Original sin

England, Elizabeth Reis examines the relationship among women, evil, and Puritanism in the seventeenth century New England. Reis not only explains why women were more likely viewed as witches or followers of the Devil but she also explains how men would sin in Puritan New England. In her book, she discusses why even puritans themselves, came to think that they forged a pact with the devil. Elizabeth begins stating that she believed Women in Puritan New England along with the culture regarded…

Achieving salvation is not as easy as A, B, C or 1, 2, 3, as it requires a lot of tenacity, courage, and a genuine desire for redemption. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel explores the two different outcomes of sin—salvation and demise. In The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth copes with a revenge that devours, Arthur Dimmesdale deals with an all-consuming guilt, and Hester struggles with the negative effects of isolation and solitude. One would think that these characters daily circumstances would…

universal truths of the human condition. The Novel displays all-consuming effects of guilt on a sinner and how it can be worse than the punishment itself, although religion can guide a person, it can not guide a government, and that no person is without sin. As displayed by Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, guilt can affect a person worse than the punishment for the crime. After committing adultery, Dimmesdale attempts to keep it hidden from the community for fear of execution. This fright of the…

during the 17th century. The novel emphasizes the importance of original sin and the presence of evil in the lives of the Puritans, especially the three main characters. Hester Prynne can be described as a strong-willed, independent woman who is put to shame due to her sinful actions with the town 's minister. Arthur Dimmesdale is the town 's minister who preaches about purity and distinguishing all evil through confession of one 's sins, yet he is unable to follow his own preaching. Roger…

In The Crucible, the highly religious Puritan society looks down upon the sin Abigail Williams and her friends, Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis commit, which is necromancy. Despite committing this sin, as well as the sin of adultery, unlike the protagonists who use their guilt to their advantage by building better characters, Abigail creates a web of lies which places detrimental effects on innocent…

the Catholic sect of the Christian faith, they believe in original sin, which is the idea that each person is born with a certain amount of sin already in them, even without having sinned, and they must be pardoned of that sin in a baptism, or rebirth into Christianity. It is with respect to this that Prince considers herself a sinner. She states, “I dearly loved to go to church, it was so solemn. I never knew rightly that I had much sin till I went there.” (Prince 25)She also points out, “…I…

When does a sin become a sin? In Paradise Lost by John Milton, the seven cardinal sins are represented throughout the novel, and are apparent to the reader since the reader is reading paradise lost post-fall (humans are no longer innocent enough to see this text its original form). The first character to fall in the novel is Satan: his greed and envy caused him to start a rebellion against Gd and his newly appointed Son. Satan mentioned in the time before a head angel would be chosen that…

During the medieval period, European society lived in the shadow of the Roman Catholic Church until at least the reformation, and so the Catholic Church had a profound effect on the moral landscape of the time, particularly around areas of sexuality and sin. In order to regulate and control sexuality, the church employed various methods, foremost amongst them the encouragement of chastity and it’s aloft alternative celibacy for the clergy, the institution of marriage, as well as establishing…

Evil can be seen as the root of all sin and wrong doing in this world. According to The Confessions, Augustine portrays how we as human beings use our freewill to make the wrong decisions thus leading to us facing unforeseen consequences. Augustine adequately shows that the whole existence is greater than the more divine parts because we as human beings have greater recognition of the goodness of God through the sins we committed. Augustine believes, as human beings, we are always in a search…

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fictional work The Scarlet Letter, a young woman named Hester Prynne has been spurned from the Puritan community of Boston for committing the horrid sin of adultery. Hester’s offense labels her both figuratively and literally― not only does all of Boston see Hester as a harlot, but anyone who ever meets her will see her as one because of the beautiful, bright ‘A’ stitched onto all of Hester’s clothing. It is not going to matter who Hester is as a person. All that will…