Preview

Views Of Adultery In The Puritan Times Of Today

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
492 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Views Of Adultery In The Puritan Times Of Today
Adultery is the sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse. It is seen as the seventh of the Ten Commandments and states “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. Throughout time, this crime has become more acceptable and isn't as frowned upon as before. Although it is still a sin, people do not typically seek a punishment for this crime. When comparing the views and punishments of adultery between the Puritan times of the book The Scarlet Letter and now, there are obvious differences.
During the Puritan times of early America committing a sin that violated any religious rule would have a serious punishment. These punishments would be especially horrific if they violated any one of the Ten Commandments because the law and religion were almost identical back then. When looking at the sin of committing adultery, people back then had many different opinions as …show more content…
Adultery is not only seen in modern society, but is supported by TV, movies, and popular culture( Divorce Resistance, n.d.). Also, it is one of the top reasons of today's high divorce rate. The typical punishments or penalties of committing adultery in the United States are fines and jail time. After these disciplines are over and dealt with there is hardly a stigma left behind.
When comparing the views of adultery throughout history, there are obvious differences and visible changes. In early America colonists thought that it was such a horrible sin to commit that it deserved death. While today the only punishment is a small fine or a couple of years in jail. Some reasons for the changes are thought to be the view of marriage. Puritans believed that marriage is a legal binding between a husband and wife that should not be broken, and divorce was almost unheard of. However, today's culture will commonly view marriage as a bond between husband and wife that can easily be
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Similarities Between The Puritans And Sex Edmund Morgan
    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page

    Similarities Between The Puritans And Sex Edmund Morgan

    The general argument made by Edmund S. Morgan in The Puritans and Sex is that the Puritans did not deny all earthly pleasures including marriage and sex. More specifically, Morgan argues that the Puritans understood that sex was a natural human instinct and were just following their moral codes. John Cotton, a Puritan minister, stated “It is not good that man should be alone” while another minister stated that withdrawal from sex “Denies all reliefe in Wedlock unto Human necessity”. These puritanical Puritans understood that sex was a human necessity and should not be denied. Puritans also knew it was natural for humans to break laws, therefore they had to give punishments to those who broke the rules.…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Adam And Eve Literary Analysis
    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Adam And Eve Literary Analysis

    The act of adultery is wrong, inexcusable, and most definitely immoral. As human beings, we all have impulses and desires and sometimes we fall victim to them, but adultery is in no way justifiable. The forbidden fruit that both Adam and Eve ate without reparations in their mind is similar to infidelity. To expand, Adam and Eve fell victim to temptation after witnessing the fruit in all its glory and so Adam and Eve ate the fruit of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Despite the warnings and commands by God to not eat the Forbidden Fruit, they still did because they simply couldn't resist. As the story goes, they ultimately opposed the words of God and indulged in immoral pleasure (“Adam and Eve”, n.d.). In the Book of Enoch in 1 Enoch 31:4,…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Similarities Between The Puritans Of The 1600s
    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Similarities Between The Puritans Of The 1600s

    In today’s society the similarities we have with the Puritans of the 1600’s is that we have moral codes that we follow to live in peace. If anyone violates them, then they are punished for what they have…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Puritans In The Colonies: Puritans
    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Puritans In The Colonies: Puritans

    During the time when the colonies began to form there were many religious groups present, but perhaps one of the most prevalent of these groups were the Puritans. Puritanism had been around since the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but in the colonies they had the chance to get away from the different restrictions they had faced prior to this time. What made Puritans unique even in the colonies was the fact that they believed everyone had to make his or her own profession of faith, and they held that any official who was a part of a Puritan colony had to be not only a church member, but also be seen in good standing among the rest of the people. Their reasoning for this was a town could not be Godly if those running it were not, and this makes sense…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Role Of Sexuality In A Puritan Society
    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Role Of Sexuality In A Puritan Society

    Throughout most of Human history a family consisted of a mother, a father and a child. In a Puritan society this standard was not forgotten. Other normalities in a Puritan society were mandatory church attendance, harsh punishments placed on those who strayed from God’s. Some punishments were more vigorous than others, executions, whippings, and public humiliations. In the case of Hester Prynne, her punishment for conceiving her daughter Pearl was to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest. Hester violated the Puritan law of premarital sex, with the young reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. This criminal activity violated the sexual and social norms of the seventeenth century, one of which was the sexual norm of waiting until after marriage to have sex.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet letter and hypocrisy of puritans
    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Scarlet letter and hypocrisy of puritans

