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Post by powersch on Jul 21, 2014 13:30:23 GMT
Our American society is founded on Puritanical
ideals, laws and regulations from the first settlers in the new land.
Discuss which of the ideals, laws and/or regulations from the Puritan period in
The Scarlet Letter are still seen in the society of 21st
century America? Cite specific examples from the text to support your
answer.
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Post by Hilman Chan on Jul 26, 2014 22:28:27 GMT
One ideal that is seen in both the Puritan period and 21st century of America's society is the perfect relationship between two people. Although everyone longs for a flawless relationship and to have mutual love, it does not always work out. Adulterers and adulteresses are common in the past and present. When adultery is committed, the suspect is looked down upon, and may even receive punishment. For example, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester commits adultery when she is married to Roger Chillingworth. For doing so, she has to wear the scarlet letter on her chest and everyone in her Puritan society shuns her. In American society today, the person who cheats on their significant other will also be disapproved and evaded by others. He or she may not necessary have to wear a token like Hester but must still carry on the similar burden.
Another ideal is the equality between genders. Although equality is believed to exist among citizens, loopholes and sexism are still present. Men and women were treated wrongly in the past and still are today. Examples of the misdoing would be having one gender's opinion preferred over the opposite gender and different wages. When women came to Hester for counseling, Hester assured them that "at some brighter period, when the world should have grown ripe for it, in Heaven's own time, a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish a whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness." Although written laws in the U.S constitution have improved equality and freedom compared to the Puritan period, people do not always follow it.
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Post by cmartini123 on Jul 27, 2014 23:03:17 GMT
Our American society is founded on Puritanical ideals, laws and regulations from the first settlers in the new land. Discuss which of the ideals, laws and/or regulations from the Puritan period in The Scarlet Letter are still seen in the society of 21st century America? Cite specific examples from the text to support your answer. In parts of the world today people still follow these same ideals, laws and regulations. For example in the Middle East a women would be at the very least banished if she were caught having a relationship with someone that she was not married too. Although in that culture men are allowed to have more than one wife. It's strictly forbidden for women to do the same. Which is very similar to in the book, although the colony didn't find out that the true father until the end of the book he wasn't persecuted by society like Hester was, and that is because she was female. The justice was left to either God or the reverend to punish him by wearing the same letter "A" on his chest. In American society it isn't illegal to cheat on your wife or husband. You wont go to jail nor will have to wear a letter. But that isn't to say that you wont be criticized for it. When you hear of Tiger Woods for example and how he cheated on his wife. He wasn't thrown in jail for it. But a lot people stopped sponsoring him and liking him. But he's lucky that he is a male. Because when women do the same as Hester did, they will be criticized 10 times more. If you think about the English language, there really isn't any curse words for males when they commit adultery. But there are plenty for when women commit adultery.
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Post by Michaela Grimm on Jul 28, 2014 23:51:23 GMT
In some parts of the world people still follow the laws and/or regulations. For an example in the Middle East if a women was caught with another man while she was married, she would get a punishment while a man could have more than one wife. Tis is very similar to the scarlet letter because Hester gets caught with the reverend and she was thrown in jail while the reverend does not even get a punishment for what he did.
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Post by amaiyam on Jul 29, 2014 16:43:53 GMT
Puritanical ideals,laws, and regulations still obtain to people in some parts of the world. The puritans strongly believed in a healthy faithful relationship. For example in the Middle East like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and more women who have committed adultery are publicly punished or tortured, like being stoned to death. Adultery is seen as a crime against a religion or a certain belief. This is almost identical to what happened to Hester. She committed adultery and was publicly punished and humiliated in her society having to wear the "Scarlett letter" on her chest. On the other hand in other parts of the world like America cheating on your husband or wife is in fact not illegal and you can't be punished or thrown into jail for it. The puritans ideals are still used in society today,it just doesn't obtain to everyone.
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Post by Sydney Raines on Aug 1, 2014 14:38:43 GMT
Hester committed an act of adultery and was punished with the Scarlet Letter. She didn't follow the regulations that people followed in other places of the world, like the Middle East or areas that followed Prudential laws. Hester was a married woman and then she goes and cheats on him with the reverend. Hester gets punished just as any other woman would,and is thrown in jail and the Scarlet Letter, but the reverend doesn't get a punishment for what he did because at the time, Prudentials believed that males are superior.
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Post by Nick Ducey on Aug 4, 2014 16:26:49 GMT
In the world today, puritan laws and regulations are still used today. one of the big ones is shunning. The way they shunned Hester for practicing adultery. This also occurred in a book that came out very recently that i also read called "Speak" the way they mistreat and shun Melinda for calling the cops on the party is very similar to the ways that they treated Hester many years before.
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Post by prestonarchuleta on Aug 4, 2014 20:14:38 GMT
In our American society Puritanical ideals, laws and regulations are still around in other countries because women who have committed adultery like Hester did in the book Scarlet Letter are punished by being publicly humiliated, tortured or even death but males can do what ever they want and commit adultery when ever and never be punished like the women.you can also see it in the united states because if a women cheats she called all these names but if a man cheats he sometimes get praised or even look up at in a greater way. which is wrong in the 21st century and i think man and women should be treated all the same.
