“The principal action of The Scarlet Letter occurs in the Boston of 1640’s, a somber, gray, violently moral community founded as a kind of Puritan utopia.” In this book the Puritan lifestyle is clearly misrepresented. Hawthorne’s words clearly express his distaste for the Puritan culture and lifestyle, which he shows through his depiction of the townspeople’s hypocrisy, and also through his representation of the priests and the governor’s greed.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is born with a biased against this culture; this is because of his ancestral lineage to one of the leading participants in the Salem Witch Trials. It was because of this lineage that Hawthorne likely changed his name. His family name at his birth was Nathaniel Hathorne (which was not spelled with a “W”), though after Hawthorne had done some extensive research on the Salem Witch Trials and the Puritan culture, he became disgusted with their entire way of life and thence added a “W” to his family name which he carried until his death. Though this change was not apparent in the reading, it cle

Clearly representing the Puritans in a positive light was not a very prominent thought in Hawthorne’s mind when he was writing The Scarlet Letter. He clearly shows his distaste for it in and out of the novel. Out of the novel, he shows this by changing his family name in order to dissociate himself with his ancestors who were involved in the Salem Witch Trials. In the text Hawthorne also states many literal facts about the Puritans “wrong” way of life. Starting at the very beginning of the novel when he clearly portrayed the townswomen’s and the many other town members hypocrisy which is shown throughout the book. He also shows this through the statements of the priests and governor about living a simple lifestyle when in real life these people live extravagant lives. Clearly Hawthorne has a severe dislike for the Puritan culture and it really shows in his writing.

Another negative aspect of Puritan life that Hawthorne brings up in the text is one which takes place in the church, the place most holy and revered in their time. This topic is one of the priests’ and the governor’s contradictions between wha

Some topics in this essay:
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