It seems he did respect their beliefs, but thought they handled them inappropriately. "Even the very intensity of their faith, so admirable in a way, made them, he thought, liable to bigotry" (Waggoner 15). In most of his novels and stories, there is a strong display of the Puritan society's reaction to a certain primary character's struggle. Hypocrisy being a major element, Hawthorne also used guilt, confession, and sin as smaller elements to get his feelings across on the Puritans" shortcomings.
Hypocrisy is a major component, if not the major component that Hawthorne used to express his attitude toward Puritan society. He demonstrates in the novel The Scarlet Letter and the short story "Young Goodman Brown" just how hypocritical the citizens of Salem could be toward one another and how their actions completely contradict their beliefs on how they should behave and their religious teachings. Each of these works demonstrated the element in a very effective way.
In The Scarlet Letter, a young woman has committed adultery. She is forced to wear a red letter made of cloth on her clothes, for the rest of her life. Instead of the society sympathizing toward her and forgiving her, they shun her and humiliate her whenever she does choose to go out in public. Her daughter, who was born as a result of the adulterous relationship, is treaded with the same disrespect.
This connection between personal integrity and a responsive social relationship.
is vital given the novel's basic conception of the human subject. Being "true" is.
dependant on being known, and this must involve mutual, benevolent.
acknowledgment - sympathy not just in the sense of the faculty that makes for.
knowledge, but sympathy in a morally positive responsive sense. (Easton 235).
Hester appears to be the one who deserves sympathy in the novel. She was married but has not seen her husband for quite some time because he deserted her.
The article Were the Puritans Puritanical? was a well written piece of writing about puritan life during the 1600's by: Carl N. Degler. Carl N. Degler reveals his opinion on puritan life throughout the article. He says that puritans are not dull, uninteresting, bigoted, and reserved as many people...
A final example of a romantic writer is Nathaniel Hawthorn. Hawthorn was very different from Emerson and Thoreau in the sense that his ideas and beliefs were almost completely opposite of theirs. ... Heidegger's Experiment" Hawthorn explored what would happen if people were able to go back to their youth and make a better life for themselves. ... (Hawthorn 280). ... From that Hawthorn concluded that people are potentially evil and in his story the friends proved to be by making the same mistakes as they had years before even after being warned not to. ...
In Nathaniel Hawthorn's, "The Scarlet Letter," the main characters undergo tribulations that help highlight the major issues of American identity. ... He rejects his sin and is constrained to what the puritanical society believes to be as orthodox. ... Instead, she is the product of individuality due to her growing up in solitude along with her mother, because of this, she is not tainted by the puritanical ways. ...
Such is the case with the youthful Pearl from the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorn. ... Before any type of statement can be made on Pearl's intelligence or sensitivity, it is imperative for one to understand these references are an attempt on Hawthorne's part to display to the reader a fragment of Puritanical Society. ... While she is too young to possibly comprehend Puritanical sin and punishment, Pearl can easily understand that the letter is her mother's chastisement and embarrassment. ...
"Mass Hysteria" Mass hysteria can be defined as a condition in which a large group of people exhibits similar physical or emotional symptoms, usually stemming from fear or anger. In order for it to be called mass hysteria, the symptoms must be completely pervasive throughout the whole society. ...
The Young in "Young Goodman Brown" When reading Hawthorn's "Young Goodman Brown", one can note why his main character was ironically nicknamed young good man Brown. " The story is all three: a dream vision, a conventional allegory, and finally an inquiry into the problem of faith that undermines the assumptions upon which the allegory is based."(Bloom, 115) Although Hawthorn tries to confuse the reader with his dreamy allegories, Brown still emerges with one main flaw. ... The short story was written in Hawthorn's early years, which leads one to wonder about his intent. ... It i...
Hawthorn uses symbolism to convey the loss of innocence and the realization that evil exists all around Goodman Brown. The symbolism in his journey away from Faith, his home, and safety and into evil is obviously illustrated in the setting that Hawthorn chooses. Firstly, Hawthorn sets up the time period as the historically significant Salem Massachusetts of the 1690's. ... Hawthorn then uses the setting to symbolize the psychological processes one may go through when contemplating turning to the dark side. ...
Through the writing of her poetry Bradstreet challenges the ideologies of the Puritanical society by being a female yet writing and publishing her own works. ... Clearly tradition was saying one thing, but Bradstreet was indeed stepping out of the norms that were expected of her and challenging the Puritanical ideals. ... This is evident throughout writings of the Puritanical times. ... Tension arises because Bradstreet was pushing against the framework of Puritanical expectations for women. ... It is clear that Bradstreet was exceeding the boundaries set before her by her Puritanica...
