, bless the Lord.

HALE: When the Devil comes to you does he ever come—with another person?
She stares up into his face.
Perhaps another person in the village? Someone you know.

PARRIS: Who came with him?

PUTNAM : Sarah Good? Did you ever see Sarah Good with him? Or Osburn?

PARRIS: Was it man or woman came with him?

TITUBA: Man or woman. Was—was woman.

PARRIS: What woman? A woman, you said. What woman?

TITUBA: It was black dark, and I—

PARRIS: You could see him, why could you not see her?

TITUBA: Well, they was always talking; they was always runnin’ round and carryin’ on—

PARRIS: You mean out of Salem? Salem witches?

TITUBA: I believe so, yes, sir.

HALE: Tituba. You must have no fear to tell us who they are, do you understand? We will protect you. The Devil can never overcome a minister. You know that, do you not?

TITUBA-She
kisses Hale’s hand:
Aye, sir, oh, I do.

HALE: You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks a wish to come to Heaven’s side. And we will bless you, Tituba.

TITUBA, deeply
relieved:
Oh, God bless you, Mr. Hale!

HALE, with rising exaltation: You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us. You are selected, Tituba, you are chosen to help us cleanse our village. So speak utterly, Tituba, turn your back on him and face God—face God, Tituba, and God will protect you.

TITUBA,
joining with him:
Oh, God, protect Tituba!

HALE,
kindly:
Who came to you with the Devil? Two? Three? Four? How many?

TITUBA: There was four. There was four.

PARRIS,
pressing in on her:
Who? Who? Their names, their names!

TITUBA,
suddenly bursting out:
Oh, how many times he bid me kill you, Mr. Parris!

PARRIS: Kill me!

TITUBA,
in a fury:
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!
They gasp.
But I tell him “No! I don’t hate that man. I don’t want kill that man.” But he say, “You work for me, Tituba, and I make you free! I give you pretty dress to wear, and put you way high up in the air, and you gone fly back to Barbados!” And I say, “You lie, Devil, you lie!” And then he come one stormy night to me, and he say, “Look! I have
white
people belong to me.” And I look—and there was Goody Good.

PARRIS: Sarah Good!

TITUBA,
rocking and weeping:
Aye, sir, and Goody Osburn.

MRS. PUTNAM: I knew it! Goody Osburn were midwife to me three times. I begged you, Thomas, did I not? I begged him not to call Osburn because I feared her. My babies always shriveled in her hands!

HALE: Take courage, you must give us all their names. How can you bear to see this child suffering? Look at her, Tituba.
He is indicating Betty on the bed.
Look at her God-given innocence; her soul is so tender; we must protect her, Tituba; the Devil is out and preying on her like a beast upon the flesh of the pure lamb. God will bless you for your help.

ABIGAIL: I want to open myself!
They turn to her, startled. She is enraptured, as though in a pearly light.
I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!

BETTY,
staring too:
I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil!

PARRIS: She speaks!
He rushes to embrace Betty.
She speaks!

HALE: Glory to God! It is broken, they are free!

BETTY,
calling out hysterically and with great relief:
I saw Martha Bellows with the Devil!

ABIGAIL: I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil!
It is rising to a great glee.

PUTNAM: The marshal, I’ll call the marshal!

BETTY: I saw Alice Barrow with the Devil!

HALE,
as Putnam goes out:
Let the marshal bring irons!

ABIGAIL: I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil!

BETTY: I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil!

ABIGAIL: I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!

THE CURTAIN FALLS

ACT TWO