Puritans and the Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

The Puritan community of the Massachusetts Bay colony was primarily focused around church and faith. In 1630, a mass exodus of Puritans moved from England to the colonies in an attempt to isolate themselves and focus on their own religion. Puritans believed that they had a covenant with God, meaning they were predestined for heaven.

The Puritans were a religious group in the New England colonies who wanted to purify the Church of England. The Puritans centered everything on God, even their judicial system. They had a theocratic system, which means they thought God had the overall authority. Their laws, court system, and punishments were all based on the Bible. The puritan era judicial system was a theocratic, unjust, and harsh system that enforced absurd laws; they practiced an unfair way of prosecution, and gave cruel punishments to the peccant.

Puritans were a group of people that came to America because they wanted to leave the Church of England. They left the church because they did not agree with the beliefs. These individuals thought that the Church of England needed to be purified so they started their own church. To the Puritans, America was freedom, freedom of religion. Puritans wanted to do things their way, so in the 16th -17th centuries over 20,000 Puritans came to America.

The puritans were a religious group made up of people who wanted to "purify," the Church of England. The puritans were activist that wanted to get rid of the catholic system within the church. However, people in England sought out to remove these groups of people from the area because they saw them as a threat to their religion. This is how the puritans ended up in Massachusetts Bay Colony. The puritans moved to this colony in hopes of recreating and ideal community, a "utopian" society that others could look up to. The puritans ideal community consisted of peace and partnership; they wanted to remove all evil and improve the quality of life. The puritans then became strict to ensure that every person was equivalent in the eyes of God. I think the religion puritans created casted a fear in other people especially in England because they are so used to being ruled under one king. The

Puritans can be found at the beginnings of the English Reformation. In the 1500s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created a new church called the Church of England. In 1630 the Puritans left England in search of religious freedom. The Puritans wanted to leave the Church of England to become pure by getting rid of Catholic practices.The Puritans did not want to completely separate from the Church of England. They wanted to make reforms or changes, but King Charles 1 would threaten the Puritans with harsh punishments if they did not obey the Church of England. So they left England to find freedom in America. The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony when they arrived in America. The Puritans wanted to base the colony on the laws of God.(“Puritanism”) What Puritans believed about witchcraft, forgiveness, and sin all had an enormous impact on their culture and contributed to the Salem witch trials.

In 1624, the early 17th century, the religious group called the Puritans, settled for the first time in the New England territory. Once there, they chose to inhabit the Massachusetts area. The Puritans were a varied group of religious reformers who emerged within the Church of England during the middle of the sixteenth century, but didn’t come to the United States

The puritans go create the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They didn’t have strict rules like England, people were not forced to go to church, it all seems great. However, there were many issues. Puritans believed in Calvinism, or predestination. This was the idea that everything is preset by God and nothing you do can change your fate. “Nothing a person did in his or her lifetime could alter God’s choice or provide assurance that the person was predestined for salvation with the elect or damned to hell with the doomed multitude.” (The American

The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England that had a profound influence on the social, political, ethical, and theological ideas of England and America. Puritans immigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy commonwealth in New England. Although the Puritans wanted to reform the world to conform to God's law, they did not set up a church-run state. Even though they believed that the primary purpose of

Throughout the colonization of America, many different religions and groups found a home in the New World. One of these religions was the Puritans. More commonly known as the pilgrims, the Puritans are a group of very strict, religious persons. Puritans were English Protestants who believed the Reformation did not rid the church of Catholic influences enough (“Puritans” Robinson).

Puritans were families from England that followed John Winthrop and his idea of reforming their religion in Massachusetts and spreading their beliefs. Colonists who joined the voyage were those who had disapproved on the way the Church of England went against the will of god and still had some of the rituals practiced by the Roman Catholic Church. Winthrop believed the failure of other colonies was their sins and how god disapproved upon them for their actions.

All societies and people have secrets. Everyone has another side to them that they do not show in the eyes of the public. Hawthorne uses the symbol of darkness to show throughout his literary works that all people sin. Archetypally, darkness represents chaos, mystery, death, evil, fear. Darkness in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, shows the author's point of view on the Puritan society. Hawthorne’s use of archetypal symbolism of darkness to describe Puritans suggests Hawthorne’s view on Puritan society was anything but pure and that all societies should be less critical of their members.

Hawthorne’s work takes America’s Puritan past as its subject, but The Scarlet Letter uses the material to the greatest effect. The Puritans were

It is difficult to draw parallels between the staunch beliefs of Puritan society in colonial America and the freedom experienced in the country today. The Puritans lived strict lives based on a literal interpretation in the Bible, and constantly emphasized a fear of God and a fear of sin. Modern society looks at this negative view of humanity as a whole as an out-dated opinion from the past, believing that, "Now people know better than that." However, faults in human nature can not be completely erased by the passing of time and the modernization of society. People still have emotions of love, compassion, envy, and pride; and many types of interpersonal relationships within their community. Puritan literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a man who was both plagued and absorbed by the legacy of the Puritans in New England. He was related to John Hathorne, a Puritan judge during the infamous Salem Witch trials of 1692. In The Scarlet Letter, his fictional account of mid-17th century Boston presents an opportunity to examine different themes commonly associated with Puritans. Particularly the nature of sin, personal identity and the repression of natural urges are themes that appear repeatedly through the novel. While his account of this time period may not be completely historically accurate, it is indicative of the persistent thematic influence of Puritan culture on American and New England society.