Society often criticizes, punishes, and/or despises people who dare to be different. Hawthorne exposed and rejected the illusions and self-deceptions of his ancestor's culture, especially after he discovered one of his forefathers was judge, Hathorne, who presided over the Salem witchcraft trials in 1962. Puritan society had significant influence on Hawthorne's writing, especially in The Scarlet Letter: "Puritan society claimed to have based itself on the highest principal of moral idealism and filled with christian virtues of love and compassion"(Harold 123). However in his writings, Hawthorne presents Puritan society as hypocritical. Hawthorne describes the inhumanity and intolerance that the Puritan society had set in date, especially for sinners. .
In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, a sinner, is mistreated by the Puritan society. Hester Prynne is publicly humiliated as a punishment for her transgression against one of the Ten Commandments, adultery. Hester is force to stand in front of the town on scaffold which symbolizes "The Day of Judgement" for three hours as the crowd tries to bread her down with criticism and shaming words. After her release, "the scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as much always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame of a fellow creature"(63). The society seemed to delight in her punishment, thinking they had cleansed the town, thereby leaving a "pure" society(harold 90). The punishment was designed to deter anyone else from committing adultery. The townspeople of the society didn't see her as person but as trouble to get rid of. They didn't realize she is just as much a part of the community as they all are. .
The public humiliation is not Hester's only punishment. Hester must wear the letter "A" embroidered on everything she wears as a reminder to everyone that she has committed adultery. Thrown out of town and is no longer a community member.
The Puritan Society was a very restrictive, repressive, and socially constrictive one. Every member of the society had a strict role to fill. Any one who fell outside of their appropriate role in society was shunned, insulted, exiled, or tortured to death. The Puritan Society was stratified by many different factors. ... The Puritan ruling class of holy white males lashed out at those who threatened them. ...
Although Puritan actions and beliefs might contradict each other at times, Puritans and Puritanism provided many exclusive and fascinating rules and covenants in their society that people can now learn more about. Puritan Society was started because they wanted to leave the turmoil in England and also to purifying it from the Catholic way of living. ... Unlike day-to-day society, Puritan life revolved around their covenants with God. ... There is an indication on how the Puritans still influence our marriage rituals in our more complex society. ... Looking more into the Puritan society, th...
The Puritan society is known not only to act out of brotherly, Christian love, but is also known to cruelly lash out on those who sinned or were deemed unfit for society. ... The isolation of the Puritan society created a rigid social system that did not allow for any variation in lifestyle. ... The Puritan tradition is still present in today's society in that some of the virtues that they held are universal. ... The Puritan's rigid social structure indicated that their society that was not able to accept much change. ... The aftermath of the Puritan collapse laid the groundwork to c...
Puritans Beginning in the seventeenth century, there were many attempts to create unified and stable societies. One of these attempts was made by the Puritans, who had a strong desire to create a model society based on their beliefs. ... Also, they had many hopes of how they would go about building their ideal society. ... In the model society that Puritans wished to create, they wanted certain aspects of culture and religion to be practiced by everyone. ... The Puritans has many aspirations of creating a model society based on their personal views and opinions, and in any way...
Beginning in the seventeenth century, there were many attempts to create unified and stable societies. One of these attempts was made by the Puritans, who had a strong desire to create a model society based on their beliefs. ... Also, they had many hopes of how they would go about building their ideal society. ... In the model society that Puritans wished to create, they wanted certain aspects of culture and religion to be practiced by everyone. ... The Puritans has many aspirations of creating a model society based on their personal views and opinions, and in any ways, their aspirations wer...
Puritan child rearing practices are very diverse from modern childhood. In all probability there is much to learn about how different the Puritan and modern society truly are. ... When comparing the children from the two societies it is very apparent that the expectations of the two societies have changed dramatically. ... The Puritans were very much a community in every way. ... People in today's society are very open minded, outspoken, and self sufficient. ...
The Puritan society had three major associations, which was the society and culture, the religion and spirituality. ... The society and the culture of the Puritan age were extremely different from modern society. ... Puritan colonists normally came from the middle class, which symbolized the economic and social dynamic of the Puritan society. ... Religion has a direct relationship with the society and culture of the Puritan society. ... In the Puritan colonies since religion was essential there were three key components that were banned in the society to keep the devil away. ...
Religious exclusiveness was the primary principle of their society. ... The New Testament was their model and their devotion so great that it permeated their entire society. ... Conversion was a rejection of the "worldliness" of society and a strict devotion to Biblical principles. ... The devotion they held in maintaining a religious society in isolation fueled the fire of the witchcraft scandal. ... Their formal name was actually the Religious Society of Friends. ...
He illustrates this by describing "the city upon a hill", materialism, and the hypocritical nature of the Puritan society. ... Witnessing the downfall of his society, he thought there was a need for social reform. ... In the introduction to the novel, Hawthorne describes a Puritan, theoretical Utopian society. ... The hypocrisy of the Puritans is another theme Hawthorne uses to enlighten the reader pertaining to the uselessness of Puritan Society. ... The "city upon a hill," materialism, and hypocrisy are all ideal examples of the negative qualities of Puritan society in the se...
