When the Puritans moved to the New World they created a new society based upon perfect adherence to the strict and intolerant Puritan philosophy. However, the moral center of their universe could not hold because the people themselves although normally English, were blends of their European ancestries and the folk culture of generations before them. Puritan philosophy was rooted in the search for spiritual perfection. Witchcraft was viewed by Puritans as evidence of the man's spiritual weakness. Therefore, Puritan philosophy, as later reflected in The Crucible, was the natural enemy of witchcraft.

A Puritan's first responsibility was to serve God. The Bible was a Puritan's road map toward that duty. While Puritans respected authority, they did not revere tradition or ritual. Their churches were plain and unadorned. Prayer and listening to sermons were constant companions to the righteous Puritan. The family was a homage to God. A man's gift to God was a happy, prayerful family centered within the church.

A Puritan considered it a kindness to his neighbor to keep an eye on the neighbor's behavior and to guide him when guidance was deemed necessary. Corruption in the community could easily s

Witchcraft bases much of its belief system on the oneness of man with the world. Many of its rituals place great emphasis on the place man holds on the planet. This, according to the pagan tradition, would mean that man was just another species in Nature's spectrum. And witches would view man not necessarily as the most important species. This is definitely at odds with Puritan philosophy which would place man just below God, but clearly as master over the world God made. As much as Puritans would wish to distance themselves from the pre-Christian European beliefs, their own abhorrence of witchcraft is proof that they themselves were strong believers in witchcraft. Much of the information the Puritans had about witchcraft came from a book published in 1490. Malleus Maleficarum (translated to "The Hammer of Witches"), by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, and it was used by members of the court in the prosecution of witches during the 17th century. These authors described witches who could fly on broomsticks, change into animals, and kill or wither a person at a glance. These witches were Satan-worshipers, said the book. And thus, the Christian church in all its various denominations felt justified in ferreting out and murdering those suspected of being witches. The Puritans brought these fears and superstitions with them from the Old World. As Arthur Miller writes in the early explanation of The Crucible, the Puritans felt that they were the! only light for God in the New W orld. If they let down their guard for one moment, the Devil would rush in and crush them out of existence. The existence of witches in the New World made perfect sense to the Puritans. They were natural enemies and were naturally pitted against each other.

Army, U.S.. U

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Approximate Word count = 1185
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)