Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter

Does Hawthorne embraces or critiques Puritan ideology?

The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work. Set in 17th-century Puritan Salem, Massachusetts during the years 1642 to 1649, and writtenby Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The beauty of the novel stands in the faithful and genuine portrayal of human nature and its imperfections, as well as, the way in which humans make mistakes without necessarybeing good or bad people.
It also centers in the depiction of the “black or white”, extremist way of thinking of the puritans. Whereas in their wishes of creating a new and pure society, hypocrisy takesits place and individuals tend to hide their human nature behind the crowd, together with their own sinful thoughts and weaknesses.
The greatest representation of human nature pros and cons, in thenovel, is Hester Prynne, and the way in which she acts towards her committed sin.
It is important to state that the already mentioned sin is no more than a product of Hester’s human nature. "On thebreast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility andgorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, butgreatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony." Chapter 2, pg. 40
In this description of the letter “A” we can see Hester’s integrity towards her nature and her sin. In thedescription of the letter “A” we see how Hester is proud of what she did, she is not wearing just a Scarlet Letter, it is the best Scarlet letter ever embroidered. She is uncomfortable with thesituation that she has to carry out, but deeply inside she doesn’t think that what she did is wrong. Meanwhile her sin is just of sexual nature, she shows to be a great person in every other aspect, she...