Tuesday 24 May 2016

Who are the characters in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem?

Main Characters:

1. Tituba: a biracial young woman born in Barbados (her mother was an African slave; her father, an English sailor, raped her mother). She is run off the plantation on which she grew up after her mother is hanged for defending herself against her owner's sexual advances. She marries John Indian, a slave, and returns to slavery on his behalf. She is eventually sold to Samuel Parris and gets caught up in the Salem Witch Trials. 


2. John Indian: Tituba's husband. He and Tituba are sold to Rev. Samuel Parris of Salem Township.


3. Rev. Samuel Parris: Puritan reverend who is in charge of the church in Salem Township. His daughter, Betty, is one of the initial accusers of Tituba in Salem after she and several other girls are discovered by Parris dancing in the woods and casting love spells.


4. Benjamin Cohen d'Azevedo: a Jewish merchant who becomes Tituba's owner after she confesses to witchcraft in Salem and is freed after the trials. She takes care of Benjamin's nine children until Puritans set his house on fire. Benjamin frees Tituba and send her back to Barbados. 


5. Mama Yaya: a Barbados woman who nurtures Tituba after her mother's death and takes Tituba back in after her release by Benjamin.


6. Hester Prynne: heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Prynne is imprisoned with Tituba during the witch trials for having an affair with a man she will not name and becoming pregnant with his child. Hester is eventually released along with her newborn daughter, Pearl, but forced to wear a scarlet letter A to identify her as an adulteress.


7. Christopher: leader of a group of maroons with whom Tituba joins up after her freedom from Benjamin. She sleeps with Christopher.


8. Iphigene: a young slave who is brought to Tituba near death. She nurses him back to health, and he plans a revolt against the plantation owners. However, his plan is discovered, and he and Tituba are arrested and hanged along with their followers.

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