elf for his own sins. Another judgement made is on Tituba, a black slave of Rev. Parris' from Barbados. She was present in the woods when thedancing occurred, and because she was from what was thought to be an"uncivilized" country, they assumed she was the ring leader of the whole thing. To get her to confess, the men told her that God has sent her to cleanse the villageof Satan. And she does confess to witchcraft, because if she doesn't, she will behung. People in the village started to judge their neighbors, because they werefrightened. Because of this, more and more people were accused. Prejudice is also a feeling that was considerably influential in theseventeenth century. The Indians were persecuted against because they weredifferent, and because their practices weren't understood by the Puritans. In theinstance of The Crucible, anyone who disagreed or was different was accused. Such as Rebecca Nurse, who up until the trials was considered the most holywoman in town. But when she showed obvious doubts in the trials, she too was Spielmannpg 4accused of being a witch. The fact that Tituba was considered the to be theringleader of the dancing is also prejudiced. They believed that because she was from a strange land, she must have been persuading the girls to do the Devil'swork. The theology of the Puritans was also a factor in the actions of the people. To the Puritans, every action had to do with God. In order to be one of God'schosen few, one must always have God in their heart, and never do anything evil. When the girls danced, they realized that they would be severely punished fordoing something deemed "evil", so they did whatever it was that they could toavoid this. In fact, the whole trial was based on the theology of the Puritans. Forexample, Hale says that, "Theology is a fortress. No crack in a fortress may beaccounted small." This shows that they felt that any matter that opposed theirtheology must be quic...
