Hawthorne

Hawthorne’s Picture of Puritanism The Puritans were a group of people who came over from England to the “new world” for religious freedom. They believed that the Anglican Church of was not strict enough. They first attempted religious freedom in Holland, but they were not happy there. They were not happy in Holland, so they saved their money and came to America. Puritans believed that the purpose of life was to get to heaven. …

…and for doing so, he is sinning. Hawthorne gives a very accurate picture of Puritanism. I feel his greatest depiction is in “The Ministers Black Veil” rather than “Young Goodman Brown”. But we do see a great Puritan influence in both of his writings. In both cases though, it reminds us that we are so ready to try and be sinless, but we are just really ignoring the sin we have by covering it up.