Puritans In The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Puritans in Literature The Puritans, a very religious group of people, thrived in the northern British colonies in the 17th century. Religion governed the way these people lived at the time. “[…] The Puritans were concerned, perhaps even obsessed, with establishing a system wherein religion would flourish and their values and beliefs would penetrate every aspect of life, both sacred and secular” (Friedman). Famous for their incorporation of religion in laws and the famous witch trials which they held, the Puritans found their way into literature. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the Puritans play a significant role as most of the characters in both pieces of literature are Puritans themselves. The Puritans believed in the ideas of sin, defined as “An immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law” (Oxford 773), redemption, defined as “The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil” (Oxford 700), and justice, defined as “Just behavior or treatment” (Oxford 452). Within the Puritan societies set in The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, the characters also believed in and acted upon these ideas, to a certain extent. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne constructs a Puritan society
Being as religious as they were, it was important not to sin, and seek redemption if one did as well as face the consequences. Both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller exposed the injustices within the Puritan society. In The Scarlet Letter, justice seemed to have been served, but justice could not possibly have been served correctly by people who continuously sinned themselves, as they instead hurt people such as Hester with ridicule and shunning when they should be helping her to seek redemption. The Crucible is a prime example of injustice and how Puritan beliefs and fears could be used to hurt innocent