    What is an American Puritan? First what is an American, someone who has come from another country or origin other than the United States of America, to live, there lives. Puritan’s, a religious section of English Protestants and English Calvinists in the 16th and 17th centuries. Because of the time period and religion at this time, a lot of pressure was put on a person to live by good standards or more arguably religious standards. This is shown very well in the book The Scarlet Letter, there are many examples of this religious time period and the pressures of living in this time, to be a good person in the eye of a Puritan. In my essay I am going to talk about this standard of the church or of human standards, set by this time period, religion, people, and the hypocrisy of how some lived their lives’.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The ACA Code Of Ethics And Values
    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The ACA Code Of Ethics And Values

    These laws are practiced and preached by nearly a third of all 6.9 billion people on Earth. Despite widespread agreement on Christian moral value in these rules, they are often and continually broken by society. “Thou shall not commit adultery.” People sometimes wonder if an exception is allowed in case the spouse cannot or will not have sex, or if the couple is separated, or for other reasons. However, the Bible does not mention any possible exceptions. Therefore, as long as a couple is legally married, sex with anyone else is considered adultery. There must be overwhelming reasons for people attempting to cheat on their spouse or significant other; otherwise it would not keep happening. We can look for different reasons, excuses and validations for the cause, some people may simply be tired of going through the motions with their spouse and are looking for a one-night stand. Others may simply feel the need to do something daring and exhilarating as a break from their mundane lives. Whatever the motive is behind extramarital affairs, it does not negate the repercussions or consequences that follow when the affair is revealed. Open marriage is definitely an unexplored territory for me as far as understanding the ideas and justifications of it. I had to read several articles and journals from scholarly sources as how to approach this issue from an unbiased non-judgmental point of view. From what I gather, the…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    What is wrong with adultery
    • 1686 Words
    • 7 Pages

    What is wrong with adultery

    Bonnie Steinbock in her essay “What’s Wrong with Adultery?” starts by quoting the data from studies to show that the number of women who have committed adultery has significantly increased. Despite this increase in female adultery, it is in some degree due to the attitudes changing toward sex and sexuality, but Steinbock thinks that people should use rational justification to evaluate the disapproval of adultery. Then in the rest of the parts of Steinbock’s essay, she is generally arguing against adultery based on the plausible claim that our views toward adultery are varied, and these views are bound to be connected to important conventions about marriage, fidelity, romantic love ( Romeo and Juliet’s case ), the family, jealousy, and exclusivity ( Lewis 500 ). Even though Steinbock’s essay is well presented, the arguments contained in her essay are topically only somewhat sound and somewhat valid. First, Steinbock makes her essay strong by transparently stating that adultery contradicts moral principles because it involves promise-breaking and lying. A broken promise by one person to be faithful to another is a basic violation of trust. In the other words, a promise of sexual fidelity is pertaining to sex and romantic love. Breaking this promise is a typical sign of betrayal toward “true love.” Lying is another way which is like promise breaking to create distrust, and lying itself is a sort of wrong-doing. As a result of the betrayal and lies, adultery can simply hurt one’s spouse. Since the moral principles are obeyed and believed by most people in our society, adultery should be banned, unacceptable, and thought to be immoral in most cases. Steinbock argues against adultery through a moral approach which meets the mainstream values of our society and should be considered as a strong part of her essay. In addition, besides talking about the strong part of her essay, the weak parts of her essay should also be reviewed. First, in the “trust…

    • 1686 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American Identity in Relation to Puritan Values
    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The American Identity in Relation to Puritan Values

    Immorality is a part of life for a significant fraction of our nation. Firstly, “Playboy” magazine, which has been around for almost a century, is a magazine that contains revealing pictures of women. The Puritans were very conservative when it came to their bodies; they believed it was private and not to be shown to others. Secondly, in the past twenty years, the television shows broadcasted have become increasingly more risqué. The series True Blood is rife with revealing scenes and graphic language. This series would not have been shown in a Puritan community. Immorality is not a puritan value, but one the U.S. possesses.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Adultery Hurts
    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Adultery Hurts

    No one commits adultery without first being able to justify their behaviour to themselves. The problem with such justifications is they are falsehoods, a way of engaging in bad behaviour without having to think about the consequences of the adultery to self and others.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Committing Adultery
    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Committing Adultery

