Hawthorne's Relationship With The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In both novels, the discipline was supported by the townspeople. Extreme discipline was given to sinners and lawbreakers because of the Christian belief the characters had in both novels. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester committed adultery and was sentenced to wear an “A” on her bosom, which stood for adultery. Adultery is an unforgivable sin to the Puritans, so when Hester gave birth to her daughter, Pearl, and her husband was missing, the townspeople knew a crime was committed and she must be punished. Townspeople did not think this was enough punishment for such crime.

Dimmesdale’s Punishment in The Scarlet Letter Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a brilliant spokesperson and a devout and wise Puritan minister in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, is the lover of a woman who commits adultery, Hester Prynne. Hester, a recognizable adulteress, wears the scarlet letter and lives as an outcast. Contradicting, Reverend Dimmesdale’s sin stays hidden from the Puritan community, known only to Hester and himself. As a minister, Dimmesdale believes he should suffer from punishments the way Hester did for committing the same crime, which leads him to fall into a terrible mental and physical state. Reverend Dimmesdale suffers a greater punishment than Hester by experiencing recurring guilt, physical harm, and Chillingworth’s torment.

Whore!”(Miller 109).The Worst thing that people can do in Salem has committed adultery however John Proctor did along with Abigail. At that point he didn’t care if he lost the image that he was holding in the town, but he didn’t lose his wife because of something he did. Towards the ending of The Crucible John confessed doing witchcraft, but the court wants to put the written confession on the doorway of the church, but instead, he ripped it up because he already gave up his image and he drew the line at his name. “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another name in my life because I lie and sign myself to lies!

This was stereotypical during the time, but in Thomas’ case he began to feel extreme remorse for his crimes including adultery and incest which led to his declaration to the neighbours of the aforementioned crimes. However, it is crucial to note that his confession did not include witchcraft. It was not until his confession indicted his sister for the crimes as well, which resulted in her confession of witchcraft. This leads the reader to question what occurred during her interrogation that led to her confession of witchcraft? This concept leads back to the concept that the church and the state were linked which led to high levels of religious influence in court proceedings, including interrogations.

Hucks guardians, Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, practice Christianity. Huck and Jim on the other hand, believe in superstition: they look for signs for answers rather than God. They look for bad signs in everything; if anything bad happened to them they 're sure to have a sign that was leading to it. Though their superstitions are silly, they do have reason to believe bad things will happen to them: they live in a world where nature is dangerous and people act with hatred. Huck has a realization that the Christian “good’’ isn 't really “good”; they believe Huck will be condemned to hell for saving Jim from slavery.

From these final words Dimmesdale then passes away while on the scaffold. On his chest was the mark that Hester wore, the difference is that Hester confessed her sin and bore it on her clothing. When Dimmesdale kept it hidden from everyone else it consumed him and put the mark on his body, symbolizing that secret sin will destroy the sinner. During the story of the Scarlett Letter Reverend Aurthur evolves because of the sin that he had committed. Therefore within the book he started off as a nervous and startled man, which then leads him into getting sick from the guilt inside him, and finally leads him to confess his sin, that came with a price.

Douglass has shown how religious slaveholders are the worst especially when entertainment comes into play. The first being from one of his slaveholders Master Thomas, he whipped a young woman while reading a quote from the scripture to explain his reason for whipping her. The next example was with his other Master Mr.Covey, he would go to church and preach the word but come back beating slaves and going against the almighty God. The last example that is shown is again shown with Mr.Covey, he was guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery. All of the examples illustrate that religious slaveholders are worst than non-religious slaveholders.

Goody- this stand for good wife Heresy- belief or opinion against to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine Inquisition- an investigation conducted with little regard for the individual right. John Proctor- He is one the main characters in The Crucible. He is married to Elizabeth. In my opinion he was part of the cause why and how everything started Salem. The reason I say this is because of the time when he turn on his wife Elizabeth with their former servant Abigail.

John makes sure the court knows about the affair, to show that Abigail is blackmailing him to protect her own witchcraft acts and get vengeance on him. John Proctor’s actions clearly show that he is willing to do anything to protect not only his wife, himself, but the others Abigail and her friends are accusing of witchcraft. John Proctor’s brave confession was not the only heroic action he took

Some people used Puritan law in order to gain power. For example, the better off people were the ones mainly accused of being witches because the accusers would gain more land if they were hanged (Linder 5). The accusers used the logic “guilty until proven innocent” for the trials. This used Puritan law to make sure that anyone accused would be convicted and hanged. Just like in the book, The Crucible, when John Proctor was accused of being a witch, he was asked to prove that he was