tear to get her free." And as he is about to start, he warns them solemnly; "Now mark me, if the Devil is in her you will witness some frightful wonders in this room, so please keep your wits about you. Mr. Putnam, stand close in case she flies." Given the charged atmosphere in the room, if the Devil himself came up through the floor, it would hardly be unexpected. What Mr. Hale has in fact done is made it impossible for something not to happen.He tries talking to Betty. Nothing. He asks if someone afflicts her, or some thing--"a pig, a mouse, or any beast at all." Nothing. He intones Latin over her: In the name of the Father and the Son, I bid you [who are afflicting this child] return to Hell! Nothing. He turns to Abigail. She squirms beneath his questions. Yes, they were dancing. Yes, there was a kettle of soup, but the live frog "jumped in, we never put it in!" Hale is on the scent now, and he bears down on her. "Did you call the Devil last night?"Abigail has to get out of this. "I never called him! Tituba, Tituba..." and we're off. Now Abigail can confess everything because Tituba made her do it: made her drink blood, made her laugh at prayer, made her dream corruptions and stand "in the open doorway and not a stitch upon my body!" What answer can poor Tituba make to such a deluge of accusations? "No I didn't"? Who's going to believe that? On the contrary, the witch has been found.Tituba's in a terrible jam. When she denies the charge that she compacted with the Devil, her master threatens to whip her to death, and Mr. Putnam adds that she must be hanged if she will not confess. Very well, she'll confess. If you had to choose between a noose and a false confession, which would you choose? (Remember your answer for later.)But to Tituba, it may not have been such a lie. The Devil is real to these people. If they haven't seen him "in the flesh," he is an active figure in their imaginations. He is the Author of all Temptations, the Fat...
