Religion In Scarlet Letter

The Puritans designed a theocracy with their government enforcing God’s laws. The Enlarged Salem Covenant of 1636 states the Puritans “will willingly do nothing to the offence of the church” while obeying their rulers in the Bible Commonwealth (Document C). Governor John Winthrop called the Massachusetts Bay Colony “as a city upon a hill.” With “the eies [eyes] of all people” set upon them, the Puritans were to be a model

Murrin, Paul E. Johnson, James M. Mcpherson, Alicea Fahs, Gary Gerstle, Emily S. Rosenberg, and Norman L. Rosenberg, “Puritans fleeing to America hoped to escape the divine wrath that threatened england and to create in America the kind of churches that God demanded.” (John et al., 2012). Because the English church was beginning to become “perverted, corrupted, and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples and the licentious government” (John Winthrop) the Puritans feared God’s rage at the Church of England, so therefore they felt they urgently need to flee in order to escape this wrath and please God by creating a “City Upon a Hill”. This means the Puritans had to set an example in Massachusetts because they wanted to spread the gospel and create a government surrounding all of their principles around God’s word and do what they believed would glorify God. There was no where else where an opportunity for a pure church

Throughout chapter twenty of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes biblical allusions of Paradise and the New Jerusalem through a direct narrator statement and a character’s speech, highlighting the contrast between ideal Christian characteristics and sinful characteristics of men in order to shape the message of his novel. Hawthorne uses Paradise to refer to the perfection of the Garden of Eden and describes the New Jerusalem to refer to the new Heaven and new Earth. In the beginning of chapter twenty, while Arthur Dimmesdale undergoes sinful thoughts, Hawthorne describes the characteristics of a maiden newly won to the church saying, “She was fair and pure as a lily that had bloomed in Paradise” (Hawthorne 150). Describing the

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.

Rummel gives an analysis of the history and development of Puritanism in New England during the 1600s. In simple words how the people had formed a society in order to reform England and separate church from government. Puritans had God as an almighty, they were known as people with strict education, solitary environment, and own beliefs such as their obsession with the devil, evil and good. Rummel states that even if Hawthorne mentions religion in his short stories most of it Puritanism, he still never recommended any particular opinion. The story is focused on Puritan elements and Hawthorne’s approach to it. Hawthorne uses religious phrases and elements that makes the reader analyze each several object, action, figure, and scenario in the story. That’s why Goodman Brown has too much conflict going on and is very detailed on what he feels and sees. The article is one great piece of information that supports the understanding of the Puritan religious mindset and Hawthorne’s attitude towards it. Of course into the interpretation of what might had happened in the story.

In a sermon delivered aboard the ship Arbella, future-New England governor John Winthrop declared that the new colony "...shall be as a city upon a hill” with “the eyes of all people upon us” (1630) . Evidently, Winthrop’s sermon held great significance for the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as this sentiment – that is, to be an illuminated, moral example to the Old and New World – remained foundational to the development of their lives in the New World. Thus, it is clear that religion was tremendously significant in the lives of the northern colonists –known as ‘Puritans’ or ‘Separatists’ – particularly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries following colonial expansion into the New World. The colonies – Plymouth, Connecticut,

“There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about” (Hawthorne). In a shameful society, prejudice against an individual can go far beyond a child’s understanding of the society. On the other side, revealed, corrupt action often yields to ignominy and humiliation in public; thus, one would rather keep their guilt or shame to themselves for a perfect image. Similarly, during the 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a novel in Salem, Massachusetts, The Scarlet Letter, which he portrays the impact of humanity’s ceaseless struggle with sin, guilt, and hypocrisy in public or private matters. Moreover, he reveals the society’s internal and external impact on the nature of the individuals. Specifically, Hawthorne utilized

In the trial of Anne Hutchinson, we meet a well intentioned yet lost people described and labelled as the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company. These self governing Puritans, once a people who sought God to set them on their way, settled only to be found as a people who simply lost their way. This journey to lost began when first motivated by a desire for religious reform and separation from the liturgy, ceremonies and practices of the Church of England. Once they banned together, they set on their way and traveled in groups to the New World. With the Word of God as their ultimate authority and the desire for a personal relationship with God, these people landed in Boston in 1630 united to self govern the newly founded Massachussets Bay Colony. Unfortunatly, this self rule resulted in a government of intolerance, fear and a liturgy not much different from what was once found in the Church of England. A system designed to set apart outward morality, or sanctification, to strengthen the authority of the Church only worked to neglect the place of true piety purposed to strengthen the spiritual lives of the people it served.

Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in an era commonly referred to as “The Transcendentalist Movement” (“The Scarlet Letter”). “Transcendentalism a reaction against the rationalism of the previous century and the religious orthodoxy of Calvinist New England, it stressed the romantic tenets of mysticism, idealism, and individualism” (“The Scarlet Letter”). It sees God as an important part of a person and the world, God was not a “harsh distant figure” (“The Scarlet Letter”). Simultaneously, Puritan values and ideas also played a major role in shaping The Scarlet Letter. “The Puritans are all alike and, taking themselves for the standard, see all difference and variety as unnatural, bad” (Baym 53). That is, anything out of the norm, Puritans will instantaneously oppose it and disassociate themselves from it. “Because they are dedicated to forms, rules, laws, [and] structures, the Puritans have no tolerance for secrets: they take people as purely public beings, and they hate and fear anything

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

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written amidst the 1800’s. Hawthorne was a famous American author during that time frame. He is a relative to a judge from the Salem Witch Trials, which was his Great-Great Grandfather John Hathorne. Hathorne was the only judge who did not express atonement for his crimes, which led people to dislike all the Hathorne’s. This sparked Nathaniel Hawthorne's interest in the Puritan times, which resulted in the Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne delineates Puritan standards religiously and culturally in an outstanding way. He was also an Anti-Transcendentalist which means that he believed that all humans were evil. In his novel, the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbols of the scarlet letter, Reverend Dimmesdale, and burrs to add onto the overall theme of guilt.

In the seventeenth century, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded as a haven for religious freedom for all early colonist, principally for the Puritans. Unlike any other migrating group in America, the Puritans were composed of families who sought the religious freedom and harmony they were unable to experience in England. ¹ These Massachusetts Bay settlers sought to achieve this haven by devising a system of government that would fulfill political and moral authority. By the 1640s their enterprise at Massachusetts Bay had grown to about ten thousand citizens, claiming great success and testimony to the Puritan greatness. However, it was a system critics argue was just as intolerant as the one they abandoned. Between 1636 and 1638, the

Many of the events of The Scarlet Letter involve religion. The Puritans were strict Protestants who made the mighty voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, and settled in New England. When the Puritans landed on the shores of New England in 1620, other than the lose kinship ties of Native Americans, the religion they carried with them was the only source of organization in what became New England ("Puritanism"). As a result, everything was built off a foundation of religion. From what is clearly visible in The Scarlet Letter, the Protestant religion shaped all aspects of society. As a result, a theocracy was naturally put in place in the Puritan colonies. This resulted in a society where every political, social or economic action

Undoubtedly, religion causes tension between characters in The Scarlet Letter. Notably, tensions arise between Hester and the townspeople due to her infidelity to her husband. The novel takes place in the 17th century in a Puritan community in Boston. The Puritans left England in order to practice their faith but also despised The Church of England for including similar practices as those of Catholicism. During this time it was also commonly known that if one does not conform to the thoughts and beliefs of the Puritans then they are not welcomed in their community. This was most definitely the case for Hester Prynne. In fact, a few of the towns women believe that the magistrates "should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead"

The novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published in the 1850s, and takes place in the Boston, Massachusetts area during the 17th Century when Puritans were the main population. Hester Prynne, is accused of committing adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet A against her chest and care for Pearl, Her daughter who is born from the tryst. In the beginning of the novel, both Pearl and the Letter are introduced at the same time aspressed against Hester’s chest. Though she chooses to hold the child close to her and the Letter is thrust upon her, Hawthorne shows the reader how determined she is to take these symbols of sin and integrate them into her life and create her own identity.