Recently we’ve been creating these creative posts, which I have really enjoyed. The idea is to create something we are passionate about or have a interest in, while simultaneously reflecting on a play we have been reading (The Crucible). So far, we’ve done one out of the three posts needed, if you want to catch up press here. Each post must be centred around a question or prompt that was given to us, I chose to do the following: Think of an image from the play and use that image to create a spatial poem or something similar (an image? a photo essay?). 

The play we have been reading is a classic, set in the late 1600’s. So far we’ve read up to act 1, during this act a lot happens. The bottom line is a couple of girls are dancing in the forest casting spells to get revenge. One of the girls falls into a coma like state, pulling the town into a Salem witch trial. As more is discovered people start placing blame. The maid, Tituba is eventually blamed for being the witch who force the girls to dance in the woods and cast spells.

Drawing of Tituba from The Crucibles book.

Unfortunately in the 1600’s most people would own slaves. These slaves were treated very unfairly and were whipped or beat if they didn’t follow the owners rules. Tituba was this households slave and worked as maid. As I said before the girls who were caught casting spells blamed tituba because according to them she was the easiest to blame. Of course everybody would believe the girls over the slave. 

“ABIGAIL: I never called him! Tituba, Tituba …
PARRIS, blanched: She called the Devil?”

– (Miller, Arthur p. 134)

This play was based on a true story and most events that took place were quite accurate. After reading about what happened to Tituba, I cannot imagine how horrible it would be to be in her place. So, I decided to create a piece of art to try and express how Tituba could have been feeling at that moment.

Created by me with Paper Pro and Canva.

Even though this piece of art can never come close to representing the powerful emotions she could have been feeling, I think it helped create a visual aid for me personally to better understand her character. I really enjoyed creating this piece of art, it also helped me reflect my opinion on this act which will help aid my understanding further down in the play!