The Crucible Rhetorical Analysis Essay

“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 bed and cut your throat!” (Miller 47).
Speaker: Tituba proclaims these statements in front of Parris, Hale, Abigail, and the ill Betty.
Situation: After the girls were caught in the woods dancing, the girls face a strict interrogation from Parris and Hales. To escape her own punishment, Abigail puts the blame on Tituba by claiming that Tituba forced her to drink the chicken blood. Tituba, left to fend for herself, quickly realizes the only way she has to overcome this conviction is to confess to it. She boldly claims that she is in fact working for the devil, and continues by claiming that the devil had asked her repeatedly to kill Parris.
Significance: As a slave to Parris, Tituba has essentially no power in her society. She is forced to obey the commands of Parris without fail, and constantly put up with his strict nature. Anything she speaks is not seen as important. However, Tituba uses Abigail's accusation against her to express her emotions in a way so that the townspeople listen. She uses the words of the devil to express her own

At that time in American history, paranoia spread around the concept of communism and its potential threats. People began to wrongfully accuse others of being communist or supporting communism, similar to how the characters in the play wrongfully accused people of being witches. Just as those accused of being witches were asked to name whom else they knew of to be witches, those accused of communism were asked to do the same. With this system came the spread of uneasiness throughout the country of America and the town of Salem. Miller wished to showcase the crazy nature of McCarthyism in a way that people would be able to comprehend. The hysteria in both cases was caused simply by fear and not by actual