Transcript The Crucible

The Scarlet Letter
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritanism
Important Facts about the Puritans
 Puritans were group of Protestants who fled
England in the early 1600s to seek freedom
from religious persecution. (Pilgrims).
 Puritan churches are stark and simple – white
walls, hard wood benches – no adornment.
 Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay
Colony in 1628, and hoped to purify the
church.
Basic Puritan Beliefs
Puritan Work Ethic
 Hard work brings success
 This is where we get our idea of the
American Dream.
Basic Puritan Beliefs
Reverence for Education
Harvard University, August 2008
– Mandatory school
attendance.
– Puritans believed
knowledge was the
best weapon
against Satan
– Puritans
established Harvard
University in 1636
Basic Puritan Beliefs
Supremacy of the Divine Will
 All natural phenomena are explained
as being the will of God
 All unnatural occurrences are
attributed to witches, who are
believed to be agents of the Devil
Basic Puritan Beliefs
Sins and the Puritans
 Every man is constantly tempted by the
Devil towards some sin
 Part of church belief was that once a man
sinned, he must:
1) Openly/publicly confess his sin;
2) repent, and
3) perform some act of penance
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Without open confession, a person had no chance of ever
being saved (remember for Scarlet Letter)
Basic Puritan Beliefs
Function of the Devil
 Main purpose – to tempt men to sin and disobey
the commandments of God so he could destroy
God’s kingdom.
 The Devil could take on any shape on earth and
deceive even the best of men.
– This is where we get the superstition about black cats
 Man must therefore take every possible precaution
against something so deceptive as the Devil
 Also believed that the Devil held his strongest
foothold in the New World because of the large
regions of forests and the huge numbers of
barbarous “savages” existing in America
Basic Puritan Beliefs
Theocratic Government
 The government is controlled by and
made up of ministers and church
members
 Church and the civil government are
the same
 No separation of church and state
Salem Witch Trials of 1692
 At its worst, Puritanism was bigoted, cruel,
intolerant, and superstitious
 Most notorious example found in Salem witch trials
 19 people hung, one pressed to death, and
hundreds brought to trial
 severe punishments inflicted for minor infractions
of Puritan rules
 servant woman was banished from colony for
smiling in church
 man who swore stood for hours holding his tongue
on a forked stick
 Puritans were sadistically imaginative in devising
punishments
 Ironically, reestablished in their new society the
very system of intolerance they had fled
Puritan Beliefs
 To the Puritans any misfortune at all was
God’s punishment for sinful behavior.
 Conformity was paramount to their
existence -- this is why the first people who
were accused were social outcasts:
Hawthorne’s Interest in the
Puritans
(remember for Scarlet Letter)
 This slide is for Honors only
 Puritans’ self-righteousness, intolerance,
and narrow-minded bigotry interested
Hawthorne, himself a descendent of stern
Puritans
 Explored ideas of self-discipline, obsession
with introspection, sin, and guilt to learn
about the inner recesses of the human
heart.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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(1804 – 1864) Born in
Salem, MA
Related to one of the
judges during the Salem
Witch Trials
His work is considered
Dark Romanticism
Many of his novels/stories
contain moral messages
and have deep
psychological
complexities.
“Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is
important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or
not.”
Journal #1 –
th
20
Century SL
(Refer to the handout)
 Read the article from the Los Angeles
Times regarding what one judge is doing
to punish criminals.
 Then, write a letter to the editor
responding to the judge’s methods.
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Quick Write #1 – Prison Door
What impression comes to mind when you
think of a prison door?
What images are used to describe the prison
door? What is the effect of this diction?
(Tone, mood, atmosphere created)
Journal #2 - Rose
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The author includes a real flower, a wild rosebush, in
his description. What is the effect of this image?
What does the rose symbolize?
Ann Hutchinson was a religious leader in
seventeenth-century America who attacked
popular religious practices and preached for a
simpler and purer religion without ministers or
buildings. She was tried and banished in 1637.
What does suggesting that a rose might
have sprung up under her footsteps
imply?
Quick Write #2 – Letter Fits
Describe the objects and images you used
to create your Letter Fits.
 Why did you choose these items?
 What do they mean to you?
 What do they say about you?
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Quick Write #3 – Pearl as Symbol
Give two examples of
how Pearl is the
scarlet letter
personified.
 In your writing, show
how Pearl is a symbol
of her mother’s
warring spirit.
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Journal #3 – Hester’s Diary
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Write a 1st person diary entry for Hester Prynne
based on Ch. 3-5. Make sure that you
incorporate at least three of the following
into your entry:
Hester’s feelings towards Chillingworth, past and
present
Why Hester chooses to stay in Boston.
The anguish and torment she continually feels,
along with some specific causes of it.
The “special power” that the scarlet letter gives
her.
Journal #4 – Custody Debate
Bulleted Outline
 As
you read Ch. 5-8, make notes that
will serve as evidence/proof for the
side you are arguing for in the
debate.
 In addition, try to anticipate which
evidence the opposing side may use.
Journal #5 – Prequel to the
Custody Debate
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Who should have custody of Pearl Prynne? Should
Hester retain custody or should Pearl be given over to
the custody of the town of Boston? We will debate this
matter during the next class period, but first you need to
write about it.
When you have completed your rereading of Ch. 6-8,
write up a one-page argument quoting from the novel at
least 3 times along the way.
Begin your page with the words, “Ladies and
gentlemen of the jury ... ” and imagine that you
are writing your final summation to a jury of
your case. Write in a voice as if you were the
lawyer making that summation.