Preview

Puritan Society in Hester's Life

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
629 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Puritan Society in Hester's Life
The Godly beliefs and punishments followed by the Puritans stemmed from their English experience and complete involvement in religion. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. Hester's act of adultery was welcomed with rage and was qualified for serious punishment. Boston became more involved in Hester's life after her crime was announced than it had ever been before—the religious based, justice system formally punished her and society collectively tortured her. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the society, Hester's entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception thereof; this association breaks way to society significantly becoming involved in her life.
<br>
<br>The importance of a social framework for the new society, where the Church would be all encompassing, developed from the teachings of such religious reformers as John Wycliffe and John Calvin. The Church would be directly involved in the running of the community and its regime. Enforcing such laws established by scripture read from the Bible, the government disciplined Hester for her committed sin. The Puritans considered the Bible as the "true law of God that provided guidelines for church and government". They wished to shape the Church of England to meet their ideals, emphasizing Bible reading, prayer, and preaching in worship services. They simplified the ritual of the sacraments and also wanted more personal and fewer prescribed prayers. The Puritans stressed grace, devotion, prayer, and self-examination to achieve religious virtue while including a basic knowledge of unacceptable actions of the time.
<br>
<br>Obtaining virtue was expected to secure order and peace within the Puritan community. The Church officials, who played a direct role in the government, calculated the penalties for various sins. When sins arose, the government took the role as chief executive of corrective

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Salem Witch Trials

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages

    They believed that the Holy Bible was the law, wanting to purify culture. Arbella Conventant in 1630 once stated in a sermon speaking to the puritan society, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people upon us. “…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Members of the clergy, and the towns people, see Hester as a criminal and source of scandal, a scandal that affects not only her personally, but the community as a whole. In this Puritan culture, marriage is viewed as one of the foundations of social order, and a crime that violates the bonds of marriage threatens order itself. The demand for punishment of Hester's crimes is evident in the words of some of the female spectators, who feel she has not suffered enough, that the civil authorities "should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead" (p. 162). The female spectators were very cruel when it came to Hester, even though she had only sinned once they thought it was not enough to just let her…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Unhappy with the Church of England, the Puritans traveled all the way to the New World to create a society based solely on their religion. Their goals in this endeavor were to establish settlements in which they were governed by Puritanical religious scriptures and in which no other religion was practiced. As opposed to having laws and a proper Constitution as the United States now has, their law was to be strictly based upon the guidance of God. In their eyes, this would provide a safe place to practice their religion exactly as they wished and it would allow them to integrate their spirituality into the very backbone of the society. Though this seemed like the perfect type of society, it was flawed in several ways. The Puritans’ plan of…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    John Winthrop, the man who set this goal for the Puritans, used God as a way to form a close-knit society. Winthrop felt that closeness in a community was very important in order to work closely together. (Doc A) Since God was so influential in this situation, then it must have been important for Him to be a bigger part of their society: their government. This led to the development of a theocracy. The “closeness” that Winthrop spoke of was very true in the theocratic government, because ministers were protected, and the church members worked closely with each other. Together, they placed harsh requirements upon the people of Puritan New England. They had to attend church services, pay taxes to support the church, and were therefore bound to the church not just through religion, but also through the government. Their loyalty was also expected by the church. The people could in no form offend the church, they promised to study the gospels, spread their knowledge of Him to their children, and most importantly, acknowledged His power: “…and all this not by any strength of our own, but by the Lord Christ” (Doc C). Because it was assumed that any material success by the people…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Puritanism was found by English Protestant leaders with the purpose of providing original unification of spiritual life, church and social life. Due to the fact that puritans in Britain were prohibited to attend the church, they had to move to New England and maintain their power over the continent. After establishment of their colony, the local authorities began to implement laws regulating human behavior in terms of drunkenness, swearing and gambling. This way, they hoped that the colony would build a new and reliable role model. In view of many scholars, although Puritan ambition to create the ideal model of society, based upon the establishment of a covenant with God, was initially rather promising, they did not firmly follow what they…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    New England Colonies Dbq

