The village is above all culturally isolated as much as physically. Though there are Native tribes all around, they are never shown or even mentioned. Though the French and Dutch are within traveling distance, they also are never shown or mentioned. Though the Puritans are only a minority among English colonists, no other religious points of view are shown or mentioned. The sole other belief system presented is the slave Tituba's African spiritual traditions. They and all other beliefs outside of Puritanism are presented as the work of the Devil, witchcraft, and sins by Devil worshipers conspiring against God.
Distance also separates their homes, with each farm worked by a family rather than communally. Their faith also isolates them in other ways. Their suspicions lead to fear of each other, leading to physically avoiding each other and regarding falsely accused Devil worshipers as "the other."
Isolation is portrayed in a few different ways in Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
Reverend Parris wants to isolate the rumors about witchcraft within his home. He tells Susanna Walcott to "speak nothing of unnatural causes" within the village. By isolating the number of people who could hear about the rumor, he tries to ensure that his name and reputation are not ruined. Also, when Abigail suggests that he go down and speak to the people in his parlor, Parris refuses to admit that he discovered his daughter (Betty) and niece (Abigail) dancing in the woods. He knows that if this information got out, it would ensure his reputation and name were ruined.
More literally, John Proctor isolates himself from Parris and Parris's church. Proctor is unhappy with Parris's sermons about golden candlesticks and fire-and-brimstone. He finds no good in Parris. Because of this, Proctor refuses to attend church—isolating himself from both Parris and the congregation.
One final way that isolation is depicted in the play is the village's isolation from other villages. The villagers themselves, for the most part, stay within the boundaries of the village. The forest and areas surrounding the village are, essentially, off-limits to the villagers. It is looked down upon for any of the villagers to go beyond the boundaries of the village itself (as readers see with the girls' dancing in the forest). They keep to themselves and do not look to things that other villages are doing (as seen with the witchcraft accusations in Beverly and dismantling of the courts in Andover).
John Proctor is somewhat isolated, as far as the other people of Salem are concerned, because of his stance on the church. He strongly—and openly—dislikes the Reverend Parris, and this has kept him away from church on many Sundays. He has also likely stayed away because of his previous affair with Abigail; Elizabeth, his wife, even says that "[Abigail] cannot pass [John] in church but [he] will blush." Church, I am sure, is quite uncomfortable when one is being lectured by a man one thinks is a hypocrite while being stared at by a former lover.
Proctor's isolationism comes back to bite him when his wife's name is brought up in court. Reverend Hale comes to visit and reproaches John for only coming to church twenty-six times in seventeen months; it is not a good record. Further, his youngest son has not been baptized, because John "like[s] it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon [John's] baby. [He] sees no light of God in that man." Elizabeth's arrest warrant is issued later that evening.
Isolation, then, is presented as something dangerous. John and his wife become a target of the powers that be in Salem because he has been quite vocal about at least one of his reasons for keeping to himself. Parris has been left to imagine the worst—that John is leading a powerful faction again him (which is not true) because John has remained isolated from certain community members.
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