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Hester Pyrnne and the Puritans

 

            
             Hester Prynne's life was difficult and unique, with many trying events .
             and circumstances that changed her and separated her from the common .
             people. Great rifts eventually formed between her and the community in .
             which she lived. These differences could be put into two categories: the .
             outward distinction, and the inward change. The outward distinction is .
             easy to identify. It is Hester's adultery, and it is signified in the .
             scarlet letter A and her daughter Pearl. The inward change is much more .
             subtle and harder to express. It is the alteration in Hester's mind and .
             soul that could be said to have originated from the day of her public .
             shame. Outwardly she seemed to have repented and reformed, embracing the .
             Puritan theology wholeheartedly, but in her mind and heart she was a .
             different person and had turned away from the Puritans' way of life. Not .
             only had she turned away from the Puritans, but she had turned away .
             from God, too. This was shown in some of the things that she did. .
             To first understand how Hester was separate from the society around .
             her, one must understand the society itself. The Puritan way of life, .
             which was supposed to be unique, was not really all that different from the .
             societies found everywhere in Europe at that time. Probably the most .
             distinctive thing about it was that, though elsewhere this was a big part .
             of society, the Puritan life was based almost entirely upon religion. .
             The Puritan life was almost entirely ruled by laws, being that one of .
             their beliefs was that strict discipline was good for people. "He [the .
             Puritan] thought God had left a rule in His word for discipline, and that .
             aristocratical by elders, not monarchical by bishops, nor democratical .
             by the people."1 These "laws" were from the Bible, and the leaders of .
             the people though just barely not the official government, were the .
             church leaders. The Scarlet Letter states, "a people amongst whom religion .
             and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were .


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