The Grizzly Saints vs. the Gay Sinners: How does Hawthorne portray the characters in the "Maypole of Merrymount".

I believe that Hawthorne is more partial to the people of Merry Mount. He portrays the Puritans in a more negative light from the very beginning. In the first real mention of the Puritans in "The May Pole of Merry Mount" is right after Edgar and Edith, Lord and Lady of the May get married. In the story Hawthorne tells how "Two hundred years ago, and more, the old world and its inhabitants became mutually weary of each other. Men voyaged by the thousands to the West". Some came to barter goods; others came to "conquer virgin empires"; but the people of Marry Mount simply came to get aw…