With that, almost every woman in town is accused of being a witch, and the cycle continues.43 Another important example of hysterical paranoia from the Puritan era is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This novel does not deal so much with witches as it does with the Black Man, which "is a traditional American name for the Devil."44 In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. She is discovered and forced to wear a mark of shame, the scarlet letter A, on her dress for the rest of her life. ... "Nothing was more common in those days t...

• Word Count: 3126
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School