Improved Morality in America

                   Scarlet Letter Critical Essay

Morality is defined as the principles of concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good or bad behavior. Morality is what keeps the world in balance, and keeps humans sane. One can observe many struggles with morality in everyday life, with instances like going to war or deciding whether or not to launch an attack on another country. During the course of the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many exhibits of Puritan morality are shown. The Puritans were harsh and cruel in their punishments, and their sense of morals can be seen as strict and skewed, as shown by their actions. Our morality since then though, has changed. Our sense of morality is stronger than it was in Puritan times because of the more intense sense of what is right and wrong, a more equal and fair justice system, and the acceptance of human flaws instead of the shaming of them.

Since Puritanism ruled the land, the sense of what is right and what is wrong has changed to become clearer and more straightforward. In the introduction to The Crucible, those who were affected by the trials were described as “a decent grandmother grown too hard of hearing to understand a crucial question from the jurors, a rakish, pipe-smoking female tramp, a plain farmer who thought only to save his wife from molestation, a lame old man whose toothless gums did not deny expression to a very salty vocabulary” (Bigsby 3). The Puritans sense of  right and wrong is clearly more skewed than the sense of right and wrong now because the people they were accusing of witchcraft had done absolutely nothing wrong, yet all of these people were sentenced to death. If the Puritans had a stronger sense of what was morally the right choice, then these innocent people would not have ended up dead. Also, if they had realized what the right choice was, the Puritans would have realized that all these accusations were completely baseless. This would have never happened in today’s society because the sense of bogus accusations and the ridiculousness of the situation would have been halted at the beginning because of the keen awareness of what is right, and what upholds justice. The Puritans really did not have a sense of fair justice.

In today’s world, the stronger sense of morality has lead to a more fair and balanced justice system when compared to the times of Puritans. In an article written about the Salem Witch Trials, it was shown that the Puritans were very quick to move to conclusions when “the doctor found no physical ailments and concluded they [Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams] were bewitched – that ‘the evil hand’ was upon them. Word about the ‘bewitched’ girls spread like wildfire” (Gormley). Quickly after that, “By the autumn of 1692, dozens of people had been accused and imprisoned. Mostly women, they were defenseless against accusations of witchcraft” (Gormley). The Puritans lived in a society in which the morality of the people led to a guilty until proven innocent justice system. This was a completely unfair system that lead to the persecution of the masses. Now the justice system has changed. A situation akin to the guilty until proven innocent system was brought before the Supreme Court. This situation [Nelson v. Colorado] was “a Colorado law that forced people to go to court to affirmatively prove their own innocence in order to recover funds paid as a result of a criminal conviction, after the conviction was reversed on appeal” (Wilson) . Although the result was recognized to be  “unconstitutional because requiring people to prove their own innocence disregards the presumption of innocence” (Wilson). The changing face of our morality has also helped change the justice system so that if situations alike to the Nelson v. Colorado case come forth, morally the people will make the right decision rather than presuming guilt and making the people pay whatever debts they may owe, like the Puritans did. The stronger morals appeal to a better justice system. This more equal and fair justice system surrounding a more equal and fair society also led to more acceptance of human mistakes within the American community.

   The feeling of the strong sense of morality has led to more acceptance of human flaws and mistakes, and has allowed humans to perform under less scrutiny than in Puritan times. In today’s times it is more widely acknowledged that human beings are not morally perfect, and they will make mistakes, but overall, it does not mean that they automatically become horrible. It is how they make up for mistakes made and how they try to fix their wrongs that counts in the eyes of society, not that they be punished for being human.  In The Scarlet Letter, the reader is introduced to Hester Prynne, who was the main protagonist of the story. It is revealed that she committed the sin of adultery, and her community made her wear “on the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 4). She also had to stand on the scaffolding in front of the town for judgement from her community. This is harsher than what would happen today, but that is due to the fact that our morals have changed since this time, and we have become more tolerant of behavior like Hester’s. Society today is more accepting of the situation than the Puritans would be. Though, today, society will still harshly judge someone for this “crime”, and the person who was guilty of the sin would feel shame about it. The key difference between now and Puritan times would be the lesser of public shaming, and the more acceptance and moving on from the situation. Now, there would be more acknowledgement of the wrongdoing, but one would be able to learn from their mistakes with the help of a open and accepting community.

Morality is a multitude of concepts put together to help society figure the differences between the good and the bad. The morality of America has changed greatly since Puritan times in the ways that there is a clear line between the good choices and the bad choices we make, created better change in the systems that uphold the justice within our country to create a fair and equal society, and created a more accepting community, but not one without judgement. The morality of this nation is an essential piece to holding the country together. It is also a way to show the progression as a country that we are making towards a bigger, better, and brighter future. Without our morality, there would be no humanity. So, whenever you are sitting and thinking, ask yourself, what does your morality mean to you?

       Works Cited

Gormley, Myra Vanderpool. “The Salem Witch Trials.” Colonial Homes, Nov. 1997, p. 22.            General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A19926765/GPS?u=heb76203&sid=GPS&xid=21dd0c9b. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. American Renaissance, Sam Torode, 2009.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Penguin Group, 2003.

Wilson, Justin J. “Supreme Court Upholds Principle Of ‘Innocent Until Proven Guilty.’”          Supreme Court Upholds Principle of ‘Innocent Until Proven Guilty’, Institute for Justice, 19 Apr. 2017, ij.org/press-release/supreme-court-upholds-principle-innocent-proven-guilty/.