123 School Work

DEPICTION OF PURITAN IDEOLOGY MORALS AND RELIGION IN THE SCARLET LETTER AND THE CRUCIBLE

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  In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, both authors portray Puritans as a repressive and socially constrictive society. Both authors use their views of this society to impart sympathy for their characters and to cross-examine the conflict between individual impulses and systematized social codes. In order to affirm the condition of the society, it is necessary to interpret passages from both works, and examine the impact it has on the main characters, plot, and empathy of the reader.
       In The Scarlet Letter, Salem, Massachusetts is exemplified as harsh and judgmental. Hawthorne shows the effects of this society by depicting how the other characters impose their judgment on Hester. Hawthorne uses the Hard-featured dame of fifty's words in order to prove that the punishments to some were not as severe as they wanted, he states, "If the Hussy stood up before usWould she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awardedI trow not." (Hawthorne 48) Hawthorne uses the woman's quote in order to show the ruthless way in which Hester is treated.
  The scaffolding is where severe punishments are executed in the town. Hawthorne uses references to the scaffolding to add emphasis on the insensitive puritan town, "At the scaffoldingA penalty which in our days would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself" (47). Hawthorne uses both the scaffolding and the people's feelings toward Hester to gain sympathy for his main character, while showing the dramatic impact of the social codes...