Puritans

            
             The Crucible is a story which is an understanding of the Salem witch trials, and history implies that innocent people were punished and executed if they were convicted of being a witch. However, witches and witchcraft were often blamed for unknown phenomena, and deeply religious people like the Puritans were easily convinced that it was part of the devils doing. In the late 1600's, many people of Salem were arrested and charged with witchcraft. It was mostly women who were arrested even though there had been no evidence to support the accusations. The Salem witchcraft trials were completely outrageous. They convicted people with no solid evidence other than a villager saying they themselves had seen the prisoner practicing magic. Physical marks such as moles, warts, and unnatural flaps of the skin convinced the Puritans to believe that they were the marks of Satan. But the key indications of being a witch were based on the way the accused behaved. Understanding our past can only be known by studying our past. Some people believe in witches and some people don't. It was what the Puritans believed in as well as the villagers of Salem. The Puritans were very dedicated to their religious beliefs, and to the Puritans witchcraft was considered both a sin and a crime. The main reason why the witch trials occurred was because the Puritans goal in life was to purify the organization of their church. By the Puritans accusing so many people of being witches, they thought that they were just purifying their church and their community. Nevertheless, the Puritans seemed to be a religious cult that put fear into the people of Salem. The extent that the Puritans had gone for the sake of religion is unbelievable.