Biblical and Classical Interpretations of the Witches of The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

Biblical and Classical Interpretations of the witches of The ruddy Letter The chemical group of witchcraft is woven into the fabric of The Scarlet Letter. The introductory Custom-Ho substance ab engross chapter includes an appeal by the author to remove any witches curses on his family. Once he takes us back to the Boston of the 1640s, he frequently hints to the highest degree the cohorts of the Black adult male who meet in the woods beyond the town. But if the reader understands the incorrupt meaning of the countersign witchcraft such(prenominal) as used in the Bible and other classical works, then we understand that Hawthorne had something more in mind than the sad cultists like Mistress Hibbins. The real witch of The Scarlet Letter was a far more sinister character, a record who makes a significant statement about the nature of man. The Greek red-hot Testament and Septuagint on Witchcraft Witchcraft occurs only once in the King James modernistic Testament and necro mancy twice--Galatians 520, manifestation 921 and 1823. The word in the Greek New Testament in all three cases is pharmakeia, derived from the word pharmakon (drug), the line of the English word pharmacy and its cognates. The standard koin Greek-English Lexicon translates the word as sorcery or magic, but its cognate sorcerer (pharmakous) used in disclosure 218 and 2215 is translated mixer of poisons as closely as magician. The root of both words, pharmakon, literally means poison or drug.1 A few key Old Testament passages about witches which be often associated with the puritans such as Exodus 2218 (Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live--KJV) use pharmakous in the Septuagint--the word translated sorcerer in Revelation 218 and 2215.2 The Greek New Testament and the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures use different words such as mageia (magic) when other types of cryptical practices like calling on spirits or using curses are meant. In English such words are usually t ranslated wizard, necromancer, or some other appropriate word or phrase.2 Because of the Greek word chosen in each case, it appears that the New Testament authors and Septuagint translators understood the brain of witchcraft in terms of the use of drugs or poisons. Finding the Witch according to this Definition Now there is a character in The Scarlet Letter who would be convicted of witchcraft, Mistress Hibbins. She characterizes the witch of New England folklore such as we see in Young Goodman Brown.