Re: Hawthorn and William Bradford
“I regard it as an impious and detestable maxim that in matters of government the majority of a people has the right to do everything, and nevertheless I place the origin of all powers in the will of the majority.”
– Alexis De Tocqueville
An apparition of Tocqueville appeared in front of me last Thursday, flailing his arms in a manner similar to that of drowning person. Briefly, he reminded me of the theory of the Tyranny of the Majority. He believed that a society ruled in favor of the largest faction. Those who opposed conventions were ostracized. Hester Prynne, in Hawthorns tale, bore the child of a premarital affair and thus, was blacklisted by the majority.
Hawthorn writes, “…a people among whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and severest acts of public discipline were made venerable and awful.” The spirit of the story is present in this quote and fragments of the story’s ethos are scattered sporadically around the narrative of a young mother being scrutinized for her alleged wrongdoings. Hawthorne delves into a world where sexuality is so much more than taboo—it is a crime punishable by death.
William Bradford recounts the story of a young man “detected of buggery…with a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves and a turkey.” He was sent to his death and so were the animals. His theory is that foreigners have brought along their licentious behaviors and have begun recruiting disciples for their wicked practices.
The Massachusetts Colony’s Laws on Sexual Offenses is the rudimentary model for sexual repression. Homosexual behavior, bestiality, premarital sex, and pretty much anything going on in modern Amsterdam were good enough reasons for execution, albeit punishments against rape seem justifiable.
Sexuality in Puritan life was strictly utilitarian and individualism didn’t really seem to matter. The puritans were a pretty homogenous group of lads. There was to be no sexual conduct outside marriage and they worked and lived by the word of God. Anyone who strayed from the group was branded—like Hester Prynne—and was made an object of public scrutiny—a figure of ignominy. This is the power of the majority, as Tocqueville had suggested.
So, Hester Prynne, who is the seed-shooter of thy offspring?
It seems like a question only Maury could answer.
