Long-held hatreds of neighbors could now be openly expressed, and vengeance taken, despite the Bible’s charitable injunctions. Land-lust, which had been expressed by constant bickering over boundaries and deeds, could now be elevated to the arena of morality; one could cry witch against one’s neighbor and feel perfectly justified in the bargain. Old scores could be settled on a plane of heavenly combat between Lucifer and the Lord; suspicions and the envy of the miserable toward the happy could and did burst out in the general revenge.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. There is more to the witch trials than the battle between Lucifer and the Lord, we are told in the play’s introduction. The trials were used to settle old scores between neighbors and adversaries, seek vengeance on others and satisfy the greed for land. Miller uses metaphorical language to describe the battle between good and evil – "plane of heavenly combat between Lucifer and the Lord."