The philosophical view of the puritan pilgrims affects their actions in the Crucible because their main belief was to purify their surroundings and the church. If they thought that by killing people who were believed to be witches, then that they would be serving god. However by sparing people who plead guilty to witchcraft they would still be purifying.

The author, Arthur Miller, uses the theme of paranoia to create world in which people cannot trust anyone for fear of being accused of being a witch. The main paranoia is that people are fearing that others will assume that they are witches for any reason. The author uses examples of paranoia throughout the play. In Act two, Reverend Hale warns the Proctors for not knowing one of the Ten Commandments. They are accused for witches because as Hale said in the Crucible "Any crack in...