The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
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elief in <strong>the</strong> reality <strong>of</strong> witchcraft on <strong>the</strong> one hand while widening <strong>the</strong> pool <strong>of</strong> suspects with <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
But how was this machine set in motion? When did <strong>the</strong> prior beliefs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> authorities become centered<br />
around not simply <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> witchcraft but a conspiracy <strong>of</strong> witches? Where did <strong>the</strong> deceptive<br />
cycle begin? Much <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> analysis so far has been based on <strong>the</strong> common incentives faced by those<br />
being tortured <strong>for</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation and those confessing to avoid execution, but <strong>the</strong> origins <strong>of</strong> this deceptive<br />
cycle lie in <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> torture on a single individual. And it would be her coerced testimony that would<br />
begin <strong>the</strong> cycle <strong>of</strong> accusations and denunciations.<br />
3.7. <strong>Torture</strong>, Tituba, and Slavery<br />
If <strong>the</strong> incentives faced by later confessors were clear – name o<strong>the</strong>rs and at worst receive a<br />
temporary reprieve from execution, at best purchase liberty through <strong>the</strong> arrest <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs – <strong>the</strong>se were<br />
not in place when Tituba confessed. It was <strong>the</strong> fact that those who maintained innocence were executed<br />
(such as Sarah Good) while Tituba remained alive that convinced o<strong>the</strong>rs that <strong>the</strong>y too might be spared<br />
in exchange <strong>for</strong> cooperating with <strong>the</strong> proceedings. And it was <strong>the</strong> apparent sincerity <strong>of</strong> her confession,<br />
and <strong>the</strong> fact that this confession had not been coerced by <strong>the</strong> court, that convinced <strong>the</strong> magistrates <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> reality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> conspiracy and <strong>the</strong> truthfulness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> afflicted. But when Tituba confessed, she<br />
would have to have believed that her confession would lead to her execution. Why <strong>the</strong>n did Tituba<br />
admit to witchcraft? And why did she do so in <strong>the</strong> peculiar language <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elites – admitting not to<br />
maleficium <strong>for</strong> revenge, but to a covenant with Satan? What incentive did she face that made an<br />
expected death by hanging <strong>the</strong> preferable option? To understand this puzzle, we shall have to make<br />
recourse to <strong>the</strong> legal institution <strong>of</strong> slavery itself: <strong>for</strong> it was her slave status, and <strong>the</strong> power <strong>of</strong> Rev. Parris<br />
as her master over her that made her confession inevitable.<br />
As noted above, Tituba revealed to Robert Calef around 1700 that her testimony had in fact<br />
been coerced – not by <strong>the</strong> courts, but by Parris himself. Gripped with concern over his daughter Betty<br />
(one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first, and apparently most sincere <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> afflicted afflicted), Parris was faced with <strong>the</strong><br />
following dilemma: his daughter was being tortured severely, and had named Tituba, Good and<br />
Osbourne as her persecutors; according to his Harvard-educated beliefs regarding <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong><br />
witchcraft, this meant that Tituba was part <strong>of</strong> a conspiracy <strong>of</strong> witches, and might know <strong>the</strong> names <strong>of</strong><br />
o<strong>the</strong>r witches in <strong>the</strong> area also responsible; and yet Tituba refused to name her confederates.<br />
Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, while judicial torture was not a part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> English system, it was an accepted means <strong>of</strong><br />
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