    A marriage is full of moral ethics that should be followed. Kant would have agreed with me that we have moral duties to ones self and others. A marriage is committing moral thoughts, words, and actions to yourself and your spouse. Kant believed in treating other people the way you wish they would treat you. Never treat other people as if they were merely things. The formula of humanity states that we should treat people as an end and never as a means to an end. In committing adultery, the marriage and the spouse are being used as a means. Marriage should be treated with dignity and not as a thing that can be played with. I hope no one would apply the universal law of categorical imperative to committing adultery. I could not imagine applying the act of committing adultery to how all others should act. If we did apply the universal law to committing adultery then marriage would be worthless. Basically, do not choose a rule for yourself that you wouldn’t want everyone else to obey. Kant believes that the only good thing is a good will. Good will equals good intentions. Committing adultery is not a morally good act and Kant would agree with me.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Adultery In The Scarlet Letter Essay
    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Adultery In The Scarlet Letter Essay

    Adultery is the most common and sensitive subject in today’s society. What is adultery biblically? It’s the breach of a marriage contract, and occurred when a man (married or unmarried) had sexual intercourse with a woman who was either betrothed or married. By definition adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful husband and wife. Hawthorne incorporated infidelity on the perspective behind the idea of sin in The Scarlet Letter.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Marriage and Wonder Delight Adultery
    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Marriage and Wonder Delight Adultery

    Adultery is the act of sexual intimacy between a married person and someone who is not that person’s wife or husband. Adultery is the act of gratification with another that is not your loving spouse. Brady marries Belinda and are a happy couple. Brady travels and meets a woman who he finds attractive. Sleeps with her and yet his wife is home and has no idea. Adultery in the eyes of God is a sin, he just broke a commandment. Yet, people commit the act for a number of reasons. Having voluntary sexual intercourse between a married man and someone other than his wife is the act of adultery. It can be vice versa with the wife committing adultery. It doesn’t always have to be the man who is the one committing the act. It all begins with the simple thought of performing the act. Many reasons are given for why one commits the act. It may be that one doesn’t listen to the other. Brady may feel that he is missing something in his marriage. Belinda may want just that simple hug or words of love spoken. To be caressed and touched with every touch saying, “I Love You.” To have sparks ignite where embers once were just lite pieces of coal. One may perform adultery for the sexual gratification of getting out there what is not given at home. It may be done just to see if they can get away with it. Some people commit adultery for the emotional feeling of what they can’t have at home. You can be a lawyer and millions of dollars and still be one who performs the act. This word brings raised eyebrows and hush tones in a conversation. Yet, what one is lacking in a spouse is found in what is known as a side line fling. Having an affair may result in just wanting that feeling of love for that moment. Having someone who will listen and sympathize with you while explaining what is wrong in the marriage. A woman may look for emotional support and words of love while a man at times want sexual gratification. Having sex with someone may bring an excitement that…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    No Propagation in the Union of Gay Marriage
    • 2081 Words
    • 9 Pages

    No Propagation in the Union of Gay Marriage

    The institution of marriage is threatened for many reasons: :Blindness because of the self-life, fear of a loss of identity /distinctiveness, hidden dimensions of competition, isolationist tendencies and positions, lack of trust, fear of being hurt or used, disobedience, hardness of heart, lack of knowledge or wrong choices. The act of adultery begins in the heart. No constitution bill can curb adulterous behavior. The main threat to marriage is incorrect heart position, not adultery. Two parties should enter into marriage with a corporate agreement to work jointly towards a common goal of pursuing the purpose of God for that marriage. The problem arises when we look at what is beneficial to us and not the union of marriage. We must first understand what it is that we were brought together to achieve. We must know what we are together to do. When we work towards His will instead of our personal satisfaction, greater marital satisfaction is achieved. That is why the things that God has placed in the marriage to enhance it, actually brings pain and destroys it. When the enemy enters a marriage it attacks the weakest area.…

    • 2081 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Monogamous Relationships Essay Example
    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Monogamous Relationships Essay Example

    For the most part, people seek eternal happiness. Some people are content with being single and having multiple sex partners. At the end of the day, this is not the way to pursue life. At an early stage in life, having multiple sex partners may appear as a way to conform to society and to peers. People are gradually losing respect and appreciation for traditional values. The Seventh Commandment states, “Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery”, which leads to the explanation of the consequences that come along with engaging in non-monogamous relationships. The number of Sexually Transmitted Diseases cases in the United States is rapidly increasing. According to recent statistics,“Approximately 65 million people in the U.S. have an incurable Sexual Transmitted Disease and approximately 15 million new Sexually Transmitted Disease cases are reported each year (ASHA).…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics