The Puritans

Overview 16th Century More extreme Protestants within the church of England Wanted to “purify” their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence 17th Century Emigrated to the new world Founded a holy commonwealth Remained dominant in New England into the 19th century

4 Convictions Direct personal religious experience Sincere moral code Personal salvation was entirely from God The Bible provided the indispensible guide to life Church should reflect the express teaching of scripture Society was one unified whole Encouraged: Direct personal religious experience Sincere moral code Simple worship services Christianity should be taken as the focus of human existence

American Puritanism 17th Century Puritan groups separated from the church (among these were the Pilgrims who in 1620 founded Plymouth Colony) 10 years later= first large Puritan migration Richard Mather and John Cotton- Massachusetts Bay Mainstream Calvanistic thought: Stressed personal religious experiences as “God’s elect”

Strict and Rigid Puritan Code

Basic Tenets of Puritan Beliefs Grace is a gift from a kind and loving God—BUT God “saves” only those he wishes Human beings are not worthy of receiving God’s salvation because of our depraved (immoral, wicked) natures Repentance, like personal salvation, depended solely on the Grace of God Limited atonement: only a select few will receive salvation Expected to work hard and repress emotions No tolerance for individual difference All sins should be punished Followers of Satan were witches (social outcasts)

Salem Witch Trials

Facts on Salem Trials Over 150 people (78% women) were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. 19 people were hanged (14 women and 5 men), and one man was pressed to death because he would not say whether he was guilty or innocent. Nobody was burned at Salem, but they did burn “witches” in Europe. Evidence used against suspected witches to prove they were on the devil’s side: accused of harming animals, making people sick, pinching people as they slept, unladylike behavior (yelling at their husbands in public).

Nathaniel Hawthorn 1804-1864 Hawthorn’s great-great Grandfather was among the judges of Salem Witch Trials Hawthorn was not a Puritan (they were mostly gone by his time)!!! He looked with distaste upon “the whole dismal severity of the Puritan code of law”. Transcendental reformer He calls his stories “allegories of the heart”

American Romanticism The first full-fledged literary movement that developed in the United States It was made up of a group of authors who wrote and published between about 1820 and 1860, when the U.S. was still finding its feet as a new nation Definitely and defiantly American—authors struggled to figure out what “American” could possibly mean, distinguish themselves from Britain Romantic authors included Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Whitman

Characteristics of Romanticism Values feeling and intuition over reason Values imagination over reality Civilization is bad. Nature is good. Individual freedom is important Nature is the way to find God. Progress is bad and usually leads to depravity.

Dark Romanticism A sub-genre of Romanticism Notably less optimistic about mankind, nature, and divinity In particular, sees nature as a more sinister force Dark Romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self destruction, not as inherently possessing divinity and wisdom. The natural world is dark, decaying, and mysterious; when it does reveal truth to man, its revelations are evil and hellish. Dark Romanticism frequently show individuals failing in their attempts to make changes for the better.

“Young Goodman Brown” We’ll start our unit studying four short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne While you read “Young Goodman Brown,” you will track some of the important symbols and motifs Bring your completed symbolism charts to class on Wednesday as a way to discuss the story together HW: Read “YGB” and complete symbolism tracking worksheet