The Witch True Story & Salem Witch Trials Connection Explained

The Witch True Story & Salem Witch Trials Connection Explained

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Robert Eggers’ 2015 supernatural horror, The Witch, was heavily inspired by true stories surrounding the Salem Witch Trials and witchcraft.

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The Witch True Story & Salem Witch Trials Connection Explained

Robert Eggers’ supernatural horror movie, The Witch, reached an astounding amount of critical acclaim after its release in 2015. To inspire him to tell the tale, Eggers looked to real cases and accounts given during the Salem Witch Trials and took aspects from witchcraft to weave into his final product.

Eggers’ slow-burn tale of paranoia that descends upon a family during Puritan times in New England is absolutely stunning to behold and creates a tight, claustrophobic setting as William (Ralph Ineson) starts to wonder if darkness and the Devil has descended upon his family after his baby, Samuel, goes missing. Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), William’s daughter, starts to undergo accusations of witchcraft, which harkens back to the paranoia of the times during the Salem Witch Trials era where many women were accused of witchcraft and put to death but were ultimately innocent.

The entire film is steeped in lore and imagery, and it’s clear Eggers was careful with every frame and detail; part of this was because he was deeply inspired by history, the time period in which his film was set, and the fear that can stem from moral, Christian people when they suspect something dark might be lurking amongst them.

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The Witch’s Connections To The Salem Witch Trials

The Witch True Story & Salem Witch Trials Connection Explained

The Witch’s premise is based on true accounts from the Salem Witch Trial records. The trials took place from 1692 to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. More than 200 people were accused of witchcraft during this time, and 30 were found guilty. Despite being set 62 years before these trials took place, Eggers tried to capitalize on the paranoia and mass hysteria that was associated with these trials and the times. While the story of Thomasin and her family isn’t true, directly, Eggers was inspired instead by the thought of recreating the atmosphere that many families and individuals experienced during this period of time. Much of the root of the hysteria that people experienced was created out of Christian moral outrage and a fear of the “other” or the Devil.

The Witch’s True Story & Influences Explained

In the 17th century, it was common for members of the church to be banished by the minister for disagreeing with the teachings that they commonly accepted as right or good. The practice happened more than was recorded, and banishment still happened even when members of a colony accepted and knew that there were dangers outside of the settlements and villages for those who were banished. The family in The Witch was banished for “prideful conceit” and William responds to the banishment by declaring that he will continue to preach “Christ’s true gospel” whenever his conscience finds it appropriate.

Directly related to the practice of separation is a fear of the “other”. During this time, people lived in fear of temptation, which they thought could lead them down the wrong path and ultimately put their souls at risk. The new world into which they were settling was filled with evil and servants of the Devil, and the Native people were unsaved and therefore immoral. Even other sects of Christians were sometimes seen as the Devil’s servants and thus a great danger to the Puritan settlers. When William and his family are banished, they enter into dangerous territory and become vulnerable to the Devil and his various servants, including witches.

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Eggers also drew from aspects of witchcraft and Pagan belief, incorporating some of these themes into his film. These include his inclusion of goats, like Black Philip; Satan was commonly seen as taking the form of a goat. Hares appear frequently in the film as well; in colonial New England, they were considered to be magical creatures and also often associated with witches. Hares were also thought to be able to spy on and influence people as servants of witches. It was a widely accepted belief that witches could not say the Lord’s Prayer in its entirety; this comes into play in the film with Mercy and Jonas. In the coven scene, the witches chant in the Enochian language, which was an angelic language often associated with magical rituals.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/witch-movie-true-story-salem-witch-trials-connection-explained/

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