The Witch is a psychological, folktale horror film that explores the themes of puritanical satanic panic. This narrative serves as a crucible tale that challenges the conventional empowering women narratives. Gabe discusses their insights from the film and reflects on how a second viewing impacted them emotionally. Kat provides an overview of Puritan history, detailing their migration to the New World and the distinctions between them and the Separatists.
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The Witch (2015)
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession.
Directed by Robert Eggers
The Witch: Puritanical Satanic Panic
by gabe castro
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Synopsis
The Witch is a psychological, folktale horror film that offers us a slow descent into a puritanical satanic panic. Set in 1630s New England, the story follows a devoutly Christian family that is exiled from their Puritan settlement and forced to live on the edge of a dark forest. As tensions rise, their crops fail, and strange occurrences plague the family, they begin to suspect supernatural forces are at work. After one son is abducted, first believed to be by wolves and later by the ‘witch o’ the wood,’ the parents consider selling off their eldest daughter, Thomasin, to a family in town. Thomasin and her brother, Caleb, take to the woods in search of food to avoid this fate. Only Caleb doesn’t return with Thomasin and she quickly becomes the focus of suspicion as paranoia builds and the family descends into madness, believing her to be possessed by the devil and having written her name upon his book. Taking a note from the Crucible, Thomasin’s younger siblings accuse her of witchcraft and she, them in turn. The delicate thread unspools around them, leading to many deaths and a questionable ending.
The film explores themes of religious fanaticism, isolation, and fear of the unknown while maintaining a slow-burn tension and eerie atmosphere. It culminates in a chilling examination of witchcraft, folklore, and societal anxieties of the time. Puritans believed in the constant presence of evil and the devil, often associating misfortune with sin or witchcraft. This worldview shaped every aspect of their lives, from their relationship with God to their interactions with one another.
Cinematically, Eggers did his research insisting on period-appropriate decor, set design (mud walls), wardrobe, and language. The shots are often wide, expansive, and isolating - this family truly is alone in these woods.
I Saw Goody Proctor Dancing in the Woods with the Devil
The Witch is an atmospheric film that captures the bleak, depressing reality of Puritanical early America. Not only were the settlers battling against a hostile environment (take a hint, colonizers), they also struggled to adapt to the new land’s unyielding climate and soil, which resisted their familiar crops and culture. Life was further complicated by a rigid society steeped in fear and religious extremism. While Kat will dive deeper into Puritan culture, a key element here is the intense belief that Satan was alive and active in this new world. In a time of great need and despair, the colonies were seen as especially vulnerable to his influence, and the church gave its blessing to punish anyone suspected of signing his book.
This belief system quickly became a tool to control the populace, many of whom had come to the New World seeking religious freedom and a fresh start. Anyone who didn’t fit into the narrow, conformist mold of a "good" community member—obedient, quiet, and without independent thought—became easy targets for cruel and often brutal punishment. The fear of Satan, combined with the social pressures of this new world, turned suspicion and accusation into powerful weapons.
This is the world Thomasin finds herself in, thrust from a harsh community into the even harsher wilderness. If we choose to overlook the supernatural elements—the witch and Black Phillip—and view the film as a cautionary tale of the time, it highlights just how fragile trust, love, and belief were during that period. Isolated and struggling to survive, the family becomes increasingly paranoid and consumed by fear of divine punishment. The tension between their unwavering faith and the unforgiving natural world—embodied by the ominous, dark forest—creates a pervasive atmosphere of dread. Their descent into suspicion and hysteria shows how easily fear can erode familial bonds and how vulnerable people were to the unknown forces they believed governed their lives.
We see how the cards are stacked against Thomasin, leading to her inevitable accusation of witchcraft. She was the last one to see the baby, Samuel, before he was abducted, the last to see Caleb before he disappeared into the woods, and her playful teasing of her siblings was twisted into something sinister. Later, she was even linked to Caleb’s delirious, tragic demise. On my first watch, I felt a strong sense of “Good for her” when she rose into the sky, dancing with the other witches. It felt justified—her family had been so cruel to her, and she deserved that freedom, that release from the torment they put her through.
On my most recent watch, however, I find myself questioning whether Thomasin was truly treated cruelly. Yes, her mother was harsh, accusing her of witchcraft, and her parents even discussed selling her off—things that, through our modern lens, seem barbaric and cruel. But despite all this, I believe her family genuinely loved her. Their actions, though misguided, were shaped by the harsh realities of their world and their deep-rooted beliefs. They were trapped in fear and desperation, but their love for Thomasin still existed beneath the surface, even as everything unraveled.
