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Post by calvinnguyen on Aug 16, 2014 4:53:40 GMT
There are some laws, ideals, and regulations created by Puritans that are still around today in 21st century America. In the novel "The Scarlet Letter", Hester Prynne cheats on her husband. As a result of this action, the towns people force her to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest for the rest of her life. Also, her daughter must wear the same letter on her chest as well. As a more sever punishment in the Puritan society, adultery can be punished by death. Now, in 21st century America, adulterers are present all over the place. Adulterers are looked down on as Hester is in the novel. However, cheating and affairs happen all the time in the present day but those "sinners" are not nearly punished to the extent of Hester. Usually, both male and female agree to have a divorce and/or separate from each other and move on from their lives. Instead of having the whole town agree on a punishment for them, problems in relationships such as adultery stay between the man and wife.
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Post by carianneboehme on Aug 16, 2014 14:50:54 GMT
Some of the ideals, laws and regulations from the Puritan period in The Scarlet Letter are still seen in the society of 21st century America today. One ideal is you are not supposed to cheat on your spouse. Marriage means having a faithful relationship with the one you love. Hester cheated on her husband and was shunned by society and her husband. In today’s society if you cheat, it can lead to divorce and disapproval by society. “Yes! – these were her realities, - all else had vanished!” Another ideal is if you want to be accepted into society you have to be kind, generous to others, and follow the rules. Hester broke the rules by committing adultery. She was seen as a sinner with the scarlet letter placed on her chest. Over time, her kindness and willingness to give to others rose up above all and she was finally accepted. You have to work hard to be accepted into society, especially 21st century America. If a crime is committed, there will be a punishment. This is one of the big ideals present in society. The punishments are not the same as in the time of the novel, but you still have to “do time” for the crime you committed. Lastly, Reverend Dimmesdale spoke sermons of higher power, God, which many people today also go by. Also, “the black man” is referred to as the devil in the novel and is blamed for the bad deeds and sin. “Once in my life I met the Black Man!” said her mother. “This scarlet letter is his mark!” People in today’s society blame the devil for bad and thank God for the good.
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Post by Luke Leskanic on Aug 16, 2014 19:05:37 GMT
We still have a lot in common in the 21st with the original puritan laws. In the book people don’t like Hester because she was an adulterer. Today people still look down upon it just not as much as back then when people had to wear a letter on themselves if they did it, people back then could even be put to death if they had adultery. In the 21st century certain religious groups also look down upon adultery and it is a sin. Back then when our country was first founded our laws were a lot stricter and the laws that were stricter were more enforced as they are today. Today in the 21st century we still live in and with families just like when our country was founded. Hester lived in a totally different time then we do now.
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Post by Brianna Patenaude on Aug 16, 2014 19:57:49 GMT
There are still plenty of ideals from the Puritan period that are present in today’s society. One of them is the ideal that adultery is wrong and should be punished. For example, in Hester’s Puritan Massachusetts, she and her daughter Pearl are shunned by the townspeople. At one point, some children see them and say, “Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter…come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!” The Puritan society is much harsher in some ways than our 21st century society today—our modern society probably wouldn’t make adulterers wear red A’s on their chests, for one thing! But we definitely still have a negative outlook on cheating on a spouse or partner.
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Post by Sierra Courtney on Aug 16, 2014 21:12:38 GMT
America's society is founded on Puritan ideals. In the novel "The Scarlet Letter" one of the ideals/laws is not to commit adultery. In America today adultery is not a crime against federal/state/local law, but a crime against church law. However women who committed adultery then and now are still considered a disgrace. Back then you would wear and "A" as a symbol of your crime, and now even though they don't give out "A's" anymore women are still cast as a "home-wrecker". Today's society seems to mimic society long ago, when men and women were not treated equally as it relates to adultery. A man can have many wives and affairs, and no one thinks anything different. Although, when a woman has many husbands and affairs, she is negatively labeled and gossiped about by society. "And she assured them of her firm belief that, at some better time to come, Heaven would reveal a new order in which men and women acted for their mutual happiness."
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Post by welchb17 on Aug 16, 2014 22:58:35 GMT
One of the ideals that we still see today in the 21st century is a normal relationship. Everyone in their lives wants to have a flawless and perfect relationship or marriage. But just as in "The Scarlet Letter" no one in this day and age can have a flawless and perfect marriage or relationship. This novel shows us that no one is perfect, that no one can hold a perfect relaionship and that no two people can stay together if they do not want to. In the 21st century the only differnence in commiting adultrey is that it is not looked at as a crime anymore. While this action is stilled looked at as shameful and wrong it is no longer portrayed as something of criminal nature.
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Post by jasonzappulla on Aug 17, 2014 1:08:23 GMT
While American society has changed in many ways since the Puritans’ founded Massachusetts, many Puritan ideals can still be found in American society today. For example, Hester was accused of adultery, and was forced to wear “that scarlet letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated on her bosom.” (Chapter 2, page 51) While modern Americans may not force cheating partners to wear a red ‘A’ on their clothing, adultery is still frowned upon in modern society, and it often does come with a great amount of social ostracism similar to the isolation felt by Hester. Another example is Revered Dimmesdale’s death. Just before his death, the preacher “tore away the ministerial band from before his breast” (Chapter 23, page 228), revealing a scarlet letter identical to the one worn by Hester. While this seems like a clear confession that Dimmesdale was in an adulterous affair with Hester, and is thus the father of Pearl, some townspeople refuse to believe it. Some insisted that “he had made the manner of his death a parable,” and that Dimmesdale was trying to teach that “we are sinners all alike.” (Chapter 24, page 231) This trend of covering up people’s complete stories and mythologizing them continues in American history, with subsequent people mythologizing figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and, just like the townspeople to Reverend Dimmesdale, ignoring that they were humans who had their own flaws.
