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Scarlet Letter

Puritanical Examples in The Scarlet Letter

Change dominates society. So much so, that looking back a mere decade can bring a culture shock to the viewer. Presently, society is moving at an alarming rate away from the morals of yesteryear, and no other culture brings this fact to mind more than that of the Puritans, whose rules were so strict, that even the most conservative churches of today can be viewed as radically liberal in comparison. Few books exhibit this strictness as well as The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Set in the Colonial Period, the peak time of Puritanism, the reader is constantly exposed to the increased recognition of sin, the increased burden of carrying it, and the increased measures taken against it. This obsession with sin in the Puritan culture is the main thing that separates them from present-day religion.
Today, unlike the Puritanical days, not everyone is a devout Christian. The shift from the Colonial society to that of today ...

Posted by: Margaret Rowden

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