Her mother endured immense heartbreak and trauma, which likely contributed to her delusions, especially as a deeply religious woman who had been forced to leave two homes and now faces the devastating loss of her children in helpless isolation. Thomasin, for her age in that time period, is considered quite old, and both the Ghouls find it strange that she still lives at home and hasn’t been married off yet. Despite the growing tension, I never felt the father lacked love for his children or his wife, which is unexpected for a film set in this era. Even as the younger children accuse Thomasin of being a witch, he refuses to believe them and tries to silence the chaos. His only desire is to mourn and keep his family together, yet they all spiral deeper into religious hysteria. He bears the weight of his decisions while remarkably listening to his wife, making him one of the most unique husbands in horror films.
Unlike The Crucible, which leaves readers and viewers outraged at society, the girls, and the church, The Witch evokes a profound sense of sadness by the end. Thomasin, who fought so hard for her family, is ultimately stripped of everything, left with no choice but to sign away her soul. If the devil was real all along—if Black Philip had truly been whispering to Mercy and orchestrating this elaborate scheme—then no one ever stood a chance. He went to extreme lengths to bring this one girl under his control, which feels almost absurdly excessive.
In the end, I’m left feeling deeply saddened for Thomasin—no longer in a "good for her" mood—but equally heartbroken for her family. Whether or not the devil was real, it was the unrelenting cruelty of the Puritanical New World that tore this family apart and destroyed them. Their faith, isolation, and fear ultimately led to their downfall, and that makes their tragedy feel all the more devastating.
The Puritans & the Birth of the Witch Trials
by Kat Kushin
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
The VVItch is set in 1630s New England, a somewhat terrifying time period that highlights how religious fervor and tragedy can transform a family overnight. What makes this film scary has little to do with the concept of witches, or even the devil but more to do with the reality of this time period, the isolation people experienced, and the ways in which belief was wielded as a weapon. To fully understand our characters in the VVitch, we need to understand what was happening in 1630s New England, and what brought them from Old England to New. If you’re like me, and didn’t have a lot of personal experience with religion growing up, and maybe didn’t have a solid understanding of the differences between Christianity and its many spin-offs, this will be especially informative for you. What is interesting about the context surrounding this film, which is largely in the background, is that thare the ways and the history of England and how that bled into America, it explains a lot of why we have the rhetoric we see today surrounding religion. Why is there so much dehumanization of what is deemed other within more conservative spaces?
The Reformation and Religion in 1500s England
But before we unpack Puritanism, let’s dive into some History. Our characters in the VVitch are new colonists from England. We hear in Thomasin’s words that she is old enough to remember her life in England, so we quickly get the picture that they are new to this land. But why did they come to a land that largely did not accommodate them, was unfamiliar and not home? The VVitch family is in America in response to the Protestant Reformation in England. The Reformation began as a critique of corruption within the Catholic church, after Martin Luther (supposedly) nailed his “95 Theses” to the church door in 1517, but took some time to build. Right before Protestantism began to take hold in England, a new king began his rule. In 1509 King Henry VIII began his rule at 17. This King is well known in history because he separated England from the Catholic Church in 1534. You’ve likely heard a bit about King Henry VIII because his reasoning for separating from the Catholic Church was that he wanted to get divorced. He had six wives in total, two of which he had beheaded. He was said to be obsessed with continuing the Tudor line, and the misogynistic society did not consider women people, so he could not continue the Tudor line without a male heir. He was known both for the divorce and also for beheading two of his wives for not delivering a male heir. He embraced the growing tensions between the Catholic church and the growing Protestant presence and embraced Protestantism as it granted him the separation he wanted from his wife. During his rule, we also saw the first witchcraft laws that persecuted witches under the English Church and Crown. In a History.com article, it is stated that the newly created Church of England was similar to Catholicism in every way, except instead of the Pope carrying divine authority, it was the British Crown. King Henry VIII was not separated from the church because he was a true believer in the protestant way but because he wanted to receive the benefits that the Pope had received and the freedom to do as he wished. Because of this, The English Church operated in a similarly oppressive way that did not meet the standards of more conservative protestants.
I had mentioned the King’s paranoia about stability and a continuation of the Tudor line to set the tone of what comes next, and that is that any dissenters of the crown were met with heavy punishments. King Henry VIII wanted to retain power, so he is the first King to enact a law against witchcraft. This set the tone for the more brutal witch-hunts that followed after King Henry VIII’s daughter Elizabeth I ended her rule in 1603, transferring power to a new line from Tudor to Stuart, in James I. In an article titled, England’s Witch Trials Were Lawful they explain: The Witchcraft Act of 1542 was England’s first witchcraft law, enacted during Henry VIII's reign. It established witchcraft as a crime that could be punished by death, and also defined what constituted witchcraft–using invocations or other specifically magical acts to hurt someone, get money, or behave badly towards Christianity. Being a witch–whether or not specific harm was caused to another person–was enough to get you executed. This law only lasted until 1547, when Henry VIII died. It wasn’t replaced with anything until Elizabeth I’s reign, which began in 1558. In 1563, An Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts was passed. It made causing anyone to be “killed or destroyed” by use of witchcraft punishable by death.
