The Scarlet Letter Essay

LeAnn Struckman paper’s thesis is that the Puritan community, the weather, political events, and illnesses that were happening to the Salem region led to the Salem witch trial. This is supported by looking at the Puritan community and establishing the context behind the event. The paper starts by looking at the importance of the Massachusetts Bay Charter. This gave them the right to establish a colony in the New England area and the protections that came with it. The Puritans believed and desired to create an ideal society in the New World that England would want to emulate. The paper claims that the Puritans believed that the church and state should not be separate, which made their Puritan religious doctrines flow over into their government. This influences the role of the church and its membership. The Puritans believed in a strict system to gain membership of the church. Church membership carried over into the governance of the state and certain political rights like voting. The following generations were not as involved with the church and membership soon declined as they were unable to meet the strict standards. This decline created tension within the church, which created the need for reforming the standards of membership. However, with the change in membership there still was tension between the Puritans.

In his book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells of a story where a young woman has had an adulterous relationship with a respected priest in a Puritan community. Typical of Hawthorne's writings is the use of imagery and symbolism. In Chapter 12, The Minister's Vigil, there are several uses of imagery when Dimmesdale, the priest, is battling with confessing his sin, which has plagued him for seven years. Three evident techniques used to personify symbolism in this chapter are the use of darkness versus light, the use of inner guilt versus confession, and lastly the use of colors (black versus white).

In The Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin at work , at the same time however, parallels can be drawn between the characters of The Scarlet Letter and of today’s society.

The settings in The Scarlet Letter are very important in displaying the themes of the novel. The settings in this novel are almost characters, for they are an important part in developing the story. The scaffold, the forest, the prison, and Hester’s cottage are settings that show sin and its consequences result in shame and suffering.

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

With religious reforms causing controversy in England came the Puritans, known for their simplicity in their way of life. They wore basic clothing and were against consumption of alcohol and sex (unless married). With the disagreements of the religious conflicts happening in England, the puritans “wanted to purify the Church of England from within.” The sole reason the idea sparked to settle a colony in America was in search of a Puritan lifestyle and the freedom to do so. On March 4, 1629 King Charles gave the Massachusetts Bay Company a charter while not knowing the true nature of what this colony was to become and for the reasons behind it. Still, the Puritans left for America in March 1630. In contrast to the type of people who immigrated to Virginia, the Massachusetts population was mostly nuclear families, meaning husband, wife, and kids. Also differing from the colonists in Virginia, the settlers in Massachusetts Bay worked together for the common good of the colony. Along with their lives and beliefs, their government and politics were religiously based as well and soon they decided upon a Congregationalism form of church government. Their churches were a matter of choice but in order to become a member they had a strict regulation “In order to join one (a church) a man or woman had to provide testimony–a confession of faith–before neighbors who already had been admitted as full members.” Because religion was the bases behind Massachusetts being colonization crimes and religious disagreements called for serious

The Scarlet Letter Introduction The Scarlet Letter is a classic tale of sin, punishment, and revenge. It was written in 1850 by the famous American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It documents the lives of three tragic characters, each of whom suffer greatly because of his or her sins. Shot Plot The story begins with Hester Prynne, a resident of a small Puritan community, being led from the town jailhouse to a public scaffold where she must stand for three hours as punishment for adultery. She must also wear a scarlet A on her dress for the rest of her life as part of her punishment. As she is led to the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd complain that

Society has unintentionally been guided by the same themes since the beginning of time. The recurring themes that are present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter are still relevant in today’s society. When high school students and teachers claim that Hawthorne’s novel is archaic and should be removed from the curriculum, they are absolutely wrong. Hester Prynne, the main character of the novel, commits adultery and as punishment, has to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for everyone to see. Throughout the novel, Hester is faced with obstacles such as the struggle between self and society and the burden of publicly suffering for her sins. Despite a substantial amount of time having passed since Puritan times, the themes that Hester Prynne had to experience are still pertinent. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, is driven mad by his incessant need for revenge and in society today there are many occasions where people are plagued with the desire to seek vengeance. There are some instances in life where human nature takes over without people even realizing and revenge is one of them. Also, people are right when they say “history repeats itself” because some of these themes never go away. The Scarlet Letter takes place in the strict religious time of the 1600’s and although the book seems outdated and obsolete, the ideas inside are still relevant and therefore high school students should continue to read this work

A common theme throughout literature is religion and how the author feels about his or her faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices to draw comparisons between characters and events in The Scarlet Letter and Biblical figures and accounts. A few of the devices found in this novel that connect it to the Bible are symbolism, paradox, allusions, and characterization. It is important to first look at the characters and how they are described through characterization.

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.

The Salem Covenant of 1636 was a list of rules surrounding life and government that the colonists agreed to follow. This covenant promised things such as “We do hereby promise to carry our selves in all lawful obedience to those that are over us, in Church or Commonwealth, knowing how well pleasing it will be to the Lord…” (Doc C). Their government was focused around religion, as the Salem Covenant proves, and while they agreed that setting up a civil government was a priority in their new colony (Doc D), they agreed that the government was to always refer back to the church, and never take power from it. The laws they created ranged from public punishment on a man for missing a church service, to regulating the length of a woman’s dress, so that she could remain pure and chaste, according to their doctrine. John Cotton said, “It is therefore fit for every man to be studious of the bounds which the Lord hath set: and for the people, in whom fundamentally all power lies, to give as much power as God in His word gives to men…” (Doc G). He, and the rest of the Puritan colonists, believed that boundaries and laws could be set by men, but the ultimate power, even political power, goes to

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was influenced by Puritan belief and religion(Docs 1,2). John Winthrop gives an idea on Puritan beliefs such that they wanted to, “be knit together in this work as one man.” He explains further that no matter what the differences between those who live in colonies, they are one group that God is watching create an influential establishment. Winthrop’s beliefs are similar to the Articles of Agreement. Their plan was to establish a colony in which everyone, no matter their economic background lived under God’s grace to share the plantation. These Puritans wanted a diverse but unified colony. This was reflected further as the Chesapeake Bay Colonies were falling behind in integration with the other groups that lived in the

Despite the fact that both Puritans and Quakers are Protestant Christians, the Quakers were unwelcome in the Puritan society of New England. A University of California at Los Angeles Ph. D. candidate in the Department of History, Carla Gardina Pestana provides an explanation as to why these Christians were frowned upon in the society. In her article “The City upon a Hill under Siege: The Puritan Perception of the Quaker Threat to Massachusetts Bay, 1656-1661”, Pestana gives a detailed analysis of why the Quakers beliefs were seen as a threat to the Puritan society.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1849. This novel won him much fame and a good reputation as a writer. In writing The Scarlet Letter, Hawethorne was creating a form of fiction he called the psychological romance. A psychological romance is a story that contains all of the conventional trappings of a typical romance, but deeply portrays humans in conflict with themselves. The Scarlet Letter won Hawthorne great critical acclaim, and even today the book remains on the best seller list. The Scarlet Letter is so popular maybe because generations of readers can interpret it and see subtle meanings that somewhat reflect their own lives. Each of us, has

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth