Betrayal in Puritan Literature
The themes of most renowned books and plays are the reason why they are deemed literary masterpieces. For example, Shakespeare often wrote plays with the theme of betrayal. Some of these works include Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Othello. Similar to Shakespeare, writers in colonial America often used betrayal as the theme of their works. The theme of betrayal is illustrated in Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Margaret Atwood’s “Half-Hanged Mary,” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” through blunt disobedience during crucial moments in each of these works. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” expresses this theme in a harsh, declaratory …show more content…
Almost all of the betrayal in this play appears in the form of lies or deceit. According to Melanie Anne Phillips, “The fabrication of lies is what accelerates the objective story forward”(Phillips). In an event that occurs before the play, John Proctor, the main character, has an affair with Abigail Williams, his housemaid at the time, thus betraying his wife, Elizabeth. In the beginning of the play, Abigail is being questioned about calling the Devil when she finally says that Tituba, a resident slave, did it. The audience knows that Tituba did not call the Devil and that she was actually playing games with Abigail and some other girls, who Tituba thought were her friends. Another example of betrayal in The Crucible takes place when Abigail and the girls betray Mary Warren, the Proctors’ new housemaid, by implying that she is the Devil during a court session. Abigail says, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary”(975). All of these instances of betrayal lead to the death of John Proctor, which gives the play the tragedian …show more content…
This story tells of a minister who begins wearing a black veil over his face all the time. According to St. Rosemary Educational Institution, “Clearly, Hawthorne wants the reader to know that the minister does not fit with the rest of the town”(Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The…). Hawthorne convinces the reader that the Minister has somehow turned evil by describing, “Such was its immediate effect on the guests that a cloud seemed to have dimmed the light of the candles”(270). However, in the end of the story, Father Hooper, the minister, exclaims that he is still the same person, but the townspeople fear and dislike him simply because of the veil. He says, “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?”(275). The townspeople in this tale betrayed their minister by avoiding him and accusing him of hiding some secret sin with his
The themes of most renowned books and plays are the reason why they are deemed literary masterpieces. For example, Shakespeare often wrote plays with the theme of betrayal. Some of these works include Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Othello. Similar to Shakespeare, writers in colonial America often used betrayal as the theme of their works. The theme of betrayal is illustrated in Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Margaret Atwood’s “Half-Hanged Mary,” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” through blunt disobedience during crucial moments in each of these works. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” expresses this theme in a harsh, declaratory …show more content…
Almost all of the betrayal in this play appears in the form of lies or deceit. According to Melanie Anne Phillips, “The fabrication of lies is what accelerates the objective story forward”(Phillips). In an event that occurs before the play, John Proctor, the main character, has an affair with Abigail Williams, his housemaid at the time, thus betraying his wife, Elizabeth. In the beginning of the play, Abigail is being questioned about calling the Devil when she finally says that Tituba, a resident slave, did it. The audience knows that Tituba did not call the Devil and that she was actually playing games with Abigail and some other girls, who Tituba thought were her friends. Another example of betrayal in The Crucible takes place when Abigail and the girls betray Mary Warren, the Proctors’ new housemaid, by implying that she is the Devil during a court session. Abigail says, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary”(975). All of these instances of betrayal lead to the death of John Proctor, which gives the play the tragedian …show more content…
This story tells of a minister who begins wearing a black veil over his face all the time. According to St. Rosemary Educational Institution, “Clearly, Hawthorne wants the reader to know that the minister does not fit with the rest of the town”(Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The…). Hawthorne convinces the reader that the Minister has somehow turned evil by describing, “Such was its immediate effect on the guests that a cloud seemed to have dimmed the light of the candles”(270). However, in the end of the story, Father Hooper, the minister, exclaims that he is still the same person, but the townspeople fear and dislike him simply because of the veil. He says, “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?”(275). The townspeople in this tale betrayed their minister by avoiding him and accusing him of hiding some secret sin with his