On the Social Problems embodied in the Puritan Society of the Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter reflects the social problem that the Puritan society hampered human nature by its moral laws. In the Scarlet Letter， we will always feel the pressure from religious spirit. Faith should bring people freedom， but unfortunately people in that society were submerged in the sorrow for sin and unsettled.

Hypocrisy

The first word which has been performed most incisive in the novel we should mention is Hypocrisy. Chilingworth is a demon， and hypocrisy in him sounds reasonable. It may be. But what other characters perform in this Hawthorne’s masterpiece. Let’s take about the pious priest. From the story， we can infer that Dimmesdale is kind-hearted enough， but did that means he was so sincere？ Obviously it’s not. The priest inhibited himself all the time， it seemed that he was irrespective with hypocritical. But at the last time he preaches， he was standing on the stage and giving a long speech. His self sensation is so good that he forgot the mistake he had suffered so many years and the lover， Hester who is under the stage.

Cruelty

It is hard to infer that the descriptive upper of the unkind people is because of the hatred to Hester or the jealous of Hester’s beautiful temperament. But they really held a cruel attitude. Then there was an speech which was delivered by the old clergyman， Mr. Wilson. During his speech， he tired to strengthen people’s fear of sin. So he just not talked about evil， but the scarlet letter on Hester’s cloth without thinking of her feeling， and just torturing.

Discerning the impractical state of the poor culprit’s mind， the elder clergyman， who had carefully prepared himself for the occasion， addressed to the multitude a discourse on sin， in all its branches， but with continual reference to the ignominious letter... So forcibly did he dwell upon this symbol， for the hour ... （Nathaniel Hawthorne， 2011）

Maybe this time is just a form that should be used in public occasion. But in the following times that Hester was taught during the strolling in the street obviously gives us the conclusion that not only the ordinary ones， but also the kind pastors are cruel enough. The torture which was given by Chilingworth to the poor Dimmesdale is surely crueler. And I don’t know if you have noticed an appearance of puritans’ children. They played terrible games and were taught with brutal content. Sometimes Pearl would see other children play together. And she watched beside.

...disporting themselves in such grim fashion as the Puritanic nurture would permit； playing at going to church， perchance； or at scourging Quakers； or taking scalps in a sham-fight with the Indians； or scaring one another with freaks of imitative witchcraft. （Nathaniel Hawthorne， 2011）

Blindness and ignorance

Another main point of the vices of the Puritanism is blindness in lower class. The ordinary people were used to listening to the authorities without thinking. Sometimes the views which were put forward by upper class is not so reasonable in daily life. But the believers did not refuse to receive. For instance， being thrifty makes sense， but being too thrifty that one’s life was terribly influenced is ignorant. In the passage， we could see that Hester was criticized so severely is because of her luxury clothes in some extent. Their preachers told them to be thrift and to be frugal. they did， and want everyone to do this. But they did not know the ones who did not were their preachers！

Look at another typical case in this book， Hester. After facing lots of misery and torment， Hester stayed the old place still. And our author has already given this a conclusion.

But there is a fatality， a feeling so irresistible and inevitable that it has the force of doom， which almost invariably compels human beings so linger around and haunt， ghost-like， the spot where some great and marked event has given the color to their lifetime； and still the more irresistibly， the darker the tinge that saddens it. （Nathaniel Hawthorne， 2011）

That is when faced special phenomenon in the sky， people would be quite afraid. These natural phenomenons are beautiful scene in today’s world. But in the old days， this would be used by the ruler class to hoodwink its believer to be more pious.

Oftener， however， its credibility rested on the faith of some lonely eye-witness， who beheld the wonder through the colored， magnifying， and distorting medium of his imagination， and shaped it more distinctively in his after-thought...

After these， the devout believers would be more devout. They do what ruler class say without thinking. And this condition consisted， the ordinary ones would be more ignorant and blindness.

Inequality

One belief of the Puritanism doctrines is that people are equal before God no matter you are a civilian or a king. But does this rule come into use？ It is really doubtful. At the time Hester went to the Governor Bellingham’s house. One person opened the door for her， and the one is the servant of Governor Bellingham.

...which answered by one of the Governor’s bond-servant； a free-born Englishman， but now a seven years’ slave. During that term he was to be the property of his master， and as much a commodity of bargain and sale as an ox， or a joint-stool... （Nathaniel Hawthorne， 2011）

A free man in the England became an as cheap as an animal servant. And Puritanism still advocated that everyone is equal. This inequality not only reflected between master and servant， but also existed in male and female. In the 17th century， woman had a lower social state than man. And in the 19th century when Hawthorne lived in， woman started to struggle for their rights. And this was also expressed in the book.

Bibliography：

[1]Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter [M]. Nanjing： Yilin press， 2011.

[2]Fiedler Leslie. A love and death in the American novel[M]. New York： Dell publishing， Co. 1960.

[3]奧爾森.基督教神學思想史[M].吳瑞誠，徐成德譯，北京：北京大學出版社，2003.