Devil; 3) The Devil actually came to her as she says, that is, Tituba, who has a vivid imagination, really believes what she's saying. The author leaves the choice up to us. What is clear is that all the people in the room take Tituba's statements as fact.All of them, that is, with the possible exception of Abigail Williams. Throughout Tituba's confession Abby has remained silent. Suddenly she rises, "staring as though inspired," and cries out:I want to open myself! 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!What are we to make of this? In this case we have a lot more to go on than we did with Tituba. Abigail's been on stage since the beginning of the act; by now we know her better than anyone else. We've seen her change her story for each new person she's told it to, we've seen her consistently shift blame onto others, we've heard her threaten the other girls with "a pointy reckoning," and we know she hates Goody Proctor. It's doubtful that she actually saw the Devil: earlier, when Proctor said the town's "mumbling witchcraft," her response was a contemptuous, "Oh, posh!"But throughout this scene Tituba's been getting all the attention, and maybe Abigail just wants a little for herself. Like a child trying for the grownups' approval, she pipes up, "I did it too! I did it too!"Her long silence during Tituba's confession may, however, have a more sinister explanation. She knows now what "pretense" Salem is, and she sees a chance to pay back the hypocrisy of "all these Christian women and their covenanted men" with a monstrous trick. Tituba just got away with a vicious attack on her uncle; might not Abigail be able to do the same with her enemies? All she has to do is "confess" and anything she says will be believed. The temptatio...
