Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, chronicles the life of a young woman, Hester Prynne, who had an affair with the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and was forced to live under constant torture. of Puritan society. Because of this affair that Hester and Dimmesdale experienced, Hester had a child, Pearl, whom she fathered out of wedlock with Dimmesdale. Even though 17th century Puritan society could be brutal with its strict moral beliefs, Hester and Dimmesdale still managed to express romantic feelings for each other, even though it was forbidden. Hawthorne called his work, The Scarlett Letter, purely romantic, but it reflects both romanticism and puritanism throughout the novel. The novel reflects Romanticism as it shows the social transformations and spiritual development of Hester Prynne. It also reflects Puritanism in the way Puritan society is revealed and the existence of a theocratic government. Romanticism is strongly reflected in The Scarlet Letter in the way it expresses Hester's social transformations and spiritual development. Hester is changed after being released from prison. She remains in Boston to live out her punishment despite the opposition the locals place against her, and she does not wish to leave Pearl's real father, Dimmesdale. “Here,” she said to herself, “was the scene of his guilt, and here should be the scene of his earthly punishment; and thus, perhaps, the torture of her daily shame would finally purge her soul and give her another purity than that which she had lost; holier, because the result of his martyrdom. So Hester Prynne did not flee” (Hawthorne 74). Since her time in Boston, Hester grew spiritually and ex...... middle of paper ......rnment take control was when the governor wanted to take Pearl away from Hester because society considered an unfit mother. "'Woman, that's your badge of shame!' replied the severe magistrate. “It is because of the stain indicated in this letter that we would transfer your child into other hands” (Hawthorne 102). These are the circumstances in which Puritanism was reflected through theocratic government. Just as romanticism is shown throughout the story of The Scarlet Letter, the ideas of Puritanism were also reflected. Romanticism is what shapes the novel, but it is Puritanism that allows the reader to understand what Puritan life was like in 17th century Boston, Massachusetts. Without the ideas of Puritanism, Romanticism would not play the important role it does in the novel, and The Scarlet Letter would not be the classic story that it is...