It seems to be that the more we learn about the early Puritans that immigrated to America, the less we understand them. We envision small towns in which all the women wear dark colored, long sleeved dresses while the men are dressed in a dark suit with a black Farmer’s cap in hand. We think of movies such as The Crucible that depict this group as a clan of religious zealots who held disdain for anything and everything which the world had to offer. While this could have been somewhat true for the earliest Puritan settlers in North America, it is completely inaccurate for the later Puritans such as Elizabeth Freake. The painting, Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary is so powerful because it breaks down some of the oldest stereotypes of her faith,…show more content… Some argue that Elizabeth and her family represented a much more liberal view of puritanism, which may have been frowned upon by others in the faith. However, when we look into her life’s history and first hand accounts of her peers, this seems to be unlikely. Elizabeth was known by her peers as a pious woman (Worcester Art, 2006). Historical records indicate that she participated in religious practices and was an active member of the Second Puritan Church of Boston. There are also records of all of her children being baptized in that church. Later in life, she became acquainted with Samuel Sewall, who was a well-known Puritan, and later became famous for presiding over the Salem Witch Trials. Upon her death, Samuel Sewall described Elizabeth Freake as, “[A woman of] great character, as to her piety, charity, and exact walk.” (Sewall, 1973, Pg. 704) Given these insights into her history, it is extremely difficult to believe that the majority of the Puritan community would have considered Elizabeth Freake’s privileged lifestyle as depicted in her portrait to be extremely liberal or ostentatious. Especially considering that Judge Sewall of the infamous Salem Witch trials considered her a woman of “exact walk”. This suggests that the Puritan community would have looked at her portrait, and perhaps the entire concept of humility differently than we might