Although Queen Elizabeth I was considered more moderate, and appealed to the majority of the population that fell in the middle of their beliefs, she continued The Church of England and it’s rule, which got her excommunicated by the Pope for Heresy in 1570 CE. Under Elizabethan Religious law, more conservative Protestant populations in England continued to feel they were not represented by the crown. Because of this, two groups formed and faced persecution.
An important piece of context that I needed when approaching this film was “What is Puritanism?”. What makes it different from Protestantism and the other Christianity-focused religions? According to the Cambridge Companion to Puritanism, the definition of Puritanism has been up for debate, as the use of the word began in England in 1564 as an insult, directed at “nonconformist clergy within the newly reformed Elizabethan church” described as “Zealous Protestants who refused to wear prescribed liturgical vestments…the white surplice…and who gained a reputation as ‘opposers of the hierarchy and church-service’...By the early seventeenth century, Patrick Collinson explains, ‘Puritanism’ had become ‘the brand name for a certain kind of Protestant religiosity, social conduct, and politics’.”
The term was used as a dig against overzealous Protestants who could not accept the more moderate religious direction of Queen Elizabeth I. This created two groups, the Puritans and the Separatists. Both believed largely the same things, but one had the support of the crown, and one did not. Puritans were also divided into two groups, both who fled England to seek out America, the Separatists and the Puritans. The Separatists and Puritans were both religious reform movements that sought to establish their own communities in the New World. The Separatists, led by Reverend John Robinson, believed that the only way to live according to Biblical precepts was to leave the Church of England entirely. They fled to the Netherlands and eventually established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. This is who we know as the Pilgrims who traveled on the Mayflower. The Puritans, on the other hand, believed they could reform the Church of England from within. They shared many beliefs with the Separatists, but they ultimately decided to journey to the New World in order to create the ideal English church. They settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. The legacy of the Pilgrims and Puritans has often been blurred in the minds of later generations of Americans, and not always accidentally. The separatists were not accepted by the Protestant church, whereas the non-separatists were a more conservative arm of the church, operating with the support of the crown. My theory is that our family in the VVitch started as Puritans and then found themselves as separatists, without the support and safety of the community, being ostracized from the support of the town.
I’ll be real that the information surrounding the differences between Puritans and Separatists was kind of confusing so if I got any of that wrong please let me know in the comments. But ultimately two groups traveled to the Americas, one that was backed by the Crown and Church, and one that was not. Those who were not backed by the Crown and Church faced more struggles in that they faced further isolation. The Puritans | History.com Under siege from Church and crown, certain groups of Puritans migrated to Northern English colonies in the New World in the 1620s and 1630s, laying the foundation for the religious, intellectual and social order of New England.
So let’s tie in Witchcraft:
The precedent for a fear surrounding Witches was established by King Henry VIII and further exacerbated by King James I. With the creation of the King James Bible, The Church of England continued to wield control over the people of England, and more widespread as the bible became more accessible. Additionally, the fear of witches became widespread and understood. King James I ruled from 1603-25 and led the charge on witch hunts and witch fear. This fear grew even further when Puritanism took hold in England, mimicking what we saw in America by the Puritans. This fear wasn't just a superstition; it was woven into the very fabric of their society. It reflected their strict religious beliefs, their power struggles, and their anxieties about life in a new and unfamiliar land. They saw witches as a threat to everything they held dear, a symbol of chaos, rebellion, and a rejection of God's authority. This fear helped them control their communities, silence dissenters, and maintain a sense of order. It was a powerful force that shaped the way they lived, the way they saw the world, and even the laws they created.
Witchcraft accusations were often used as a tool for political control and to resolve social conflicts. Puritan leaders could use these accusations to discredit their opponents and consolidate their power. Neighbors could use them to settle disputes and maintain social harmony. The fear of witchcraft also reflected the Puritans' anxieties about the unknown. The New World was a strange and unfamiliar place, and the belief in supernatural forces provided a way to explain the unexplainable.
Despite their Puritan beliefs, many colonists still held onto traditional beliefs in magic and the supernatural. This tension between religious orthodoxy and popular beliefs created a fertile ground for witchcraft accusations. The Puritans' use of rituals and charms to protect themselves from evil forces suggests a deep-seated belief in the power of the supernatural, even if they condemned witchcraft.
In conclusion, the fear of witchcraft in Puritan New England was a complex phenomenon rooted in religious anxiety, political power struggles, social tensions, and the belief in supernatural forces. It reflects the deep-seated fears and uncertainties that characterized life in the New World.
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