The Puritan Justice System

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is written based on the Puritanic lifestyles in the 1640's and depicts the consequences of two people who had committed adultery in that time period. However, Hawthorne was writing two or three generations after this era of Puritanism; this means that there could easily be historical errors in the portrayal of the justice system and modes of punishment. Hawthorne's family background helps readers to understand how he is familiar with this time period; his forefathers were magistrate judges known for issuing harsh punishments for minor infractions. It is also helpful to investigate the characteristics of the Puritans' justice system and their modes of punishment through historical records and examples.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's background may say that he has the basis for the knowledge of the Puritan justice system; however, by looking at the Puritan justice system and their modes of punishment, researching examples of similar real-life incidents, and analyzing the content of The Scarlet Letter, it could be argued that Hawthorne did not accurately portray the full extent of what happened during this era of
But what crimes would people commonly be accused of? And what punishments were given if proven guilty? Adultery was a major crime in the Puritan colonies, but the majority of people would be accused of minor crimes such as sluggishness, wearing ornate clothing, singing in public, or anything that involved being joyful or expressing happiness. These crimes and many others would be punishable with at least public whippings, if not worse. In “Understanding The Scarlet Letter” Claudia Johnson states “the novel Hawthorne writes shows a gloomy community in which exercising those faculties – just being human – is a crime” (Johnson 69). The punishments for these crimes could be just as extreme as the crimes themselves; public beatings, physical mutilations, and branding were three of the more common punishments. “In extreme cases, victims (both male and female) would be stripped to the waist, dragged through the streets behind a cart, and whipped” (Johnson 71). This shows that the punishments in the Puritan times were more than what Hawthorne used in his story The Scarlet Letter. The investigation of the Puritan justice system, punishable crimes, and modes of punishment in Puritanism is necessary to get a viewpoint on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. To analyze if he accurately portrays Puritanism, knowledge on Puritanism is crucial. Hester Prynne's sentence can be examined on the basis