One of the first societies that students learn about in any history class focused on the United States is the Puritans. These people sailed to the Americas from Europe in 1630 in order to dissent from the Church of England, unlike the Pilgrims who had arrived in the Americas ten years earlier whose goal was to be separatists. The Puritans hoped to purify the church, still having hope that it could be repaired from within. They landed near present-day Boston and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony with John Winthrop as their leader. From the very beginning they hoped to become a, “city upon a hill,” to evangelize the surrounding peoples and serve as a shining example of good Christian morality according the A Modell of Christian Charity by Winthrop. With their high standards for their community
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However, the surface conceals much murkier depths. It does not reveal the Salem Witch Trials. It does not reveal the excommunication of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams that lead to their former’s brutal murder. The Puritans were severely flawed just as all human beings are, and their strict religious beliefs may have, in fact, been their downfall rather than their salvation. In the fictional story of The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne the Puritan society is used as the community in the story. While fictional, it gives an accurate depiction of how judgmental the Puritans were. The minister in the story is a well-respected man in his town, that is, until he begins wearing a black veil over his face that he refuses to remove with no explanation for his reasons for the odd adornment. He will not even remove it in front of his wife, despite her pleading with him to lift it just once. Sermons are just as powerful as ever, but the people lose their respect for the minister and turn him into the community’s latest gossip topic. They wonder if it is a great sin he has committed
However, the surface conceals much murkier depths. It does not reveal the Salem Witch Trials. It does not reveal the excommunication of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams that lead to their former’s brutal murder. The Puritans were severely flawed just as all human beings are, and their strict religious beliefs may have, in fact, been their downfall rather than their salvation. In the fictional story of The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne the Puritan society is used as the community in the story. While fictional, it gives an accurate depiction of how judgmental the Puritans were. The minister in the story is a well-respected man in his town, that is, until he begins wearing a black veil over his face that he refuses to remove with no explanation for his reasons for the odd adornment. He will not even remove it in front of his wife, despite her pleading with him to lift it just once. Sermons are just as powerful as ever, but the people lose their respect for the minister and turn him into the community’s latest gossip topic. They wonder if it is a great sin he has committed