Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
puritan and the scarlet letter
explain the novel the scarlet letter in a puritan perceptions
puritan social and political values
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: puritan and the scarlet letter
The Psychology of Puritanism contained many stands of fundamental obligations. Although the puritans openly acknowledged natural human desires, they had a strongly held belief in moderation in all things. They did recognise the need for intimacy and this idea is proclaimed in Hawthorn's novel `The Scarlet Letter'. Puritans quite often explained the significance of a halite and intestinal mind. Some Puritans, like those in the novel, which depicts the lives of `Massachusetton' puritan, were rooted to the belief in compulsory uniformity.
Puritans had seemingly developed the notion that God was fulfilling his `contract' or `covenant' with people, so that they could secure salvation. By making reference to `The Scarlet Letter'. There are untying examples, which I will show illustrate the preoccupation of puritans with `Sin'.
The puritans, any willingness to take part in sex on the part of husband and wife, `Denies all realer in wedlock into Human necessity; and it sends it for supply into Bestiality,' Any engagement onside the marriage sexually, was looked upon badly as New England especially reported numerous episodes of adultery and fornication. Perhaps Dimmesdale on the novel, tired to avoid the obvious punishment of jail or even the humiliation of whipping, disentrancing, fies and a ported betrothal to Hester. Hester certainly bore the brunt of her sin, by wearing a scarlet `A' on her breast. She had clearly committed the sin, as the evidence was visible. He, however had no markings of adultery so in the eyes of society, he hadn't committed a sin. Perhaps this reiterates the arguments that, in case of sexual behaviour, they `thought' the sin, `committed' the sin and broke a moral high ground in puritan society.
Perhaps ...
... middle of paper ...
...ed a sin in the eyes of God. This in turn points out that Puritan society, although attempting to show itself as forthright and just, was comically depicted as a judgemental hypocrisy.
Therefore the characters in the novel `The Scarlet Letter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne offers the reader an insight into the puritan belief and psychology of sin was in their society. I believe that we are all sinners and the Puritanism is elitist in its sphere of influence. The idea that puritans are the `enlightened few' is contradicted by the bible itself; "Thou shalt not judge." This is further supporting my views that everyone sins, everyone contemplates, but that some of us unfortunately pretend that we or they don't do either. Do we also have to bear a `Scarlet A' in order to be labelled a sinner, or can we delve deeper and discover that we all, even puritans fall short of perfect.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter and the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates romantic elements, such as beauty, truth, innocence, and sin, in his criticism of Puritan societies. In both texts, Hawthorne argues that all people, even those in strictly religious societies with corrupted standards, are capable of sin. Hawthorne uses symbolism and light and dark imagery to convey his argument.
Puritan society in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was a system based on religion. The Bible and the law were intertwined and could not be separated, not even in the minds of the people. Therefore it was difficult to argue that there were any laws at all that were worth having, if they were not spelled out explicitly in the Bible. Hester had committed adultery and given birth to a bastard child, and there it was, in the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not commit adultery. And so she was punished. The Puritans nodded and were satisfied, comfortabl...
The Puritans were a group of religious reformers who arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630s under the leadership of John Winthrop. The religious sect was known for its actions to purify the Church of England by reforming to the simpler forms of worship and Church organization described in the New Testament (Norton et al., 1986). Nathaniel Hawthorne was a writer during 19th century, but he had deep bonds with his Puritan ancestors of 16th century, so he wrote the novel highlighting their weaknesses, strengths and beliefs. The novel titled, “The Scarlet Letter” also gives the detaile...
