"This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die." Who would have ever thought that these words were spoken by a Puritan? All my life, most of my English teachers have been infatuated with the subject of Puritans, which has forced me to learn more about them, than I ever thought I would. Puritanism, I have seen defined as a religious movement of the XVI century that sought out to purify the Church of England. Yet, in my years of studying the puritans, I have learned and read things that appear to be not so pure. The contradiction of the Puritans" beliefs is a sensitive subject, perhaps because we all want to believe that there was once something so veritably good and .
sheer. Then again, could we believe such people were so ascetic? How could we when we learn about certain things they did that go against the beliefs they supposedly followed?.
The quote I used in the first paragraph was taken from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This book takes place in Puritan New England, and contains a very directive event that is of mayor importance in the subject of this essay. The book's protagonist, Hester Prynne, is a puritan who becomes an adulteress. The quote above was said about her, from another puritan woman. Now days, it would be shocking to hear someone speak like that of someone else so openly. Why would it make sense back then?The quote was obviously full of despise and antipathy, and so was the person behind it. I .
believe I already made clear, it was a puritan woman who said that.
From what I've learned, and as I've already mentioned, the puritans were extremely religious- to the point of wanting to purify the Church. I"m not a very religious person, and I don't come from a very religious family so I may be wrong in the things I may say. I was taught, and from my knowledge, so were my peers that our God, their God, was forgiving and merciful. How could a person, that follows God, so deeply,and is so immersed in his or her religion, say the quote I've pointed out? Not only say it, but to be backed up, by his or her companions.