Religious piety
At the start of the film, viewers see Thomasin and her family being banished from their Puritan colony for not being pious enough. The family, but particularly its patriarch William, ignored the dogma of the church, instead opting to follow what they thought was true to themselves and what they thought was the proper version of their religion. Viewers see the family's piety as ignoble. By acting like he is better than everyone else, William condemned his family to something almost as worst as death -- isolation, heartbreak, and significant tumult. The Witch shows that religious piety (and true believers) often suffer for going against the grain and being themselves despite the oftentimes harsh world around them.
The transformative power of violence
Throughout the film, viewers witness breathtaking acts of violence. At the start of the film, an infant named Samuel is stolen and ultimately found dead, having been killed by a witch who wanted to harvest the young boy to make a flying potion. This act of violence fundamentally alters the baby's family -- specifically the boy's mother, Katherine. After her son's death, the once vibrant Katherine becomes a shell of herself, consumed with anger, confusion, and grief. This permeates throughout her entire family, as everyone grows less content with their situation as the days go on and they grow more violent with each other. Perhaps the most startling example of violence in the film, however, occurs towards its tail end. After Thomasin and her siblings are thrown in the goat pen, they wake up to the goats having been eviscerated, their guts strewn across the floor. This act of violence further drives Thomasin into the arms of the witch’s coven, who has convinced her that they are righteous and just, which she eventually joins at the end of the film.
