Puritanism in the scarlet letter
Puritanism was the religion practiced by the people of colonial Boston, the setting for Hawthorne's 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 coloni
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, which led to religious persecution of those other than Puritans. Hawthorne also implies that Puritanism was an evil concept that mistakenly combined religion and law in its society, which eventually led to its failure. From the time Dimmesdale hides his sin of the "scarlet letter" on his chest, it develops and its affects are not stopped until he confesses his sin. Through this imagery that parallels Dimmesdale to Jesus Christ we can see that Dimmesdale represents a Christ figure for the Puritan society, and Hawthorne uses this to criticize the society. Jesus did not also just die, but was brutally murdered and suffered indescribable pain. Dimmesdale is described with much potential; "His eloquence and religious fervor had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession. Through the symbols of hypocrisy, Christ, and the "scarlet letter" we can see that Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale as a symbolic character of Puritan society. The character of Dimmesdale represents the rise and fall of Puritan society, through the imagery of the "scarlet letter" on his chest. Similarly, Dimmesdale cannot truly live until he confesses his sin, but when he finally confesses he dies. Dimmesdale's death symbolically marks the beginning of American History and the end of "colonial history", just as Christ's death marked the beginning of the Christian church. Dimmesdale speaks out against adultery and commits it, the Puritans demand religious tolerance, but do not give it. Also, Dimmesdale mirrored Jesus Christ in His teaching that to save your life you must lose it. Dimmesdale goes from having, "his hand upon his heart," to being, "burdened with the black secret of his soul.
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