Historical Context The Scarlet Letter takes place in Puritan Massachusetts. The Puritans were a group of religious reformers who arrived in Massachusetts, after coming from England, in the 1630s under the leadership of John Winthrop. This religious group was very old school and radical viewing the bible as the ultimate authority (which was why they left England, they disapproved of the Catholics and the Church of England). In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the repressive Puritan society to represent all of society. As a romantic this makes sense because it would be very easy to use an already repressive society seem an evil example of all societies, which the romantics don’t like. The Puritan setting also allows him to represent the human person under extreme-pressures. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, while undoubtedly part of the Puritan society, also reflect different experiences. Hawthorn wrote primarily of the American experience, but as previously hinted at, was written so it could be applied to all oppressive societies (which a typical romantic would believe to be any society).
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Historical Context
The Scarlet Letter takes place in Puritan Massachusetts. The Puritans were a group of religious reformers who arrived in Massachusetts, after coming from England, in the 1630s under the leadership of John Winthrop. This religious group was very old school and radical viewing the bible as the ultimate authority (which was why they left England, they disapproved of the Catholics and the Church of England). In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the repressive Puritan society to represent all of society. As a romantic this makes sense because it would be very easy to use an already repressive society seem an evil example of all societies, which the romantics don’t like. The Puritan setting also allows him to represent the human person under extreme-pressures. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, while undoubtedly part of the Puritan society, also reflect different experiences. Hawthorn wrote primarily of the American experience, but as previously hinted at, was written so it could be applied to all oppressive societies (which a typical romantic would believe to be any society).
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