The Changes in Adultery

Adultery is not treated the same today as it was in the time of the Puritans. In Puritan times one could be arrested, lynched, and publicly embarrassed for committing lechery. In the current day and time adultery and lechery are looked upon as if it is nothing important or immoral. There are many opportunities to learn about the changes in adultery in the play write The Crucible, and the book The Scarlet Letter.

In The Crucible, a young girl named Abigail Williams has had relations with John Procter, who is in his mid-thirties. John has a wife so he has committed adultery. Not only has he committed adultery but having an intimate relationship with Abigail is illegal because of her age. In present times it is unlikely that anybody would press charges on him for committing adultery, but people would take serious action because of the age difference between Abigail and John.

In The Scarlet Letter, a woman named Hester Prynne is living a single life with a young daughter that she had out of wedlock. Her husband sent her ahead of him to a new town and he did not return as he had planned. She did not remain faithful to her husband and had an intimate relationship with another man and became impregnated. The government incarcerated Hester and let her out after she gave birth to her child. She was made to wear a scarlet letter "A" on the breast of her clothing for the rest of her life so that everyone would know of her sin. In present times someone would never publicly embarrass a person for committing adultery.

In Puritan times, when immigrants or pilgrims were coming to the New World from other countries, adultery was seen more much more sinful than we see it today. Back then, adultery or lechery was a crime that was punishable by hanging, incarceration, being publicly embarrassed by being condemned to show proof of your sin daily, and being banished from your community. In today's time people would never take it that far. Most people would not even press charges on the person. It is punishable by law, but it is not likely that a person would do such a thing. Today, adultery is a cause for broken relationships, not a cause for death.