Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is a fictionalized account of life in puritan New England. Although the story is an amalgamation of characters, places, and events, the journals of Hawthorne's contemporaries and forebears reveals a sinister connection between real life in seventeenth century Massachusetts and the tragedy of Hester Prynne's life. Prynne is in fact a symbol of all women living under Puritan patriarchal rule. Through Hawthorne's foresight, her story is recorded as a critical warning against the evils of patriarchy and the clear need to examine the hypocrisies of early American life. Winthrop's journal addresses the full gamut of life in Puritan Massachusetts, including the life of women. It is abundantly clear through Winthrop's memoirs that Hutchinson symbolized the self-empowerment of women, which threatened to undermine the patriarchal social order in puritan society. Hutchinson was demonized and scapegoated, although she was certainly a self-conscious political figure. In fact, it can be argued that Hawthorne created out of Prynne a more passive figure than the real life Hutchinson was, as Winthrop confers upon Hutchinson a great deal of power in her "opinions." Prynne's character is as politically potent and powerful in her community...
She silently accepts her scarlet letter and fails to fight for her rights or those of her sisters in any meaningful way. As such, Hawthorne draws attention to the plight of women living under patriarchy without offering female readers a strong role model who advocates change and who also recommends a course of action.
Winthrop's "City upon a Hill" John Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" impacted not only the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlers but also the history of America by laying a Calvinist foundation of thought for future geopolitical movements. Winthrop's motivational sermon highlighted the specialness of the new American settlers, challenging them to be the model of Christian charity for the rest of the world -- yet Winthrop's interpretation of charity was different
It is difficult to imagine the kinds of unfair discrimination that was wrought against women, witches, and anyone else who did go along with the status quo. However, in Winthrop's situation, the matter of survival was so acutely important that a strong-fisted rule was thought to be necessary. He expresses, more than once, in the trial transcript his fears that the entire colonial civilization could fall over this one woman's outspoken
Point ONE: Billy Budd: Critic Eugene Goodheart is the Edythe Macy Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Brandeis University. He writes that while critics are generally divided between those who see Captain Vere as "an unwitting collaborator" with Claggart and those who feel Vere was correct to have Billy sent to the gallows. In his piece Goodheart explains that Billy is "…variously seen as Adam before the fall, as a noble
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