Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston. Relationships between men and women were very constrained and that is what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. Religion seemed to govern over all, people would look up to reverends and the community believed that fate was their destiny. Public discipline and punishment …

…not accept sin of any kind and the punishment for adultery was death. Instead, the community branded Hester Prynne with the letter "A" for the rest of her life and made her stand in front of the whole community as an example for everyone that sin and corruption was not accepted in their society. Bibliography The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Penguin Putnam Inc. NY, NY, 1999. The Americans, Danzer, Gerald A. McDougal Littell Company. Dallas, Texas, 1999.