What is the meaning of the excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter?
Final Answer: The excerpt from The Scarlet Letter indicates that the prison and cemetery were among the first establishments built by the forefathers of Puritan Boston, symbolizing their commitment to moral order and community structures in accordance with their religious beliefs.
Explanation:
The excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter details how the infrastructures of a prison and cemetery were some of the first establishments in the New England Puritan society of Boston. The mention of Cornhill and Isaac Johnson's lot underscores the specificity of locations where these significant and symbolic Puritan structures were erected. The prison symbolizes the Puritans' commitment to maintaining a strict moral code, while the grave at Isaac Johnson's lot provided the foundation for what would become a larger burial ground in the area, illustrating the importance of a community collective around places of death.
Puritan New England was notable for its unique labor system and maritime economy, but also for its religious and social aspirations. These were famously captured by John Winthrop's phrase "a city upon a hill", conveying the idea of an exemplary Christian community that also drove the physical and judicial structuring of their society, with laws and punishments reflecting their devout beliefs. The Great Migration saw thousands of Puritans, including the educated and privileged, settle in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, enforcing their religious beliefs and creating a model of reformed Protestantism, which inevitably included places like prisons and burial grounds as fundamental institutions.