How Is Nathaniel Hawthorne's Commentary On Early Puritan Society
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”, Hester Prynne, living in the extremely strict Puritan society of Massachusetts, is forced to wear a red “A”, the mark of an adulterer, after having a child with a man who is not her husband, believing him to be dead after his two-year absence. Hawthorne’s commentary on early Puritan society in the New World is highlighted throughout the novel in the ways in which different events that transpire in the town are perceived by the townspeople versus what Hawthorne reveals to the reader about what has actually happened. The Puritans were a group of people who came to the New World fleeing religious persecution in England, holding very strong religious beliefs about an individual’s connection to God,…show more content… This led them to seek confirmation of their actions through signs and symbols, again, often choosing to see what they wanted to see instead of what might have been the reality of the situation. After 7 years of wearing the scarlet letter as her public form of punishment, the townspeople project a positive change upon Hester Prynne, believing that through forcing her to wear the scarlet letter and publicly shaming her, they have changed her for the better. Hawthorne writes about the townspeople’s new perception of the scarlet letter, “They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (127). This is yet another instance where the people of the town are choosing to see what they want to see, seeking reassurance in that their actions towards Hester were “good”, and that they have changed her for the better. Choosing to read her scarlet letter as “able” highlights the townspeople’s tendency to see what pleases them and reinforces their beliefs, despite the fact that Hester thinks, “The scarlet letter had not done its office” (130). This difference between what Hester feels about the scarlet letter versus what the townspeople want to believe about it exemplifies the fact that the rigidity of the Puritan society forced them to seek confirmation of their actions in whatever ways they could, despite the reality of the