Puritanical Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

As some know time affects people and communities as a whole. In The Scarlet Letter the main character, Hester, is a woman that has a child out of wedlock. Hester is then punished with the agonising fate of wearing her shame until the end of her days. This punishment is incorrect for the time period at which Hawthorne places his Salem. This shows how Hawthorne disagrees with Puritanical doctrine. This then shows how the time period has an affect on the people in Hawthorne’s Salem due to the Puritanical views they and Hawthorne had.

Moreover, the forest is looked at as both a place of evil and a place of secrecy. In Puritanical society the forest is where satanists and devil worshipers go to worship the devil. For example, in The Scarlet
For example, on Illinois University’s website it states,

“If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her. Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.” (Lauria)

This quotation shows how Hester would have been correctly persecuted without a known husband at the time of Salem. This shows how Hawthorne incorrectly persecuted Hester for the time period at which he is writing. This is seen when it says that an adulterer and her male counterpart in that situation would be stoned to death by their peers and family. The law in Salem even goes as far as to say that even though your neighbours are killing the sinners the sin of the peers is excused. This is due to the Puritanical belief that the peers and family members are only doing God’s bidding on Earth to help Him in purifying the world of
Previously, in the last paragraph it shows how Hester would be charged without a known husband. This paragraph is to show how Hester’s punishment would have been if Chillingworth was the known as Hester’s husband. In Puritanical Salem if Chillingworth was the known husband of Hester she would be killed along with Dimmesdale if he was known to be the equal adulterer by Chillingworth. This shows how Hawthorne doesn’t agree with the views of Puritans when it comes to the execution of adulterers when he allows Hester to live through the