The Puritan Community In The Scarlet Letter
Puritans, the people upon a hill of Christian faith, were known for their strict religious regimen, and thus often perceived as monotonous. Likewise, in Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, the author expresses his accusatory and judgmental view of the Puritan community mostly through the usage of selective detail, dismal and contemptuous diction; as well, he expresses his view of the Puritan community through his grim and suspenseful tone. By using details selectively, Hawthorne promotes his judgmental and accusatory perspective of the Puritans to the reader. This community is generally characterized as being pious, disciplined, or reverent; yet, Hawthorne establishes his description of this small town as they have, “…their eyes intently fastened
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Due to Puritan rigor, the reader can anticipate that any degree of punishment would be “… as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself” among such a group. Such infinite hopelessness felt by the sinful women carries over into the tone of the passage; in that, the writer constructs a tone of ominousness and anxiety. This tone provides accusations that support the judgmental view Hawthorne pins to the Puritan community. In addition, as the author compiles a parallel structured list of inferences that could potentially be drawn by an observer of the community’s anticipation, he uses punishments that far exceed the true value of the crime; a child to be “…corrected at the whipping-post” and a women, convicted of witchcraft being put “[to death] upon the gallows”, these penalties are unjust either in the accusation or severity of the disciplinary action. Hawthorne’s grim tone is empowered by these concepts, further more due to the reference to the unfair and inescapable accusations of condoning witchcraft. This tone gives the reader insight into Nathaniel Hawthorne’s judgmental and accusatory perspective of the Puritan community because it discredits the community — one that seeks to be an example to the Christian world — of their capability to carry out just and godly judiciary
Due to Puritan rigor, the reader can anticipate that any degree of punishment would be “… as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself” among such a group. Such infinite hopelessness felt by the sinful women carries over into the tone of the passage; in that, the writer constructs a tone of ominousness and anxiety. This tone provides accusations that support the judgmental view Hawthorne pins to the Puritan community. In addition, as the author compiles a parallel structured list of inferences that could potentially be drawn by an observer of the community’s anticipation, he uses punishments that far exceed the true value of the crime; a child to be “…corrected at the whipping-post” and a women, convicted of witchcraft being put “[to death] upon the gallows”, these penalties are unjust either in the accusation or severity of the disciplinary action. Hawthorne’s grim tone is empowered by these concepts, further more due to the reference to the unfair and inescapable accusations of condoning witchcraft. This tone gives the reader insight into Nathaniel Hawthorne’s judgmental and accusatory perspective of the Puritan community because it discredits the community — one that seeks to be an example to the Christian world — of their capability to carry out just and godly judiciary