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Post by Alexa Levesque on Aug 17, 2014 2:34:55 GMT
Some Puritan laws and ideas that are still seen now in the 21st century are rights and family. The laws are not exactly the same, but they have been changed in little ways. Today rights are equal among everyone and men and woman all have the same rights. Back then, the rights were more in favor of men. If woman committed a crime during that century, the worst possible may have happened. For example, death or banishment. They were not allowed more then one husband but men were allowed more then one wife. When Hester kept quiet about the man, people looked at her even worse. The idea of family is also the same. Hester always wanted to be with her daughter pearl and live a happy, drama free life like many people want today.
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Post by Natalie Lloyd on Aug 17, 2014 3:06:46 GMT
The puritan society in the Scarlet Letter held many of the same ideals that we still hold in 21st century America. Just as the puritans believed, many people in our society, especially Christians, believed in monogamy. Monogamy is the ideal that you will only have one partner and stay loyal to them. Though in the 21st century it’s not illegal to cheat on your husband or wife and commit Adultery, it is still greatly frowned upon in the United States. In the novel the Scarlet Letter, Heather was publically humiliated and forced to wear her symbol, the scarlet letter on her chest as punishment for her sin. She had committed Adultery. In other parts of the world such as the Middle East, they still take this ideal just as seriously as in the Puritan period of the Scarlet Letter. If a woman is caught committing adultery in one of these Middle East countries she may be publically humiliated or even stoned in public. This ideal is still very important in the 21st century but not as serious as it was in the Scarlet Letter.
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Post by Matthew Olsen on Aug 17, 2014 4:31:45 GMT
As time has evolved, punishments on adultery have changed tremendously. In "The Scarlett Letter" adultery was considered a major crime, the punishments for committing this crime was way more severe. Now in the 21st century adultery is not treated like a crime. In the Puritan time, for committing adultery u would of been tortured, imprisoned or killed. Currently in the 21st century adultery is not considered against the law, but it is still a wrong thing to do. Now a days people will either spread rumors, spread things over the internet or treat you rudely. Over in other countries it is different, they still take adultery seriously as it was in the Puritan time. Overall adultery now in the 21st century is a wrong thing to, but is not seriously taken as it was back in the Scarlett Letter.
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Post by Erin Stein on Aug 17, 2014 5:24:03 GMT
There are plenty of Puritan ideals left in our modern lives. Some laws and regulations are still in use around the world; however American society has evolved substantially. While we no longer legally punish all deeds frowned upon during the Puritan period, most 21st century American citizens are still strongly and outwardly against adultery, among other similar acts. Besides the legalization of same-sex marriage, our vision of matrimony hasn’t changed. Luckily, we no longer burn people we suspect to be witches, but a fear of the supernatural is still alive in our community and a large portion of our population attends church regularly, which was nearly mandatory in the Puritan period. Even if most don’t wish to admit it, we still tend to shun those we don’t agree with, even if what they did is no longer illegal. While we ridicule those in Puritan days for being hypocritical, all people nowadays continue to be relatively the same.
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Post by Matthew Kay on Aug 17, 2014 12:54:10 GMT
What is seen in both the Puritan period and 21st century of America's society is the perfect relationship between two people. Even though people want a perfect relationship, it does not always work out. Adulterers and adulteresses are common in the past and present. When adultery is committed, the person that committed the crime was looked down on by others. For example, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester commits adultery when she is married to Roger Chillingworth. because of that, 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.
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Post by alyssajones on Aug 17, 2014 13:14:05 GMT
A Puritan Ideal that is still around in the 21st century is that a relationship consist between 2 people. Every great relationship has its flaws, People commit adultery on a daily bases. Hester commits adultery when she thought her husband had gone and was never coming back. The society shuns her, and makes her wear the scarlet “A” to show for what she has done. People would treat her differently because of what she had done. today people do the same thing, but people don't get shunned as often and the punishment isn't so harsh.
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Post by KristensenTate on Aug 17, 2014 14:59:28 GMT
Some of the laws seen in the Puritan period taking place in the Scarlet Letter are seen today including adultery. In the Puritan period adultery was a sin and punishable by death. Even though it is not a sin in the 21st century it is seen as a taboo and is considered bad. Gender equality is another one. In the Puritan period women and men were treated differently. In the Scarlet Letter Hester had to wear the "A" because of her sin while the man had to do nothing. This is seen rarely in 21st century America but is present.
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Post by leahschweiger on Aug 17, 2014 17:54:53 GMT
In the puritan period, adultery was a serious crime. Today in America, although adultery is very much frowned upon it is not a crime. There are many places in the world that still today, adultery is a crime, in those places, men and women are not viewed as equal, a man could cheat on his wife and nothing would happen, but if a woman were to cheat on her husband she would not be treated right.
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