Puritan Beliefs In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts into a family that was of Puritan belief since generations. Hawthorne’s lived in poverty with his mother and two younger sisters in a house filled with Puritan ideals. He had a feeling to some extents of Puritanism as being intolerant and cruel. Hawthorne’s states that Puritans feared that some women were completely lost to God and had turned to witchcraft to serve the Devil. Although these witches still appeared human, the Devil would use them to commit his deeds. In New England, Puritans started investigating claims that certain women living among them were witches, and if found guilty, they would be executed. John Hathorne was one of the chosen judge during the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, John Hathorne seek the death penalty for hundreds of women which he accused them of witchcraft and will later attended their executions. Yet, Hawthorne's found a good example for this cruelty with his own ancestors. Still, for Hawthorne’s he saw that Puritan religion was able to produce evil and he
In The scarlet letter he combine and contrast his knowledge of the Puritan belief and his ideas to make a phenomenal story. In the 17th century many Puritans wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence. Therefore, the Puritan emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy commonwealth in New England. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). When Hester Prynne's the main character of the story commits a sin of adultery the Puritan community will punished her. She was forced to wear a scarlet letter (A) as a mark of shame upon her breast for life. The Scarlet Letter represented a negative symbol, of shame and guilt. Hester Prynne’s display this negative symbol of a woman who suffered enough to have become a good advisor for the other women in the