An interim response
Sami wins the most punctual prize for this week! The 2 posts thus far, Sami’s and Richard’s, are both excellent treatments of all the readings, astutely combining the historical documents, the essay by Godbeer, Foucault’s theoretical considerations, and the novel itself. This is no easy task, and it shows a strong sense of the complexity at work in analyzing a novel in its historical context. Bravo!
In light of the historical context, one thing I want everyone to keep in mind is the dual time frame for the novel. It is set in the earlier period—the one of the documents by colonial governor Bradford and the laws—yet it is written in the mid-19th century by a male author of New England. Thus we have Hawthorne’s mid-19th century—or Victorian–take on the Puritan era—and that makes things both more complicated and fun. The effects of this dual temporality will make for good discussion tomorrow in class.
