“The Puritans were members of a religious reform movement known as Puritanism that emerged within the Church of England in the end of the 16th century. They thought the Church of England was too much like the Roman Catholic Church and should eliminate ceremonies and practices not rooted in the Bible.” In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne presents Puritan culture as oppressive, strict, and hypocritical. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayOppressive, unfairly inflicting hardship and hardship, especially on a minority. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is part of a minority, who was punished for committing an adulterous act. Three oppressive forces are presented in the book: religion, revenge and guilt. Hester and Dimmesdale felt guilty. Hester was often aware of the scarlet letter which made her feel guilty, especially when she went to Governor Bellingham's mansion. Dimmesdale suffers more than Hester throughout the book due to his inability to confess until later. When Hester gets out of prison, she goes to live in an abandoned cabin where she remains isolated from the rest of the world. Her daughter Pearl was thought to be "a born outcast of the infantile world." An imp of evil, emblem and product of sin.” Hawthorne shows how oppressive the Puritan religion can be by showing how harsh and cruel society was to Pearl and Hester. Hester was forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her chest daily as punishment to humiliate her and brand her as an example of what would happen if someone else committed a sin. Strict, demanding total obedience and following rules or beliefs exactly. In Puritan culture, there were strict rules that the Puritans believed should have been strictly followed. “The Reverend Master Dimmesdale, its pious pastor, takes it very much to heart that such a scandal should have befallen his congregation... 'At the very least, they should have put the mark of a hot iron on the forehead by Hester Prynne'. Hawthorne makes it clear that the Puritans strictly followed their rules and were forced to believe that any other way was sinful and that there would be consequences if anyone disobeyed them. Since Hester dishonored their beliefs, she and her child have had to live with the consequences. Hypocrite, behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or nobler beliefs than is the case. In The Scarlet Letter, everyone accused and judged Hester for committing adultery, while someone everyone considered a saint was just a guilty person like Hester. The Rev. Dimmesdale, in all eyes, Dimmesdale was "a true priest, a true religious man, with a widely developed sense of reverence, and an order of mind which trained powerfully in the path of belief." A true priest would tell the truth to his congregation and take responsibility for his actions. Instead, Reverend Dimmesdale finally confesses when consumed by guilt and cowardice. Additionally, Governor Bellingham is another hypocrite mentioned in the book. Governor Bellingham's house was so luxurious that Hester was a little amazed, because he is the one who creates the rules and enforces simplicity and clarity and does the exact opposite. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a custom essayAs shown in the essay, in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel..