From the media, everyone knew of his faults just as the entire town knew of Hester’s by the A and her punishment on the platform. Because Hester and Downey were shunned, people also shunned their incredible talents. Hester was known for her talent of needlework. Her work was the best in town and would even be worn by the governor sometimes. But because of her adulterous sin, she was not allowed to use this talent for
The Puritan community in The Crucible was vulnerable in many ways and susceptible to irrational and panicky accusations of the Salem Witch Hunts because of their strict and constricting ways. The children in the community are treated very poorly and less than everyone else in the town. As the Salem Witch Hunts were essentially started by the children the fact that they were treated as lesser beings contributed to the communities demise. “He (Reverend Parris) regarded them as young adults, an until this strange crisis he, like the rest of Salem, never conceived that the children were anything but thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at their sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak,” (Miller 3). Miller foreshadows the Witch Hunts to come.
Mr. Hooper, the minister in The Black Veil is a man of secret sin and darkness. Hooper could represent secret sin within his heart or specific sin which could be adultery. The congregation of the church was surprised to see the minister with the black veil on that covered his face. Though they never saw the minister’s actions change, the way people reacted to him did, even his love Elizabeth’s actions. People were afraid and intimidated by the veil that the minister wore and believed it hid some secret sin and reminded them of their own transgressions, which should never happen with the minister.
Thinking that he is dead, she starts having a relationship with a local minister named Dimmesdale. Together they have a kid, much to the despair of the town who looks down upon Hester for “cheating” upon her husband. Although the town breaks Hester down to the core for her sins, she keeps her integrity by refusing to revel who the father is, which would surely doom him to the same fate as her.
Nathaniel Hawthorne goes into depth about sins that most people don’t want to hear about. During the time period of The Scarlet Letter, adultery was extremely frowned upon, and was punishable by death. Dimmesdale kept the guilt and the pain of what he had done bundled up inside; Hester`s sin was brought to light she stood on a scaffold alone as people watched; Chillingworth was letting his anger and hatred control his very being. Hester along with her baby had nothing else to do, but stand and watch as her lover stood by. As she was tried for the very thing he should be tried for.
An example of plot in treating people equally occurs with Boo Radley. In the book many people don’t like Boo due to all the gossip they have heard about him. These people have their “eye’s closed” and should not have a negative opinion about Boo Radley because they have never met him and gotten to know him. They need to open their eyes and realize that they cannot judge Boo because they have never met him. Another example of plot in treating people equally occurs with Tom Robinson.
Not only did Abigail accuse innocent people of witchcraft, but also had an affair with a married man, John Proctor. In the late 1600’s it was said to be a sin to sleep with a married man. Because of her affair with John Proctor, I think that Abigail ended up falling in love with John and wanted his wife out of the picture, hence the reason why she falsely accuses her. “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men!
Monks believed people were only sick because God was punishing them for something they had done. The Church believed that illness was a physical sign of sin or weakness of the soul. Both severe physical and mental illnesses were blamed on oneself for taking the “wrong path” at some point in ones life. Some people in Europe blamed the Jews for poisoning the water or practicing witchcraft (Knox). But on the contrary, most public officials believed that it wasn’t revenge from God, it wasn’t the Jews or even a weakness of the soul, but just a disease (Knox).
This is racial discrimination because Ms. Lula is basically saying that they are not welcome at that church because they are white, not African American. Another example of this is Tom Robinson's trial. The jury convicted him in the rape of Mayella Ewell not because of evidence, but because of the color of his skin. I hate racism, it makes me sick. It is just pointless hatred because, they are people just like everybody else and everyone should be treated as such no matter the color of their skin.
This is because they believe that God created every person the same and we should keep it that way, no matter what crime they have committed, otherwise we could be seen as disobeying God’s wishes. Some Christians may disagree with this quote as they may believe that if someone has not treated society in the correct way they should be treated differently to everyone else. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ (Luke- New Testament) This means that you should treat everyone else as you would like to be treated. Therefore some Christians may say that because most criminals have not treated others well they have not followed the Bible and gone against God, meaning they should not be treated the same as everyone else. Other Christians, like Quakers, may agree with this quote as they believe that everyone has equal rights and no one is the leader, this is because God created everyone the same.