Puritanism in the scarlet letter essays

Puritanism in the scarlet letter essays Puritanism was the religion practiced by the people of colonial Boston, the setting for Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, utilizes imagery to convey that Arthur Dimmesdale, a Puritan minister of the town, does indeed represent the Puritan society and not only the round character that can be viewed on the surface level. This is seen through the imagery and symbolism of hypocrisy, Dimmesdale as a Christ leader, and the scarlet letter. Hawthorne parallels the hypocrisy of Dimmesdale to that of Puritan society. Hawthorne describes Dimmesdale as, "a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners," even though Dimmesdale is seen as the most holy man in the Puritan community. Puritan society was supposed to be a utopian society and do away with their English traditions, but instead was very strict and highly religious. Similarly, as Dimmesdale was supposed to be holy, yet they both were hypocritical. Dimmesdale also portrays the hypocrisy of Puritan society by not initially taking his place on the scaffold, "Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you... and we will stand all three together." While Dimmesdale hid his sin at the first scaffold scene, so did the Puritans when they colonized America. The Puritans faults were not initially that obvious, but as time grew on they appeared on their own scaffold just as Dimmesdale does. Hawthorne writes about one of Dimmesdale's sermons that are, "address ed to the multitude a discourse on sin, in all its branches." In Dimmesdale's sermons, he speaks out against sin while at the same time he commits his own sins of adultery and deceit, just as the Puritans committed sins. Dimmesdale's character models Puritan society in the way they treat religious persecution. The Puritans left England to flee from religious intolerance, but when they settled in the colonies, they had no religious tolerance for people with different religious beliefs...