Comparison Of Puritans In Devil And Tom Walker, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In America, the period of Romanticism brought up many depictions of society that held their place in America many decades ago. This society was made up of Puritans who held a strong belief system and was even their form of governing. Romantic authors like Washington Irving, who wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote The Scarlet Letter included Puritans in their stories to convey a message. In both works, the authors focus on Puritans in their stories to convey an image of who Puritans were and what they did, though not in a positive light through the use of the devil and the setting of a forest. This is because of how Romanticism generally satirized Puritans and tried to portray them as completely contradictory

Perhaps in both stories the role of the devil, whether truly present in the plot or only mentioned as figure of evil, is very central to portraying the Puritans. In “The Devil and Tom Walker,” the devil is simply a large man covered in soot. Irving describes him as, “a great black man” and “his face was neither black nor copper color, but swarthy and dingy, and begrimed in soot (Irving, 179).” Most Puritans would believe the devil is a fiery, red, horned man with a pointed tell and trident, but this is not the case. The devil is further established when he himself states, “I amuse myself by presiding at the persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and prompter of slave dealers…(Irving, 180). This quote best exemplifies Irving’s satire of the Puritans. Puritans saw the devil as the most evil being ever, and to have the devil “amuse” in their actions is quite degrading to the Puritans. Irving is trying to portray Puritans as hypocritical by having the devil approve of their actions. The devil in The Scarlet Letter is never truly a character, however, Chillingworth himself becomes to personify the devil as he becomes increasingly sinister and evil. Chillingworth himself is a human, much like the devil portrayed in Irving’s story, making it easy for him to

Irving and Hawthorne both explore the role the forest has on their Puritan communities and main characters. Irving’s story focuses the forest as a place where the devil is while cutting and burning trees. Irving’s depiction of the forest is very dark, and the forest itself is more a swamp than a traditional, lush forest. Irving describes it as, “thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet tall, which made it dark at noon-day…(Irving, 178).” He also uses adjectives like “stagnant”, “smothering”, “rotting”, and “treacherous” to describe his story’s forest. What Irving is trying to convey is that the forest should be regarded as a place of sin. He wants the reader to know that the forest is not a very good place and set the tone of the place where the devil himself likes to hang around. This is also true when taking a look at Hawthorne’s forest in The Scarlet Letter. However, being that Irving’s forest is the swampy place that it is, it very much contrasts the more enchanted forest of Boston’s outskirts. Even so, the forest of Boston is still very much representative of sin. Hester and Dimmesdale meet here to discuss going forward in regards to their adultery. This is also the location of Mistress Hibbins’ witchcraftery. Hester, now more or less aware of Hibbins’ witch-like lifestyle, is awed by “the confidence with which she affirmed a personal connection between