Major Themes Miss Melear

LawIdentityPuritanism

 Law  There was no separation between the law and religion.  Bible scriptures were cited as authority during criminal statues.  The men in a community made all decisions when it came to the law.  Those who defied the Puritan way of living often received capital punishment.

 Identity Men were considered the patriarch of the family and governed over their wives and children. Whatever inheritance or possessions a women had, became her husbands once she married. Women were not allowed to be teachers, lawyers or doctors, but could work as a seamstress, shoemaker, or embroider. Women mainly worked as housewives, taking care of their husbands and kids. Women were discouraged to express political views that were opposite of their husbands. Women were often judged by their interactions with men.

 Puritanism Puritans were a group of English Protestants that fled to America to escape religious persecution in the 16 th and 17 th century. The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in a town they called Boston. The Puritans were followers of John Calvin. Calvin taught God was all powerful and sovereign. Human beings were depraved sinners and only few were chosen by God and the rest of humanity was condemned to eternal damnation. Puritans lived in a constant state of religious anxiety, constantly searching for God’s favor or anger.

 Law  Chapter 5: “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint- like, because the result of martyrdom” Because of Hester’s adultery, she is forced to wear a red “A” on her at all times.

 Law  Chapter 3: “From the intense consciousness of being the object of severe and universal observation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning on the outskirts of the crowd a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts.” Hester is forced to stand on a scaffold in front of the town, show others what will happen if they break the same law.

 Identity  Chapter 5 “Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion.” Hester is punished for what she has done and becomes an example for the rest of the women in the community, while Dimmesdale continues to stand out of the spotlight.

 Identity  Chapter 3: "Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!” Hester cannot keep her sin a secret unlike her lover can. She has the evidence of Pearl, while Dimmesdale gets to live in silence.

 Puritanism  Chapter 7: “But the proprietor appeared already to have relinquished as hopeless the effort to perpetuate on this side of the Atlantic, in a hard soil and amid the close struggle for subsistence, the native English taste for ornamental gardening.” Here we see the changes the Puritans faced when they came to America.  Chapter 8: “Better to fast and pray upon it; and still better, it may be, to leave the mystery as we find it, unless Providence reveal it of its own accord.” The father of Pearl is a mystery, but as Mr. Wilson explains, it can remain a mystery because God knows the truth.

LawIdentityPuritanism Going against God’s law – Hester’s punished because of her adultery and became an example for other women. Men had more say and freedom in the society – Hester was forced to wear the scarlet letter while Dimmesdale remained silent God is sovereign and all knowing – Society didn’t worry about who the father was because in the end God knew.