The Scarlet Letter Essay...

            
             Sin lives within us all. Some of us, either by choice or by a forced hand, carry our sins for all to see. Others keep their secrets deep within the darkest, most secretive recesses of their very being. Then there are still yet others amongst us, perhaps the worst of our kind, who hide their sins until they begin to fester inside of them and spill out as hatred, jealousy, and self-righteousness. Typically these things are aimed at those who have nowhere to hide. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, he attempts to show us not only the ugly underbelly of human nature, but also challenges the Puritan religion and it's small-minded way of thinking, at times almost sounding mocking. He does this by pointing out ironies such as the fact that while the Puritans considered themselves pure (hence the name) and strived for Utopia, the first things they always built in their settlements were prisons and cemeteries. They never would have admitted it, but even they could not ignore human nature. It is human to die, and it is human to fail. In the tale that Hawthorne created to show us the truth, some chose to rot with their secret shames, and others chose to look them in the eye and own their mistakes.
             The Europeans came to this country beginning in the 1500's to escape religious persecution. By the 1600's the Puritans were already widely known throughout the church and their country as a group of pushy, overbearing group of religious fanatics. They decided that the church was not suited to their ultra-pure and sometimes hypocritical way of life. They continued to push and criticize the Church of England until they were eventually labeled "separatists", and forced to leave the church. Eventually, they migrated to Holland which was known at the time for their generally accepting attitude towards most religions. However, even in this open and a...

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The Scarlet Letter Essay.... (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 12:30, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/11801.html