“Puritans were united in their dependence upon the Bible as their supreme source of spiritual sustenance and guide for the reformation of life.” (qtd. in Cosby 298) Based on this definition of a Puritan by Kelly Kapic and Randall Gleason, readers gather that the Puritans were a group of people who used the Bible as their law. For the Puritans, the Bible dictated what was right or wrong; it was their guidance for restoration in their faith. Two texts that exemplify the high moral standard in the Puritan society is represented by The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne and The Crucible by Miller. However, Americans today lack this type of theocricial moral guidance. The Puritan government was a theocracy and ruled in the name of God, whereas America today is a democracy, which has a law system that determines right from wrong, but these laws don’t dictate what moral rights are. As such, Americans today are less moral than the Puritans because they don’t adhere morally to the Bible as their law. Also, during Puritan times people sought redemption after their acts of sin to be righteous again whereas Americans today will hide their sins as much as they can.
In Puritan times, knowing the Ten Commandments was seen as a test to figure out if one had sinned in their life. Elizabeth Proctor in the play The Crucible, is described to have eagerly without hesitation say when asked to recite the Ten Commandments, “I surely do. There be no mark of blame upon my life, Mr. Hale. I am a covenanted Christian women” (Miller 66). Elizabeth’s confidence in knowing the Ten Commandments shows just how important theocracy and the value of morality being the law of the land was to the Puritans. Breaking these laws set by God tarnished one’s reputation, their trustworthiness, and significance in society. John Proctor from The Crucible reputation in his town is stained when he confesses to have committed adultery. Moral goodness is shown through John Proctor wanting to redeem himself in the eyes of God even if his reputation would be destroyed. In today’s society, we have elected people like Donald Trump as our president who has been accused of having affairs and sexual misconduct with porn stars. In August, Trump’s longtime lawyer “Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal crimes, including making illegal contributions to the Trump campaign on the same day he facilitated a $130,000 payment to the porn star to keep her from speaking about the affair.” (Higgins and Breuninger, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen pleads guilty, admits to making illegal payments at direction of candidate to influence election, CNBC)
Yet, Trump was still elected America’s president. This speaks to American morals on how those who have done multiple immoral acts are seen as still fit to lead.
John Proctor’s guidance from the Bible to seek redemption for his sin contrasts to the American law system “innocent until proven guilty”. In the article Peace, Love and Puritanism by: David D. Hall, he talks about how the Americans believed the publication of law would encourage reconciliation and restitution, when the rule of law actually became “deeply problematic: more a matter of entitlement than obligation to the whole. Everywhere, we see power abused, the common good scanted.” (Hall 2). Americans absence of moral guidance has created this faulty law system. Philosopher Richard Garlikov talks about how the law system has inadequate laws which leads to immoral consequences: “For example, laws concerning evidence and procedure in courtrooms often lead to acquittals of obviously guilty defendants, and sometimes to convictions or continuing sentences and punishment of known or likely innocent ones.” (Garlikov, Morality and Law) This immoral law system of the United States doesn’t influence Americans to be moral and righteous, it does the complete opposite. Scandals from priests in the Catholic Churches are coming to light about sexual abuse thirty years ago. The abusers were priests who should have been preaching God’s moral ruling, but they were committing horrendous crimes. Instead of coming clean about what they had done and asking for forgiveness from God, the church leaders sympathized with the abusers and felt that they could cover the abuse up, hiding it from the public. Priests’ immorality in American society speaks to how Americans care less about redeeming the sins they have committed, and more about being able to cover it up and not being convicted, unlike Puritans whose souls anguish about breaking their moral law that they live by. In the Scarlet Letter, a tale set in Puritan times and driven by Puritan ethics, Dimmesdale was a priest who committed a sin and felt so ashamed he whipped himself at night:
His inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and bred. In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders, laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. (Hawthorne 175).
The narrator exemplifies how breaking the law as a Puritan deteriorates a person mentally and physically because the act of being moral was everything. Dimmesdale seeked out confession even though his reputation as a priest would be ruined. In Dimmesdale’s last confession about his sin revived his soul and brought him to peace within himself. The unselfish redemption Dimmesdale sought out is an example of the strong Puritan belief about fixing your wrongs. However, Americans nowadays do not hold themselves to this high standard and are less moral because they cover up their crimes and do not take ownership nor responsibility for their actions.
Puritans using the Bible as their law and following a theocracy, while also redeeming and publicly accepting their sin despite negative outcomes shows how Puritans are more moral than Americans today.
Works Cited
Cosby, Bill H. Toward a Definition of ‘Puritan’ and ‘Puritanism’: A Study in Puritan bbbb
Historiography. biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/
churchman/122-04_297.pdf. This is a pdf.
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/churchman/
Garlikov, Rick. “Morality and Law.” Garlikov, www.garlikov.com/philosophy
Hall, David D. “Peace, Love and Puritanism .” The New York Times, 23 Nov. 2010,
www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/
Higgins, Tucker, and Kevin Breuninger. “Ex-Trump Lawyer Cohen Admits to Illegal
Payments at Direction of Candidate to
Influence Election.” CNBC, CNBC, 21 Aug.
2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/08/21/trumps-
ex-lawyer-michael-cohen-strikes-plea-deal-
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Penguin Books, 2016.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Signet Classics, 2009.
In this paper I argued that Americans today are less moral than Puritans. I believe this is a fairly good argued paper backed with substantial evidence from the book The Scarlet Letter, but also information from outside sources like New York Times articles. However, I do feel that I could have done better if I chose to summarize my main point and then zeroed in on a specific idea like the impact of the inadequate laws and how they lead to a less moral America compared to the laws of the Puritans. Overall, I do feel that this is a great paper but could use some tweaking to make it even better!