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Puritans of the New England colonies influenced the development of political, economical, and social areas throughout the 1630’s-1670 with their ideas and values. They had emigrated from Britain in order to express their beliefs and practices freely. Religion was the foundation of the political, economical, and social developments of the Puritans. From government to living conditions to religious acts, the Puritans were trying to purify the Church of England in their own ways. Some things worked and others did not, but religion still stood at each of the peaks of the list.…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They Puritans goal in instituting their religion was to purify Christianity. It is unlikely that they realized just how influential they would be on New England culture in the years to come. Though many Americans might not enjoy this fact, the social and religious ideas that the Puritans held were essential in the shaping of New England colonies. The ways in which the Puritans socially, economically, and politically applied their religion into daily life greatly changed all the people of New England, for better or for worse. This is proven in how people reacted to their strict rules, the Puritan relations with the Native Americans, and in general their church centered society.…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Should it be religion, society, or the individual? All three punished Hester Prynne. Religion punished her with the scarlet letter, society ostracized her for what she had done, and individually, though she was able to move on in life, she still had to face her haunting pas. It proves that ultimately a person hurts himself more then anyone else can hurt him. Hester could have lived anywhere else; her life might have been different, but she was beaten down from all sides. Did anyone really have the authority to judge her in the way they did? In the Bible it is written, "The wages of sin is death," and that is true. However, perhaps the Puritans forgot how that verse ends: "but the gift of God is eternal life…" (Romans 6:23) Forgiveness is a major part of religion. Only God can judge. It seems that the townspeople were trying to play God in this story. Perhaps all Boston needed was a few Bible study…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    But the court quickly disagreed with stating the Puritans theory of criminology “we see no rule of God for this, we see not that any should have authority to set up any other exercises besides what the authority hath already set up and so what hurt comes of this you will be guilty of and we for suffering you.” (Page 60) The church was making it very clear that they govern and they would do whatever it took to keep the people in order. They believed that “the bible could serve as a competent instrument of law, that sainthood could provide a feasible basis for citizenship and that the ministers…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Puritans believed that God had created a special, rare bond with them. God wanted them to live their life according to the Bible, and to try to be good people, The attempted to reform the Anglican church, to no success. In order to be a part of the church, there had to be some sort of proof…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Like most things, the Puritan’s politics were based mainly on the word of God and the Bible. Puritans believed they should live by what the Bible said. The majority of the laws were things that went against sinning. Other than that Puritans contributed to our local government today. Puritans had a genuine basis for their distrust of arbitrary power in addition to their experience of arbitrary government. This meant that in England they had no set laws. When they…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Did you know that the Puritans believed that human nature was completely ludicrous and that following the ways of God could save their people from the devil? Well the Puritans lived a strict way of life, in which they followed the ways the bible teaches. However, The Puritans should not have the ability to humiliate and harshly punish those who have sinned. Puritans felt that when one had strayed away from doing God`s work, that they had to take action in harshly punishing and often humiliating the sinner in front of townspeople.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    exam 1

    • 1959 Words
    • 15 Pages

    The Puritans initially believed that the best way to reform the Church of England was to…

    • 1959 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Puritan Culture

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    From a religious point of view, Puritans left a significant mark in the establishing of the American colonies by becoming the most vibrant Christian civilization. Puritans had a very difficult role in the new society; not only Puritans acted as the first representatives, but also established a series of basic political traditions for the benefit of the community in the colonies. The Puritan culture was spread throughout New England, creating the foundations of a national patriotism. Puritans established political communities in New England under the idea or vision of a Christian devotion. They were hard worshipper and God was their ultimate guidance because they trusted his divine mission. They felt that they were people ‘chosen’ by God, but…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a result of this letter, the town’s people look down on her, and think of her as a wretched, and arrogant woman. The people believe that the magistrates were too merciful on her, and think that, a woman as wicked and scandalous as her should suffer a more severe punishment than the one enforced on her. The gossiping women of the town claim that Hester has brought shame upon them all, and ought to die. Hester is constantly under the negative view of the public eye. When she emerges from the prison, Hester “repelled [the beadle], by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character,” and even standing before the entire town carries “yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed” (Hawthorne 80). According to Puritan society, her sin and the product of it (Pearl) are objects of shame that must result in humility: “Behold, verify, there is the woman of the scarlet letter, and of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!” (Hawthorne 53). Even though Hester personally believes that she did nothing wrong, she has the civility and the courage to accept her punishment with her head held high. She arrives in splendor and grandeur, shocking the spectators with her self-assurance and boldness. Such an introduction to her hints that she has no intention of obeying the…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays