The whole movie you're wondering "Is this **** really going down?" And then in the end you are slammed in the face with the fact "Yes. Yes it is".

What really made it poignant for me is that, like her father thinking that they can manage on their own without the help of the rest of the village, she thought she could fight it on her own for the whole film. Only after she loses everything does she succumb to the reality of what she must do to survive. Her situation only ever set her up for one outcome.

i hated the ending and felt it pulled away from the general feel of the film and was seriously shlocky, unnecessary, and incredibly stupid

Personally her walking into the woods naked and ending there would have created a better affect on the viewer

i also never felt the family's situation created the outcome nor do i feel she went out of "survival mode"....she is flat out told that she could easily return to the village and live her life in servitude as a woman or she could walk into the woods and be free

again i love this film and have re-watched it several times....i just felt the very ending pulled away from the genuine feel this film created

I agree that the ending could have been toned down. That being said, it didn't feel like it was presented to her as a choice but more that she was being manipulated into one outcome. Just like how leaves the community, in a sense liberated, but despite this Thomasin still felt the hand of oppression. It was like it was set up as a false, paradoxical dichotomy: go to the village and be a servant, or serve me and be free.