The Scarlet Letter presents duality amongst all of the characters. Hugo Mcpherson stated, “Hawthorne’s rejection of the Calvinist view of human nature, however, does not lead him to espouse the cause of man’s “natural goodness,” the Transcendental view. For him there is an ideal, perfect realm, and an imperfect, human realm. Human nature is inevitably imperfect. But the fatal error of the Puritans is their failure to recognize all of man’s gifts – to achieve an integration of all of man’s forces. The Puritan life is a half-life, and it outcome is likely to be tragic.” Mcpherson refers to the “half-life” of the Puritans in failing to recognize both good and bad sides of human nature, which stands true in the novel. Many characters in The
The church and Christian beliefs had a very large impact on the Puritan religion and lifestyle. According to discovery education, “Church was the cornerstone of the mainly Puritan society of the 17th century.”( Douglas 4). Puritan laws were intensively rigid and people in society were expected to follow a moral strict code. And because of Puritans and their strict moral codes, any act that was considered to go against this code was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. In Puritan theology, God h...
The world of Puritan New England, like the world of today, was filled with many evil influences. Many people were able to withstand temptation, but some fell victim to the dark side. Such offences against God, in thought, word, deed, desire or neglect, are what we define as sin (Gerber 14).
Puritans believed in strict religious dedications, by trying to follow the holy commandment. “The discipline of the family, in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now.”(Hawthorne 9). They wanted to be considered the holiest of all people because they try to reflect a world of perfection in the sight of God. While they where trying to portray a holy life; however, they where also living a sinful life because they have been judgmental, slandering, uncompassionate, resentment, and forbearing, which are all sinful acts of the bible.
To this day, the word “puritan” connotes both rigidity and a generally narrow view on life. The dictionary definition of Puritan (the capital refers to the actual religious group) includes, "...demanding the simplification of doctrine and worship, and greater strictness in religious discipline” (Source A). Simplification of their religion would be an understatement of what the Puritans did. Basically, acts were separated into good or evil, approved by God or frowned upon. In this robotic fashion, with no gray area, cruel ignominy was shockingly popular, and used in unworthy situations. An example lies in Source B, a still from the movie adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s magnum opus, The Scarlet Letter. (Although classified as a fictional work the novel is known for it’s factual representations of the Puritans’ behavior.) For committing adultery, Hester Prynne is assigned a lone standing position on the town scaffold, essentially to be put on display and judged while nervously clutching her new baby. To add ridicule, she is enclosed by guards carrying swords and other various weapons. It makes one wonder just how much destruction a woman and her baby are capable of.
...e that existed because of the Puritan belief in total depravity. The conflict between the sinful self and the redeemed self originated from the condition that, according to Puritans, humans, who are stricken with original sin because of Adam’s fall, must always keep an awareness of their depraved status in the forefront of their thoughts. Such a belief led to a serious internal, psychological struggle that would only come to an end in death. While the Puritans could never be assured of receiving God’s grace, they believed that if they maintained the struggle between their dual self in this life, when they died, they might be chosen to receive grace and thus attain salvation.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
First of all, Puritans believed that as an effect of Adam and Eve’s original sin, every person is born a sinner. For starters, in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, although it was written in 1952, he went through extreme
The Puritans believed that to be justified, one must let go of his worldly dependence and strive to live a life free of sin (Soler), making the story an allegory “in its treatment of the nature and consequences of the Puritan belief in the total depravity of man” (Waggoner 250). This would have had an impact on the development of the psyche, as the ego struggled to repress certain instincts that the superego deemed as sinful based on Puritanical beliefs.
The Scarlet Letter is a well-known novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In this novel Hawthorne wrote in depth about the Puritans’ reception to sin, in particular, adultery. He also includes brilliant visuals of the repercussions that occur when the town of Salem hears of Hester’s adultery. There are many relationships within the book, from a lover to a beautiful yet illegitimate daughter. Symbolism runs throughout, even a simple rose bush outside of a jail holds so much meaning. Hawthorne reveals themes all through the novel one in particular, was sin. Although sin does not occur often in the Puritan lifestyle Hawthorne shows the importance and change this one deceit makes for the town of Salem.
Harper, Preston. "Puritan Works Salvation and the Quest for Community in "THE SCARLET LETTER"." Theology Today. April 2000: 51-65. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 29 Nov 2013.
Dudley. William, and Teresa O’Neill, Eds. Puritanism: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1994.