Understanding Puritanism in reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s books Essay Example

group from the Anglican Church.

The most important things to Hawthorne were; living in peace with everybody and happily. He was convinced that in puritan there existed evil and good. He couldn't understand the theory of God being kind and also vengeful, God being loving and also punishes and therefore he came to a conclusion that where good is then evil must exist. He fought against religious dogmatic beliefs meant to mislead the society and that’s why he wrote of his opinions. It is worth noting, though Hawthorne looked at Puritanism in a critical dimension he never at any point had any religion that he would recommend to anyone.

What is Puritanism? Puritanism is the act of condemning the sins and offenses done by people while overlooking your own sins which could even be more and grievous than for the others. Puritanism is where some people regard others as sinners while they see themselves as clean and without sin. In Puritanism, an individual separates himself from the people and the world full of sin and would not integrate with those he would think are dirty of sin. Bradford in his writings brought out the ideas of Puritanism; he was a pilgrim himself and not a puritan.

Bradford had been influenced though by Puritanism, he found himself in quest for holiness and cleanliness that Puritanism advocated for. Bradford, longed for this kind of life, he therefore, embarked on writing good about the religion and chose not to criticize. The reason towards this was because he saw himself as Abraham when God called him to leave his country and go to a foreign country

and behold God promised to be with him always. Nathaniel Hawthorne's has fully brought to light the theme of Puritanism in both of his short stories: The Minister's Black veil” “Young Goodman Brown”

In his text of “The Minister's Black veil” he clearly brings out some of the beliefs brought out by the puritans such means and ways of rejecting those who do evil around them. Nathaniel uses symbolism to show the people in that town that they should also recognize that they are also sinners. The manner in which they treat Mr. Hooper, because he is the priest yet he comes wearing a black veil that hides his face apart from the mouth and chin, this scenario shows the people's treatment over those who are evil as the black veil signifies sin.

The minister serves as a picture and a good example to the congregation that all has sinned by wearing the black veil. The towns’ people do not want to acknowledge why Mr. Hooper has wore the black veil and this results to alienation from the rest of the people in the congregation, in the streets and also by children. According to the author, people are depicted as being selfish and cruel, they decide to keep for themselves, and gossip the preacher silently instead of sharing with him in order to know why he was behaving the way he was.

Puritans were not supposed to be involved in evil deals such gossiping and spreading evil about others, however the people of this town decided to speak ill of Mr. Hooper. This was a show of the hypocritical nature of that

religion. The people didn't want to swallow the fact that they are also sinners and they are not as righteous as they thought of themselves. Mr. Hooper acknowledged of his sin the more, no wonder he refused to remove it till death, removing it would mean remembering the sins intensely.

In this text, Hawthorne, unveils human beings as really as they are, humans are sinful and full of evil. They pretend they are clean but they are no. Hawthorne says that he say the unclean and evil side of human nature, in taking the image of Mr. Hooper he was proud to wear the veil till death after knowing who he really was. In his other text of “Young Goodman Brown” he explores the theme of Puritanism by using a puritan man, who happens to be taking a journey.

While on that journey he is faced with shock on realizing that all the people he thought they feared God were all devil worshipers. According to Nathaniel this man is the one in wrong, since he decides, to hate all those people and alienates himself out of being shocked and confused. Puritanism as a religion didn't seem to have built a foundation in him, since after this scenario, he declined in faith in God and was never happy again in his life. According to the author, if this man would have embraced forgiveness, he would have probably been able to live a happy life.

Brown is going through a sort of depression, he doesn't know who he will trust anymore, he has lost faith in his neighbors too, this is because when he

had gone at night and met the devil together with the witches as they participated the Sabbath, he was able to see his neighbors, religious clergies and society members too. Brown was also able to see Faith his wife whom he loved and they had just been married. After all these, he had to get confused and disturbed too. Brown had trusted too much; his wife, his religion and his society members.

He was now disoriented in his faith and his emotions too. In the forest he had also seen pastors and great clergy men. This clearly depicting Hawthorne's idea on Puritanism. He was rather discouraged by one of his teachers who once taught him how to be a good puritan, yet he wondered whether she herself had really been a good puritan. Hawthorne has also used colors to show his contempt on the religion of Puritans and bring out the evil that is always present in people's hearts.. He expresses his idea on the pink color and puts forth that pink color is a mixture of white and d red.

He depicts the white ribbon with Faith's cleanliness at heart and red with the overwhelming guilt and wickedness in her heart. In this kind of aspect Hawthorne highlights that in every human being there is an always an evil and good part that is desirable. In conclusion, both of Hawthorne's books have clearly depicted an accurate picture of the theme of Puritanism. It is through Hawthorne's observation that we note that human beings have got an inherent good and bad in them. He also says that everyone is a sinner and no

is better than the other, he encourages the behavior of Mr.

Hooper in “The Minister's Black veil” and wishes that people would stop regarding others as being great in sin than the others. He says that even though human beings do not literally put on the black veil they all have it as indication that there lurks evil in them. The question that many readers of Hawthorne's books would be left asking are probably “Is there someone who can cleanse the evil in people's hearts? Is there a supreme deity, or is there a God with supernatural powers who can change the inhumane nature of human beings? ” Some would say yes while others would have a hard time answering the question. What about you?