Governor Bellingham

E343617

Governor Bellingham is a stern, aristocratic colonial magistrate in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "The Scarlet Letter," symbolizing the rigid authority and moral judgment of Puritan society.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Governor Bellingham canonical 1

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Statements (38)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character
literary character
appearsAlongside Reverend John Wilson
appearsIn The Scarlet Letter
appearsInChapter The Governor’s Hall
associatedWith Puritan legal system
colonial government
concernedWith maintenance of Puritan law
public order
contrastsWith Hester Prynne
creator Nathaniel Hawthorne
embodies legal authority over individual conscience
social conservatism
exercisesAuthorityOver Hester Prynne
Pearl
fictionalUniverse Puritan New England
gender male
governs Boston (fictionalized Puritan community)
literaryFunction contrast to inner guilt of Arthur Dimmesdale
embodiment of external judgment
literaryRole symbol of Puritan authority
symbol of rigid moral judgment
mansionSymbolizes hypocrisy of Puritan leaders
worldly wealth
moralAlignment strictly legalistic
nationality English
occupation colonial magistrate
governor
personalityTrait aristocratic
stern
residesIn a grand, elaborate mansion
settingTimePeriod 17th-century Massachusetts Bay Colony
socialStatus upper class
supportsPunishmentOf Hester Prynne
symbolizes institutional power
legalistic religion
rigid authority of Puritan society
treatsAsMoralIssue Hester Prynne’s adultery

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Roger Chillingworth appearsWithCharacter Governor Bellingham