Trials Essay 4: Hypocrisy?
Write an essay of at least four paragraphs discussing hypocrisy in Puritan New
England as portrayed in The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. Be sure to support
your points with examples and/or quotations from the novel and the play. Utilize the
following scheme:
* Introduction: Introduce the concept of hypocrisy. (Use the dictionary if you aren’t
clear about what hypocrisy is.) Explain what the prevailing moral climate of Puritan
New England was and where these ideas arose. Conclude the introduction with a
thesis statement that tells whether or not, based on your reading of The Scarlet Letter
and The Crucible, most people in Puritan New England lived up to that society’s
morals or were hypocrites.
* Paragraph 2: Choose at least one character from The Scarlet Letter and at least
one from The Crucible who you think are hypocrites. Explain why these characters
are hypocrites and compare them. Give examples including quotations from the
novel and play to back up your statements. Use parenthetical notes after quotes and
specific facts you relate from the texts. Sum up your paragraph at the end.
* Paragraph 3: Choose at least one character from The Scarlet Letter and at least
one from The Crucible who you think are not hypocrites. Explain how these
characters demonstrate their basic integrity. Compare their situations and their
actions. Give examples including quotations from the novel and play to back up
your statements. Use parenthetical notes after quotes and specific facts you relate
from the texts. Sum up your paragraph at the end.
* Conclusion: Conclude with your over opinion about whether Puritan society, as
portrayed in these works, tended to live up to its own moral values. Which of the
characters you have discussed seem to be typical? Which appear to be exceptional?
Use other characters to back up this opinion.
Note: When using quotations, be sure they are relevant to your point and provide context and
discussion. Don’t just dump them in without discussing them.
Please do this without reference to outside sources. I am more interested in your ideas that
someone else’s, and this will help you learn to analyze better, which using someone else’s ideas
won’t. If you must go to outside sources, they MUST be cited even if you put an idea into
your own words, but I really don’t want you to go to outside sources. Failure to cite sources will
lead to no credit in the class. Come see me to discuss the topic before the deadline if you are
stuck rather than going to an outside source.
Schedule: Due: Wednesday, October 23 by class time
Revision Deadline: Wednesday, October 30 by class time
Try to get it in sooner!
********Don’t hand in drafts without quotations in both paragraphs from both texts!!!!!!