Contemporary Morality

America was founded to establish the freedom to practice religious beliefs without persecution, as well as establish freedom from laws that persecuted on the basis of religious principle. If that basis is examined, as it is by Nathaniel Hawthorne, can we consider America a free country? Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote on the subject of morality in American society and the persecution of those who oppose the majority in moral beliefs. Hawthorne called attention to the corruption of morality in churches, in government, and in society and exposed the lack of freedom that corruption created.

Display of morality, in society, has changed drastically from Hawthorne’s time. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne described the persecution of Hester Prynne for committing adultery while her husband was missing. This behavior was not acceptable in society in that time period nor is it accepted today. Hester Prynne was forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress, although many townspeople wanted a worse punishment, or to have her put to death. “They should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead…This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne, 1850, pp 49). Another example of the corruption of society is seen in The Minister’s Black Veil (Hawthorne, 1836, pp. 622-631). The people of the town shunned the minister for wearing a black veil over his face as a symbol of the sin in his heart. This type of persecution is seen with different religions today where women are required to wear a veil over their face. An example of persecution in today’s society is shown in the many high school based movies of today.

A public display of morality in school is persecuted today. This can be seen through the endless variety of teen movies such as A Walk to Remember, Save the Last Dance, Saved, Cinderella Story, and Easy A. In the movie A Walk to Remember (2002), Jamie, a preacher’s daughter, is made fun of for being a “…bible hugging, crucifix wearing, honk if you love Jesus…” person. Her boyfriend, Landon, is also persecuted because of his relationship with her. His friends become angry with him, fist fights one of them, and loses their friendship completely because of his relationship with Jamie. This persecution continues throughout the movie until she reveals that she has leukemia. After the discovery of her leukemia, the teen society becomes more accepting of her and of Landon’s relationship with her. This parallels The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne was shunned by society for adultery until it is revealed that the father of her child is the reverend that the town had so greatly esteemed. Even though Jamie and Hester Prynne are persecuted for opposite things, they both made social moral infractions.

The social and moral infractions present in Hawthorne’s time are clearly seen in society today. Punishment for breaking the social moral code shows there is no freedom of identity in society. In The Minister’s Black Veil (Hawthorne, 1836) and The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne, 1850), freedom of identity outside the social moral code was not accepted. In essence, there was no social freedom then, likewise, there is no social freedom in society today. According to The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus (Jewell, 2007, pp. 477), “Freedom implies a total absence of restraint” for an individual. In Hawthorne’s day, a slight deference from the socially accepted moral code would lead to physical imprisonment, banishment, or death. This is not true freedom. The type of punishment for committing a social moral infraction today can lead to social imprisonment, banishment, or death. This is seen in the teen movies listed above. The social climate, both then and now, does not accept any variance from the social moral code.
Reverend Dimmesdale committed a social moral code infraction, but was able to hide it from society, therefore, not receiving the punishment given by society. Reverend Dimmesdale, being the one who committed adultery with Hester Prynne, shows the corruption in the church as well as in the society. Hawthorne also used this as the basis of his story Young Goodman Brown (1835). The reaction and loss of faith by goodman Brown, because of the Salem witch trials and the death of those he revered in the church, is an example of how Hawthorne viewed church corruption. Church morality and government merged in the lawmaking process corrupting both the church and the government.

Both Young Goodman Brown (1835) and The Scarlet Letter (1850) show the corruption of morality in government. Hawthorne reinforces Thomas Jefferson’s idea of the separation of church and state and that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (Hutson, 1998, para 2). Hawthorne shows through the reaction of goodman Brown that the Salem witch trials were a corruption of the government. The corruption of the government because of the social need to enforce morality also reinforced Jefferson’s belief that in a “condemnation of the alliance between church and state,” and that there should be “a wall of separation” between the two (Hutson, 1998, para 4,13). Hawthorne links this belief with society in Young Goodman Brown.

Hawthorne sets Young Goodman Brown into a contest of Puritan rigidity and self-doubt to allow his contemporary readers to see the consequences of such a system of belief (Wahlpart, 1998, para 2).
In society today, those same issues are addressed in government, resulting in the fact that between 1947 and 1948, religion was no longer legally taught in public schools. Since then, prayer has been removed from public schools and the Ten Commandments have been removed from court houses. This separation has not stopped, however, the government from issuing a national day of prayer or open campaigning based on religious beliefs. Both the inability to pray in school without persecution or punishment, and the requirement for certain religious values in government prove the lack of freedom in government and society.
Persecution and punishment for practicing religious beliefs is a fundamental reason why people fled to America. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about the blur between religious practices and government in The Scarlet Letter (1850) and Young Goodman Brown (1835).In both stories, the line between religious beliefs and governmental laws were blurred. People were jailed and killed for breaking laws that were religiously based. This violated the fact that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” (Hutson, 1998, para 2). The inability to pray in school, and the necessity of proving certain moral values during election proves the second half “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (Hutson, 1998, para 2) is infringed upon in society today. This also is not true freedom. The ability to freely express morality in society regardless of the social majority’s view is what freedom means.

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote on the subject of morality in American society and the persecution of those who oppose the majority in moral beliefs. Hawthorne called attention to the corruption of morality in churches, in government, and in society; in doing so, he exposed the lack of freedom in American society. The blur between social religious values and the government has caused a lack of freedom that America was created to protect. The lack of ability to step outside the social norm without punishment and persecutions is what Hawthorne wrote about. That lack of social freedom is still true today.

References

Di Novi, D. & Hunt Lowry. (Producers), & Shankman, A. (Director). A walk to remember [Motion Picture]. United States: Warner Brothers Pictures.
Hawthorne, N. (1836). The minister’s black veil. In N. Baym The Norton Anthology American Literature. (Seventh Ed. pp. 622-631). W. W. Norton & Company, Inc: New York.
Hawthorne, N. (1850). The scarlet letter. Bantam Books: New York.
Hawthorne, N. (1835). Young goodman Brown. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology American Literature. (Seventh Ed. pp. 605-614). W. W. Norton & Compaty, Inc: New York.
Hutson, J. (1998, May). A wall of separation. Library of Congress Information Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2010 from, http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danbury.html
Jewell, E. (2007). Synonym study: Liberty. In The Oxford American desk dictionary and thesaurus. (2nd ed. pp. 477). Berkley: New York.
McCabe, M. (1998, July 27). The consequences of puritan depravity and distrust as historical context for Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown. Florida Gulf Coast University. Retrieved June 6, 2010 from http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/Hawthorne.html