Not Everything You See Is Reality: The Truth and Reality
Throughout literature and media, the creators tend to change the reality of that time to make it more entertaining and acceptable to modern audiences. Likewise in the historical fiction novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he changes the accuracy of what it really was like to live in the 17th century Boston. Fiction and realty differ in the story, regarding to the punishment of adultery, the color of their clothing, and the presence of Native Americans in the story. Which each one of them will be expanded upon. In the story when Hester is on the scaffold and is being shamed for her sin. She is given the letter “A” to be worn at all times and has to stand on the scaffold …show more content…
They are often shown as people who wore all black clothing with some white. Even in the book Hawthorne says “Here, indeed, in the sable simplicity that generally characterized the Puritanic modes of dress, there might be an infrequent call for the finer productions of her handiwork” So even he took on the stereotypical look at puritans as people who wore drab clothing and had no color in their life. In reality puritans were full of color. “Clothing for both sexes was every color of the rainbow” (Chesson). They used vegetable dyes because chemicals did not exist at that time. Dress code only existed when the puritans lived in colonies, but when the population grew it became impossible to enforce it. When they did have a dress code it was not enforced but they used social sanctions which acted as an external force. For example their culture and their values. They were still allowed colorful clothing. In the movie version of “The Scarlet Letter” they are all seen wearing drab clothing. Americans would prefer the stereotypical version of the puritans which are shown in the novel and in the movie because whenever anyone thinks of a puritan. They think of a strict person wearing all black clothing. Americans believe that puritans wear drab clothing which matches the stereotype so they would be more
Throughout literature and media, the creators tend to change the reality of that time to make it more entertaining and acceptable to modern audiences. Likewise in the historical fiction novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he changes the accuracy of what it really was like to live in the 17th century Boston. Fiction and realty differ in the story, regarding to the punishment of adultery, the color of their clothing, and the presence of Native Americans in the story. Which each one of them will be expanded upon. In the story when Hester is on the scaffold and is being shamed for her sin. She is given the letter “A” to be worn at all times and has to stand on the scaffold …show more content…
They are often shown as people who wore all black clothing with some white. Even in the book Hawthorne says “Here, indeed, in the sable simplicity that generally characterized the Puritanic modes of dress, there might be an infrequent call for the finer productions of her handiwork” So even he took on the stereotypical look at puritans as people who wore drab clothing and had no color in their life. In reality puritans were full of color. “Clothing for both sexes was every color of the rainbow” (Chesson). They used vegetable dyes because chemicals did not exist at that time. Dress code only existed when the puritans lived in colonies, but when the population grew it became impossible to enforce it. When they did have a dress code it was not enforced but they used social sanctions which acted as an external force. For example their culture and their values. They were still allowed colorful clothing. In the movie version of “The Scarlet Letter” they are all seen wearing drab clothing. Americans would prefer the stereotypical version of the puritans which are shown in the novel and in the movie because whenever anyone thinks of a puritan. They think of a strict person wearing all black clothing. Americans believe that puritans wear drab clothing which matches the stereotype so they would be more