Telegram Notes

Ever since humans first existed, they have lived in fear, whether anything small, such as a spider, or something huge, such as God’s wrath. With religion and society involved, fear can either be reduced or amplified. This amplification would be caused, for example, by a group living in fear of their souls being eternally damned or contaminated. During the Puritan’s time, they believed that one must stay pure and not commit any sins in order to transcend into heaven, and a duty of theirs to was eradicate and exterminate as much evil as possible; these evils would also include the witches. Although this didn’t just run amuck in the Puritan’s minds, it also ran amuck in most of Europe. During the 17th century, Christianity played a huge role in society, churches were practically the superpower, and ones who didn’t agree with the superpower were grimly punished, often through executions. Group and social attacks are mainly caused by a single idea that is embedded into the people’s mind, either by a tenacious or popular figure, or in a case in The Crucible, the children played a huge role in affecting and brainwashing other people’s minds. Most people would often believe this figure and not question it. People would also believe witchcraft was hereditary, making families shunned by communities and making their lives hard. Often, witch hunts were fronted as an excuse to get rid of a rival or seize the property of someone whose wealth the accuser envied. This mindset made many people afraid, one didn’t want to be called a witch, they knew what it would mean for them, it would either lead to death or a damaged soul, which none of them could afford to get if they wanted to ascend to heaven. Anybody trying to help a witch would often be called and sentenced as a witch. Most of the religions in the 17th century would disagree on helping any witches. One of the religious factors is the rise in Christianity. Witchcraft was thought of as a conspiracy against the churches,