Morality Essay – Puritanism and Discerning Values

Puritanism and Discerning Values

Morality is a question of values and how humans have solved conflict throughout history. But has knowledge and time increased our morality? Modern society has taken steps back in many ways concerning values and enforcing them. There is no motivating cause to maintain those values, like religion, which served this role in Puritan times. There is a complication of too much liberty where the individual may prevail over society as a whole. There have also been no steps forward from the concept of morality in modern methods of punishment. These issues are surprisingly underlined and in many texts that often negatively portray Puritans; this is an invitation to read between the words and stray from the obvious answer: that today’s society prevails solely for its modernity, due to the common belief that newer is better. The Puritans in The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible were more invested in their morals than modern society due to the importance that defines their values.  

Religious reform was the main reason for the emigration of Puritans to the New World from England, for they believed that the English were straying away from their values and associated themselves too closely with Catholicism. This heavy interest in religion served as a great motivation and scaffold for their moral values; therefore, making them an important aspect of their day-to-day life. This heavy influence of religion is seen in The Crucible, notably in the court of law when John Proctor is asked to sign away his name and he begins threatening Danforth with the name of Devil and his destiny: Hell.

“A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Daforth! For them that quail to bring men out ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this will be fraud — God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” (Miller 111) 

This emphasizes the presence of Hell and Lucifer for Danforth’s wrongdoings by repeating the word fire and using punctuation such as exclamation marks and hyphens. When he says “God damns our kind especially…” he refers to the fact that since they have not acted in good faith, God will punish them for their faulty morals. Much of the court etiquette used by the Puritans is still used nowadays along with their basic religious values. For example, in some courts it is still a custom to place the interrogated person’s hand upon the bible so they can vow to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Hutson, who wrote “Still Puritan After All These Years” describes a study in which it was found that “… something like Puritan values seemed to be guiding [the subject’s] moral judgments” (Hutson). These moral judgements not only create a foundation of modern society but relate to newly emerging ideas. 

Nowadays new ideas flood society and individuals have inherited more liberty than Puritans used to have. However, with this newfound liberty comes great responsibility and importance in differentiating right from wrong on a more individual level. The vast difference between good and evil is one of the many themes represented in The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. For instance, in The Crucible there is a great representation of good versus evil which can also be viewed as God versus Satan. This is especially notable in the courtroom scene where Proctor is fighting with Danforth for his freedom: 

“You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.This is a sharp time, now, a precise time — we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it. I hope you will be one of those” (Miller 87).

In this quote, Danforth is arguing with Proctor about the nature of religion and the court’s position in the matter. This quote suggests that his perception of the world is black and white. White being God and black being the Devil. He believes himself to be a good person because he is part of the court and the court is tied to God. Therefore he believes that anyone like Proctor who opposes the court must be working for the Devil. This depicts the structure the Puritans had which aided people to respect the rules and understand morality — either you are right or you are wrong and punished — which is more ambiguous with the amount of liberty that is given today. David D. Hall, the author of “Peace, Love and Puritanism” agrees that liberty can spark conflict and ignite a sense of personal entitlement: “In our society, liberty has become deeply problematic: one more a matter of entitlement than of obligation to the whole.” (Hall) Just like the Puritans our morality comes hand in hand with power, nowadays this liberty encourages such abuse of power and encroachments on standard morality. This often happens because nowadays individualism has taken over as opposed to the benefit of the whole. Puritans for example had a moral obligation to attend church which would create structure and prioritize their morals and values. Even the sole definition of Puritanism refers to the austerity of Puritan values. The definition of Puritanism is strictness and austerity especially in matters of religion or conduct (“PURITANISM.”). This demonstrates the set standard of the Puritan values which made it very clear and black and white when it came to respecting values. 

What happens when one decides to disrespect the morals of the community? How does morality play a role in punishment and how can one learn from their mistakes after having infringed on a moral matter? Two texts set in Puritan times, The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, illustrate a clear punishment for disobedience: shame, imprisonment or execution. In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is held on the scaffold with an emblem of her shame on her chest: “‘I might have known that, as I came out of the vast and dismal forest, and entered this settlement of Christian men, the very first object to meet my eyes would be thyself, Hester Prynne, standing up, a statue of ignominy, before the people.’” (Hawthorne 66) This refers to when Chillingworth entered the Puritan settlement after being imprisoned by the Native Americains and when he entered the village all he could fixate on was Hester Prynne on her podium of shame. He also refers to Hester Prynne as an ‘object’, characterizing the fact that she has no longer any rights after having sinned, enforcing their rigidity of the concept that punishments are black and white. He also compares her to a statue of shame to really capitalize on the fact that she is posted there for everyone to look at in disgust and lament. However, she is only a statue of shame before her people and she has the option to flee the settlement and start fresh. Nowadays, there is social media: a way to disperse information at much greater rates. Hester Prynne had a choice not to face her sin, in contrast in today’s world people keep records of imprisonment and infractions to the society which make it difficult to get a job and reintegrate into life. Additionally, the identities of those who commit crimes are published as news stories all over the world destroying what Proctor held onto so much in The Crucible: their reputation. 

Not only was it possible to escape from a life of sin in Puritan times their emphasis on moral correction was greater with their idea of a scaffold which was believed to be  “as effectual an agent, in the promotion of good citizenship, as ever was the guillotine among the terrorists of France. It was, in short, the platform of the pillory; and above it rose the framework of that instrument of discipline, so fashioned as to confine the human head in its tight grasp, and thus hold it up to the public gaze. The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron” (Hawthorne 49-50). This excerpt recognizes how much the Puritans valued the punishment of public shame which was more civil than the guillotine in France which cut off the heads of law offenders. Nowadays, with the media, it is impossible to escape shame. If the idea of public shaming on a scaffold is horrific, the sharing of one’s sinful or lawless actions on the internet has become much worse and inescapable. The puritans also valued their morals more than modern society which was why they viewed the scaffold as a learning opportunity for citizens not to replicate the actions of the “statues of ignominy”. Overall the Puritans built their society around their morals and emphasized the importance of their values more than modern society which is based more on individualism and liberty. This investment in their morals was supported by the guidance they extracted from religion. Their importance of keeping their community in unity with a specific structure and balck and white ideals to judge unlawful actions. Their fundamentals on punishment endorsed their morals and values especially reflecting the theme of shame which is notable in The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter. The Puritans had a specific structure and followed it to reinforce their morals as a community: a sense of unity modern society has lost.

“The Puritans had a specific structure and followed it to reinforce their morals as a community: a sense of unity modern society has lost.”