Puritan Society Examples

Examples can be seen everywhere, including books, movies, textbooks, and people from everyday life. They can be seen in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, where Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale act as near-opposite examples for the Puritan society. They are seen in racial stereotyping in today’s society, in which people from the same race or religion are held to the same standards as another that they may differ completely from. Positive examples are often also seen; many people act as role models or inspirations to others, whether or not they are well known. Despite their often positive intent, examples can be damaging to society and the individual, as is seen with Hester and Dimmesdale. After having an affair with Dimmesdale and becoming pregnant, Hester was …show more content…
By making her an example, they repressed her passion and therefore, her womanhood. They destroyed who she had once been: “The stigma gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit. O exquisite relief! She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom!” (Hawthorne 223). After she took off the scarlet letter, the very thing that had made and kept her as an example, she took away every slight, worry, and feeling of despair that came with it. When she became an example, it seemed as though years were added to her as she lost her youth. By making her an example, the Puritans took away her ability to be a person; they only allowed her to be an idea or a concept, rather than a human being that is capable of making mistakes like any of them. Additionally, Hester is an inaccurate representation of all that is evil. She has a knack for helping others and doing good: “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her--so much power to do, and power to sympathize--that many people refused to interpret the