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Post by Kassi Potter on Aug 5, 2014 20:44:03 GMT
Many of the Puritan laws and ideals are still seen today in modern America. For example, after Hester commits adultery, people look down upon her and the novel says "her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon." which is what would also happen to a woman today if she had an affair. Another ideal that people in today's world struggle with is equality. Men are sometimes seen as higher or more powerful figures in public. In the scarlet letter, it says there would be "a whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness." which means that people were still working towards equality which has still not been fully accomplished today.
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Post by Cody Hausdorf on Aug 6, 2014 17:38:47 GMT
In the time that "The Scarlet letter" was set in, Many of the Puritanical ideals and laws were a lot more harsh than they are today. Although there are some ideals today that are very similar to the time of "The Scarlet Letter." For example, the community's reaction to unmoral things other people do. When Hester committed adultery, everyone gossiped about her and talked badly about her. In today's time, if someone does something wrong and others find out about it, they do the same thing. An example could be the Casey Anthony trial. Although murder is a lot more serious of a crime than adultery, people still gossiped constantly and talked extremely mean things. Basically, even though the harsh laws are not enforced anymore, people still react the same way to unmoral things others have done.
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Post by Amanda Magee on Aug 7, 2014 21:26:33 GMT
A few Puritanical ideals still exist today, such as the idea that adultery is wrong. “It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility.” When a man and a woman commit adultery today, they are still looked at with abhor and will have consequences for their wrongdoing, just not as harsh as it was for Hester. Another Puritanical idea that still sometimes exists today is sexism and false equality. Hester was punished publicly for her wrongdoing while Dimmesdale was not, other than his internal guilt.
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Post by Bailey Wagner on Aug 8, 2014 15:54:52 GMT
Some Puritanical ideals still float around today, like the other students have been saying, the middle eastern women still get harshly punished for adultery today. But what about in the US? Now a days, cheating on your husband, wife, girlfriend of boyfriend is made out to seem like it's not that big of deal. This problem either ends in a divorce/break up, or a very long apology and a lot of sucking up from the betrayer to the one betrayed. It's no longer as legal and public as it used to be for every day people. No one really bats and eye at these situations anymore. Celebrities, on the other hand, get publicity and possibly even more famous for cheating on their significant other. Today's society has turned their priorities to bigger and more serious things. Not a mistake within one pair of people of out hundreds of thousands of others. I'm not saying it's a good thing to commit adultery, but I'm just calling it as it is. Unless you're a more religious person who looks at this very harshly, the vast majority will ignore it. Although the men may not be called untrustworthy, and the women may be called some inappropriate names, that's as far as any punishment that I, myself, have witnessed.
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Post by Hunter Tuazon on Aug 8, 2014 18:09:20 GMT
One of the ideals that we have an issue with in the 21st century is an issue the Puritans had in The Scarlet Letter, and that is gender equality. In the book we only see Hester getting punished for committing adultery. In order to commit adultery there must be two people that commit the “crime”. The married man that Hester committed the sin with was not punished because he was a man. In the 21st century we have a similar issue. Women sometimes bring up situations that they are not receiving enough money at their jobs just because they are a woman or that they are getting mistreated just because they are a woman. In both time periods the law states that all parties that commit a crime of any kind are held accountable for their actions. In this certain situation only one party was held accountable for their crime and it was because of that person’s gender, and that is unjust.
Another ideal that we share with the Puritans is Adultery. We don’t punish people the same way but it is looked down upon and considered sometimes the worst crime. In the Puritan time period Adulterers and Adulteresses were shunned and sometimes punished, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester is forced to wear the red “A” for Adulteress. In present day society a “cheater” is looked down upon from his/her family and friends. They are probably going to be “shunned” by the person they cheated on.
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Post by melodies01 on Aug 8, 2014 23:41:16 GMT
Our American society is founded on Puritanical ideals, laws and regulations from the first settlers in the new land. Discuss which of the ideals, laws and/or regulations from the Puritan period in The Scarlet Letter are still seen in the society of 21st century America? Cite specific examples from the text to support your answer. One ideal that is seen in both the Puritan society and the 21st century is the limited rights of women in middle east countries. Women aren't allowed to have an affair with another man otherwise they would be banished from that country. However, men can have more than one wife which is forbidden for women to have more than one husband. In the novel, the father wasn't found until the end of the book and still wasn't prosecuted like Hester was. Which shows the limited rights of women in these cultures. Another ideal is the perfect relationships between to people. Relationships don't always work out and society is stuck on the idea of a flawless relationship without any imperfections. When an individual commits adultery in the 21st century, they are thought of and treated differently. The individual doesn't have to wear a special symbol but instead carries a different encumbrance of possibly guilt and neglect. When Hester commits adultery, she is punished by wearing the scarlet letter on her chest and the society banishes her. |
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Post by kelseylindblom on Aug 9, 2014 21:40:44 GMT
Some of the ideals, laws, and regulations from the Puritan period remain constant today, but the actions taken as a result are often modified. During the Puritan period the act of adultery was considered a sin and could be punishable by death. Presently in America, adultery is not considered a crime but it is still looked upon disapprovingly. Along with being looked down upon, the act of adultery in certain religions is a sin and punishable by god. Another ideal is equal treatment in society. Presently if a woman had an affair, both the man and the woman would be blamed equally. In “The Scarlet Letter” Hester is publicly humiliated by being required to wear the letter A on her dress, Arthur is punished by an internal conflict between god and himself but does not have to publicly pay for his actions until his confession on his death bed.
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