The Scarlet Letter
Some historians say the Puritans were the masters of torture, other historians say they were crazy peasants with no sense of logic or morality, but most historians say they were pure evil. The Puritans were a small society of people whose beliefs branch from the Catholic faith. They were given the name in the 16th century from the Church of England because they were considered to be a more extreme form of the Protestants. Their thirst for eliminating any trace of Catholic influence made them harsh on punishment and strict with laws. They often imprisoned people for crimes that the Puritan beliefs saw to be defying God's law. They based the way they lived strictly from the bible. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the book, The Scarlet Letter, and in it he mentions some forms of punishment practiced by the Puritans. The three most deadly and common punishments were: the stocks, the pillory, and the scarlet letter.The stocks are one of the earliest forms of punishment to be popularized by the British. In Puritan society the prison was often built first,
"Come along, Madame Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the market-place!"(Hawthorne, Page 40)The scarlet letter was newly acquired form of punishment used when someone was convicted of adultery. In the book Hester Prynne was convicted of adultery and sentenced to wear the scarlet letter. The stocks often came in pairs so two that people could be punished at the same time, while the others laugh and threw fruit or vegetables at them. As humans we are flawed and when we break a law the punishments cause enormous amounts shame and pain for the people convicted, guilty or innocent. The courts would often send them out into the public with the scarlet letter to be humiliated and looked down upon by the rest of the town. Along with the punishment offenders were often beaten, while the town folk watched. After 1637 it became the recognized as a form of formal punishment. They used the stocks to punish petty thieves, unruly servants, vagrants, Sabbath-breakers, revilers, gamblers, drunkards, ballad-singers, Quakers,fortune-tellers, and traveling musicians. They caused a series of deaths and injuries to people. It was also made so that every village had them and in some Puritan villages they were movable and often kept on the front steps of the church. The Puritans used it to make the criminal feel ashamed of what they had done and would be sent to the local prison until the courts decided what to do with them. In my opinion the Puritans were over reacting to things that could happen to anyone. In the book, Hester Prynne was sent to show her scarlet letter in the market place and made to stand on the pillory for all to see. It was an ancient form of punishment used as early as the 13th century.
Common topics in this essay:
British Puritan,
AHawthorne Page,
Madame Hester,
Hester Prynne,
Church England,
,
Scarlet Letter,
scarlet letter,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
convicted adultery,
hester prynne,
book hester,
form punishment,
forms punishment,
book hester prynne,
puritan beliefs,
|
Acceptance Essays
