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Scarlet Letter Dbq

1547 Words7 Pages

In the 1630s, The Puritans came to North America in search of religious freedom. They were persecuted back in England. Their only hope was to leave England. Perhaps in America they could establish a colony whose government, society, and church were all based upon the Bible. In the process, they greatly impacted America in government, religion and social mores. The Puritans were a fearful, strict, and highly religious group.
The Puritans feared the worst things to happen to themselves and to the community. By fearing many things, they were well prepared. They took extreme caution in everything that they did. They knew the difference between right and wrong, and used their knowledge to fight the evil among them. “The Salem witch trials occurred …show more content…

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a transcendentalist. He judged his Puritan ancestors in their deeds, especially the witch persecutions. Transcendentalism, Puritanism and the idea of witchcraft were reflected in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Although The Scarlet Letter doesn‘t address witchcraft directly, witchcraft saturates the background of the novel. Many factors factors had their influence on the Puritan society, be it positive or negative. Religiousness brought out fearfulness and strictness among others, these all stirred up mischief among the Puritans. People were always worried about someone spying on them or others being a witch. The fearfulness is what caused the strictness. The town feared witches and so they brought out strict laws against any actions. The town people had to obey the rules or else they could be discriminated against. Religion was the main key to their whole way of life. Everyone followed the same rules of God and obeyed the town rules and went to church. Hawthorne understood the complexities of Puritanism. “Despite being a descendent of the Puritans, Hawthorne did not make himself the historian of Puritanism. He delivered it with force and gave the spirit and sentiment of its life, in an intense and powerful story which contains the very soul of its faith” (Kahhoul Imene). He didn’t like that he had Puritan ancestry, he was ashamed of it. Hawthorne was a transcendentalist and he made the main character, Hester Prynne one too. This shows how he truly felt and his views on his ancestors. Puritans and transcendentalists were two different groups of people. However, both were clearly used in The

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