Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter
The influence of Puritan society was major on Hawthorne and in The Scarlet Letter he uncovered and discarded the Puritan dogmass.As Michael J. Colacurcio notes in “ Doctrine and Difference: Essays in the Literature of New England that :
“The Scarlet Letter must be seen as Hawthorne’s way of testing the limits of Puritan theology as a way of making sense out of some deep and passionate forms of human experience” (Colacurcio 1997:192)
However , Hawthorne presented Puritans as hypocritical as Jim Cullen in “American Dream” says :
“The Puritans have had a consistently bad reputation that’s stands out like a Scarlet Letter in collective national memory.” ( Jim Cullen 2003:11).
The Scarlet Letter contains valuable aspects about morality, truth
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The above criticism proves that The Scarlet letter is succesfully written .This novel is analyzed by many researchers stylistically and through many other prespectives.The review of others analysis will give better understanding of other aspects of this novel.The review of these analysis may enrich the knowlegde of the reader and deepen the analysis of The Scarlet Letter.This literature review will also be helpful in this thesis as for reference and contrast of ideas.
Arif (1998) analyzed the main heroic character of Hester Pryyne and structural approach, sociological view and femeinistic approach is applied in this thesis (Arif, Akbarudin. 1998. The Misled Feminist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.) The conclusion derived through this research is that Hester was trapped in a inconsistency of attitudes as she sometimes behaves as a religious woman but at times acts as a rebelion
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Kahhoul Imene (2012) (Puritanical Dimensions in The Scarlet Letter:Moral Demands Versus Individual Needs.) aims to show how the Puritan laws were based on reason and rationality in which there was no place for emotions or sympathy and how this rigidity in rules resulted in chaos.
Rahal Hadjir(2013) (Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter) aims to show how the symbols deepens the meaning of the novel and how these symbols represents the major themes running through the novel.The whole novel is analyzed stylistically.
Bečvářová Michaela (2013)( History in the Novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne.) This thesis aims to show the aspect of history of early America present in Hawthorne’s novel .The researcher aims to show how the author is deeply influenced by 17th century society that is seen in The Scarlet Letter. This thesis provides vital information about the hypocrisy of (America) Puritans and the evils of 17th century and about the life style of puritan
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