“There be no Hell in Barbados.”
Por qué es buena
A flat dialect denial turns a penal colony into a paradise and refuses fear.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
There be no drama in my team, so relax.
00:00 / 03:35
00:00 / 03:35
Tituba and Sarah Go to Barbados, Explained
The Crucible · 2014
Capítulo 24 de 29 · 3'35"
On the morning they are to be taken away, Tituba and Sarah Good refuse despair. "We're going to Barbados," Sarah says, and Tituba promises "no Hell" there — the Devil is a pleasureman who sings and dances. Their fantasy turns the gallows into a voyage, and the marshal's line about a cow with a hatful of milk punctures it.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 1:00–2:27
Tituba Says There's No Hell in Barbados
86s
Tituba and Sarah Go to Barbados, explained
What happens
In a Salem jail cell, the marshal comes to move Tituba and Sarah Good. Instead of fear, they play at a journey: Sarah asks for a sip of cider for the road and says, "We're going to Barbados." Tituba insists there is no Hell there and calls the Devil a pleasureman. The marshal answers that is no Satan, just a poor old cow with a hatful of milk.
What's really going on
The horror of the scene is that these are condemned people being led out, and they know it. Tituba's fantasy is not madness for its own sake; it is survival. "There be no Hell in Barbados," she insists, and she makes the Devil a pleasureman who sings and dances, stripping him of terror. Sarah, drinking her last cider, joins in: "We're going to Barbados." Their Barbados is a place without cold, without judgment, without Salem. The marshal's reply — that this is no Satan, just a poor old cow with a hatful of milk — tries to puncture the fantasy, but it also shows the gap between how the powerful see these women and how they see themselves. Their joke is the last freedom left to them.
Key lines & what they mean
- “There be no Hell in Barbados.”
- Tituba's claim that Barbados has no Hell: a fantasy that the place they imagine going to is free of punishment and suffering.
- “Devil, him be pleasureman in Barbados!”
- Her joke that in Barbados the Devil is a pleasure-seeker who sings and dances, making him harmless rather than terrifying.
- “That's not Satan, just a poor old cow with a hatful of milk.”
- The marshal's deflating reply: what they take for the Devil is only a tired cow, not a demon coming to carry them off.
- “I thought sure you be the Devil coming for us.”
- The line spoken as the marshal arrives: they expected the Devil to fetch them, showing how real the supernatural feels in the cell.
Theme
- Dark humor — Facing death, the women joke that the Devil is a pleasureman and Barbados has no Hell, turning terror into comedy.
- Survival — Their talk of flying away is a way to endure the walk to the gallows, keeping hope alive where there is none.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel2/6
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“Devil, him be pleasureman in Barbados!”
Por qué es buena
Calling the devil a pleasureman strips hell of its terror in one invented word.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
Our boss be a pleasureman at every conference.
“That's not Satan, just a poor old cow with a hatful of milk.”
Por qué es buena
A cow with a hatful of milk deflates the devil, and the absurdity exposes the whole vision.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
That's not a disaster, just a poor old printer out of ink.
“I thought sure you be the Devil coming for us.”
Por qué es buena
Mistaking the marshal for the devil makes a joke out of waiting to die.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
I thought sure you be my brother at the door.
Siguiente · 25reckon withLa escena: Parris Reports Abigail Has VanishedIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- There be is dialect, not a grammar slip.
- A happy voyage hides a death sentence in cheer.
- Pleasureman turns the devil into a party lover.
- A hatful of milk shrinks hell to a farmyard.
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy does Tituba say there is no Hell in Barbados?
Barbados is where the enslaved were taken from, and Tituba imagines it as home. Saying there is no Hell there makes it a paradise compared with Salem and the gallows.
Why do the women joke on their way to be hanged?
Their jokes are a way to face death without breaking down. Calling the Devil a pleasureman and Barbados a paradise lets them leave Salem on their own terms, at least inside their heads.
Why does the marshal call the Devil a poor old cow?
He mocks the women's fantasy: what they take for the Devil is, to him, only an ordinary cow with a hatful of milk — a comic, harmless thing.
Does Sarah Good really believe she is going to Barbados?
It is hard to tell, and that is the point. Her talk of Barbados and telling Tituba 'tell him I'm going too' may be madness, or a shared game to survive the walk to the gallows.