Puritans in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay

Nathaniel Hawthorne opens his most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter, in the midst of the action. The novel begins with a crowd of Puritan Bostonians waiting anxiously outside the town jailhouse, hoping to see convicts, sinners, and their overall hated fellow citizens be publicly punished and shamed. This is a classic example in medias res, which translates from Latin to mean â€Å"in the middle of things,† according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The concept of introducing a plot while it is occurring and letting the reader infer about the past through context clues and flashbacks developed during the popular phase of epic poetry in ninth century B.C. as seen in Homer’s Odyssey, according to Murray. In medias res is a technique that helps create a†¦show more content†¦This is how the reader is officially introduced to our protagonist, a woman who shows no shame and even took â€Å" the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a gla nce that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbours† according to Hawthorne. She embodies fearlessness, but what the reader does not yet know is what unfolded in order to put this bold protagonist in this situation. Hawthorne includes examples of Prynne’s fortitude to foreshadow how successful she found herself even when raising her daughter as a single mother. According to Bloom, Hester Prynne was born in England to a family struggling with financial decay. Though Hester describes her parents as honorable in chapter five, her family had trouble affording the cost of living. In the mid-seventeenth century, the time period Hawhthrone features in The Scarlet Letter, England fought in the English Civil War. According to Professor Barry Coward, England â€Å"was subjected to pressures by the Civil War that could easily have rent apart its social, economic and political order, in the process shattering its internal stability,† meaning that m ost of the country suffered through turmoil. With her family experiencing stress on how to pay for necessities, this must have been the point in time where Hester learned to sew. In the chapter Hester at Her Needle, she supports herself and her infant through sewing and embroidery,Show MoreRelatedPuritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1127 Words   |  5 PagesIn the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne harshly criticizes Puritan society. From hypocrisy to forgiveness, Hawthorne uses hidden messages and motifs to express his criticism of society and to spread his messages. 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