The lynching of Anys is a big turning point for the community of Eyam. The perpetrators feel a great deal of shame for their irrational actions, while the rest of the town is just scared. Things will only get worse from here.

Mompellion is quite the preacher, huh? He can give his parishioners a feeling of ecstasy amid the most difficult trial of their collective lives. With rhetorical skills like that, the dude could convince them to do anything. He could turn Taylor Swift fangirls into Kanyeholics with two sentences.

Mompellion sees the plague as a test sent by God, which makes it the villagers' duty to accept its reign of terror with open arms. Of course, staying put in Eyam has some practical benefits as well: it limits the spread of the disease. We doubt that ol' Mompellion is thinking about science, however.