The Scarlet Letter
What is the relationship between religion and law in Puritan New England?
Chapter 2: “The Market-Place”
Chapter 2: “The Market-Place”
This town functions as a theocracy meaning their narrow interpretation of the Bible is the law. According to the legal statutes at the time and the prevailing sentiment of keeping in accordance with a strict interpretation of the Bible, adultery was a capital sin that required the execution of both adulterer and adulteress--or at the very least, severe public corporal punishment.