So, I have an essay due tomorrow (I know, I know, bad idea to wait til now) on the Puritan society being hypoctitical. I have it mostly written but I am in desperate need of some more book quotes to support what I have already said. If anyone could suggest some passages I would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!
The Scarlet Letter provides many examples of Puritanical hypocrisy. The people of Boston treat Hester Prynne as a leper, forgetting Christian ideals of compassion and forgiveness. The leaders of the community also contradict Puritan ideals in their dailiy lives in the manner in which they dress, their work ethic, and their hesitation to do good for others.
The setting of The Scarlet Letter is Boston during the mid 17th century. During that time Boston was a town built on Puritan beliefs that ruled the moral and political aspects of the people who lived there. The Church had all authority, the leaders of the Church were for the most part as powerful as our modern day elected officials. If you broke church law, you were ostracized from the community, exiled if you will, and not welcomed back.
Hawthorne presents Puritan society as hypocritical, and he vividly describes their inhumanity and intolerance, especially for sinners. Hester has broken one of the Ten Commandments, and she's being publicly humiliated in front of the entire town. The scaffold where she's placed symbolizes judgment.
The Scarlet Letter
