Religion has had influence on cultures for as long as it has existed. Religion has played a very important role in shaping the communities that are present in today's society. Many of the religious groups that first arrived in America greatly impacted the society that exist today. One of these religious groups to first arrive in America were the Puritans. The Puritan community was a strict Christian community that lived under rigid rules that controlled their everyday life. Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the Puritan community in his novel The Scarlet Letter. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, he uses symbols such as the scaffold, the scarlet letter and Pearl to create a tone of harshness to represent the Puritan society.
Hawthorne …show more content…
The Puritans give Hester the letter in order to punish her. Hawthorne describes the scarlet letter and the punishment by writing,“and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom”(Hawthorne, 59). While depicting the letter, Hawthorne uses the key word shame in order to emphasize the way the Puritans want Hester to feel. The Puritans extend this shame by using Hester as a public example in their community. Hawthorne illustrates this by describing Hester’s everyday life, “Clergymen paused in the street to address words of exhortation, that brought a crowd, with its mingled grin and frown, around the poor, sinful woman. If she entered a church, trusting to share the Sabbath smile of the Universal Father, it was often her mishap to find herself the text of the discourse” (Hawthorne, 79). Instead of forgiving Hester for her sin, the Puritans use her as an example to isolate her from society. Blake Hobby explains this isolation in his essay “Hester’s Bewitched Triangle: Within the Spell of the ‘A’”, by writing, “Hester cuts herself off from society. On the edge of the community and by the sea, she creates a self-contained world. Isolated from the community, she suffers at her own hand and becomes sick and blind. Her conviction and her self imposed isolation cause her to miss opportunities for happiness”(Hobby 194-195). Hester creating her …show more content…
Hawthorne uses Pearl to represent the embodiment of Dimmesdale and Hester’s sin, and describes her by writing,“Pearl was born an outcast of the infantile world. Am imp of evil, emblem and product of sin”(Hawthorne 85). Hawthorne often portrays Pearl like this to emphasizes how sin is seen in the Puritan community. Pearl becomes an outcast because the Puritans refuse to accept her, much like the Puritans do with sin. Cindy Lou Daniels explores the effects Pearl had on the Puritans in her essay “Hawthorne’s Pearl: woman child of the future” by writing,“‘In Hawthorne's novel, the strict authoritarianism of Puritan patriarchy finds its object in the child Pearl, who, as the living "likeness" of the letter ... becomes the target of the Puritans' efforts to control both human sexuality, and its literary, historical expression”(Daniels “Hawthorne’s Pearl: woman-child of the future”). The Puritans try to control Pearl, or sin, by casting it out from their
Hawthorne …show more content…
The Puritans give Hester the letter in order to punish her. Hawthorne describes the scarlet letter and the punishment by writing,“and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom”(Hawthorne, 59). While depicting the letter, Hawthorne uses the key word shame in order to emphasize the way the Puritans want Hester to feel. The Puritans extend this shame by using Hester as a public example in their community. Hawthorne illustrates this by describing Hester’s everyday life, “Clergymen paused in the street to address words of exhortation, that brought a crowd, with its mingled grin and frown, around the poor, sinful woman. If she entered a church, trusting to share the Sabbath smile of the Universal Father, it was often her mishap to find herself the text of the discourse” (Hawthorne, 79). Instead of forgiving Hester for her sin, the Puritans use her as an example to isolate her from society. Blake Hobby explains this isolation in his essay “Hester’s Bewitched Triangle: Within the Spell of the ‘A’”, by writing, “Hester cuts herself off from society. On the edge of the community and by the sea, she creates a self-contained world. Isolated from the community, she suffers at her own hand and becomes sick and blind. Her conviction and her self imposed isolation cause her to miss opportunities for happiness”(Hobby 194-195). Hester creating her …show more content…
Hawthorne uses Pearl to represent the embodiment of Dimmesdale and Hester’s sin, and describes her by writing,“Pearl was born an outcast of the infantile world. Am imp of evil, emblem and product of sin”(Hawthorne 85). Hawthorne often portrays Pearl like this to emphasizes how sin is seen in the Puritan community. Pearl becomes an outcast because the Puritans refuse to accept her, much like the Puritans do with sin. Cindy Lou Daniels explores the effects Pearl had on the Puritans in her essay “Hawthorne’s Pearl: woman child of the future” by writing,“‘In Hawthorne's novel, the strict authoritarianism of Puritan patriarchy finds its object in the child Pearl, who, as the living "likeness" of the letter ... becomes the target of the Puritans' efforts to control both human sexuality, and its literary, historical expression”(Daniels “Hawthorne’s Pearl: woman-child of the future”). The Puritans try to control Pearl, or sin, by casting it out from their