Puritan Hypocrisy Exposed in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter E

Puritan Hypocrisy Exposed in The Scarlet Letter Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne repeatedly portrays the straightlaced views of take advantage and evil. The Puritans are constantly displayed as believing that evil comes from an unyielding fond regard being formed between love and hate. For such reasons they looked towards Hesters commitment of criminal conversation as an action of pure, condemned evil. However, through with(predicate) the use of light and depressed imagery, Hawthorne displays who genuinely holds evil in their hearts. The one who is the embodiment of evil creates hypocrisy of Puritanical views towards sin and evil. Hawthorne displays that those who expose sin to the public and the daylight are the more or less pure and those who conceal their sin under a dark bottom are designate to be defeated. Through his use of light and dark imagery and the contrast of his beliefs versus the beliefs of the Puritans, Hawthorne exposes the hypocritical beliefs of the Puritans by portraying Dimmesdale as destined for demise for privacy his sin, and ironically Hester the most pure for admitting her sin. The first explanation of Dimmesdale that Hawthorne presents to the reader is of Dimmesdale hiding his sin. One Puritan says, speaking of Hesters sin, Reverend achieve Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a shite have come upon his congregation (38). Immediately, Dimmesdale is shown to the readers as not only concealing his sin, but also being hypocritical in his condemnation of a sin that he himself has also committed. On the very same page, Hawthorne speaks of the puritanical severity of the Puritanic code of law (38). From the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses dismal, a dark and evil ... ... thing that frees one of evil and shame is telling his sin. Hawthorne foreshadows the death and demise of Dimmesdale from the beginning of the book by keeping him flatten in a dark shadow with an aching heart. Hester was continuously condemned for her sin, although it was revealed through the light constantly burning upon her chest. This illustrates the hypocrisy of the Puritan beliefs towards sin, for it was he who concealed his sin that was destined to be defeated by his ignominy, and she who was explicitly condemned that prospers and grows and is satisfactory to live a full, didactic life. Sources Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York Penguin Putnam Inc., 1980. Bradford, William. The Errand of the Early Puritans. sort handout. show 2002. Winthrop, John. Life in Puritan New England. Class handout. March 2002.