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Similarities And Differences Between The Crucible And The Scarlet Letter

Decent Essays

A book and a play, both are extremely widely read and interpreted in countless different ways. These two are thought to be prime examples of American Literature. Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915, and he published his play, The Crucible, in January of 1953. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, and his book, The Scarlet Letter, came out to print in March of 1850. These two types of literature were published roughly 100 years apart, so there are minute changes in the way they were written. Both are set in early 1700’s Massachusetts, but The Crucible is in Salem, and The Scarlet Letter is set in Boston. There are many similarities and differences between the two, the biggest three are how adultery plays a role in puritan …show more content…

Primarily the male protagonists in both stories are the ones who feel the most guilty. The woman feel guilty too, but this is where is seperates a little, In The Crucible, Abigail would never want her “good name” to be damaged from people knowing that she is a adulterer, but in The Scarlet Letter, Hester feels guilty for the first few years, but then gets used to the feeling, both the feeling of being an outcast and being guilty. John Proctor feels ashamed that he has done such a thing with another woman who he is not lawfully wed to, so he turns away from Abigail and towards his wife. He knows he has done a wrong, and it is over now, but he still does not want anyone to know about it. Dimmesdale is a priest in Boston, and that is extremely bad because he committed adultery with a married woman, he does not tell for the next seven years, but eventually does right before he dies and the end of the book. Massachusetts, in the 18th century, is the setting for both Miller’s The Crucible and Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the way the community deals with matters of the law is very similar to each other. Both communities are extremely religious, and everyone thinks that if you mess up once, you will go to hell. You could say they are extremists with the Bible. In both stories, the man and woman both commit what is usually one of the most severe sins, adultery. The community rejects them, and things do not go well for

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