Nowadays, many in the United States would feel it was ridiculous for someone to be publicly tried and punished for committing adultery; that it is a personal matter which people should confront amongst themselves, not with a court. This has not always been the case, however, as shown through The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a story of sin and love in a small Puritan town in the 1600s. Hester Prynne is put to trial for committing adultery, having a child with another man whilst her husband was away for multiple years. As her punishment, she is instructed to wear a large letter ‘A’ upon her bosom until her last breath. In the Scarlet Letter, the letter A Hester bears upon her bosom begins as a representation of Hester’s shame, but ultimately…
Public Humiliation Public humiliation was a acceptance with the Puritans, and how they treated people who sinned. Nathaniel Hawthorne made Hester Prynne the main character the one who committed the biggest sin of all. Adultery, and she wore A on her chest that only changed her appearance. ‘’Concerns Raised on ‘’Scarlet Letter’’ for Drunk Drivers”. By Toni Locy thinks its ok to put a letter on the driver's licence of people that drink and drive.…
Sin and Guilt Sin can do terrible things to the people in this world. It can destroy lives, destroy relationships, and even destroy a person themselves. In The Scarlet Letter, sin takes center stage for most of the course of this book. Hester is punished for the sin she committed. Dimmesdale goes as far as torturing himself because of his sin.…
Over time as we think about what we have done, we start to regret it and feel ashamed, but we know God can forgive us. In The Scarlet Letter we started to compare our society to Hesters. Hester’s society was more harsh than ours is today, although back then who knows what the punishment could have been. Hester knew she could be forgiven by God, but she just didn’t know…
The Strong, Sinful Woman Hester Prynne was ostracized by the society around her for many years following the birth of her daughter Pearl. Since the day she walked out of the prison door people were calling her names and saying she should be put to death, but no matter how many hurtful names the townspeople came up with to throw at her, she always accepted them and said nothing in return. Hester’s crime of adultery went against the town’s religious morals because that strictly disobeyed one of God’s rules. The women of the town tyrannized Hester, but along with the pain and loneliness she experienced, she reacted with generous charity and tolerated isolation from the people around her. Hester Prynne was an immensely strong woman living in a repressed society because she accepted her punishment wholeheartedly, responded…
In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the reader is introduced to Hester, a young woman that has committed adultery. Hester was a humiliation and disgrace to the Puritan society due to her sin. She is put on the scaffold to be humiliated in front of her town, then placed in jail. On page 64 it states, “Of an impulsive and passionate nature, she had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely, wreaking itself in every variety of insult…” This quote demonstrates the shame and degradation that she was put through.…
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne adulteress Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet ‘’A’’ to mark her shame. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is filled with gilt, while her husband, Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. Even though Hester ends the story as a heroine,she plays a victim throughout via extreme societal judgement. After all, she is forced to wear the scarlet ‘’A’’ Hester wears it on her chest with her head held high on the scaffold. As she walks through the streets she feels as if other were judging her alone.…
In Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, he develops a distinction of his ideas on what is good and what is evil through the usage of symbolic evidence and the development of the character’s personalities. Hawthorne’s idea of what is “good” is the beauty of forgiveness, as this is what the story develops upon and how the story plot ends. Hawthorne’s idea of “evil” is the dark personalities inside of us all that affects the way we treat others. The main character, Hester Prynne, is portrayed as evil to the faint eye but Hawthorne is able to show the reader the good in Hester’s actions. Hawthorne’s writing is very true to himself, he writes in an elevated style that is, at some point, hard to comprehend.…
The townspeople react to her sin and punishment with cutting remarks such as, “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. Madame Hester would have winced at that, I warrant me” (59-60). Hester had to endure her public shaming and remarks like this which seems like a horrible punishment that one would try to avoid. The scarlet letter was supposed to cause people to remember her sin every time they looked at her. However, after a while the townspeople started to forget the meaning of the letter.…
Hester is sent to Jail and publically humiliated because of a sin. The townspeople are the ones who should be punished for their brutality and their ignorance. Hester’s thoughts and actions are in the wrong place according to the people yet the peoples thoughts and actions are wrong according to Hester. Even though Hester is shunned and alienated she stays humble and…
People make decisions every day that can affect someone’s life in many different ways depending on the severity of the decision. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne showcases the decisions in the form of sin in the Puritan lifestyle. The novel goes through the daily lives of New England Puritans as they struggle through the harsh punishment of sin. One of the main characters, Hester Prynne, is the first character shown to receive consequences for the sin she commits. Hester has an adulterous relationship with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale; who is idolized in the community for his holiness.…
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the story of Hester Prynne overcoming her sin, shame, and isolation from Puritan society. The novel is prefaced by “the Custom House” which introduces the narrator and tells of how he came to find the scarlet letter. Hester’s story begins with her leaving the Boston jail where she was imprisoned for adultery. She is forced to stand on a scaffold in the middle of town while holding her child Pearl so everyone can see her ignominy. While on the scaffold, Hester is begged by the young Reverend Dimmesdale to tell the town who the child’s father is so he can share her punishment but Hester refuses.…
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne describes how Hester 's punishment for her crime of adultery was to stand on a public scaffold for three hours, wear a Scarlet Letter upon her bosom, and to be excluded from social affairs. More information about Hester 's punishment can be found on page 64. According to (classroom.synonyms.com, "What Happened to the Puritan Women if Caught in Adultery?"), men were punished in a less harsh manner for having committed adultery. "Adultery was considered a more serious offense for women, who were often viewed as temptresses." (classroom.synoyms.com).…
"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart", claimed a townswomen in The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne p. 36). Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, her lover, are punished publicly and privately because of the sins they committed. In the Scarlet Letter, the use of the characterization of Hester and Dimmesdale demonstrate that private punishment is stronger than personal punishment. Hester suffers from many forms of public punishment, it begins with the prison.…
1. The sin Hester Prynne commits is adultery, one of the gravest sins a person could commit in the 17th century puritan society of New England. Hester’s immediate punishment is that she has to wear the scarlet letter, and face the social ridicule that comes with it. Hester will never be able to blend in with the society around her, and instead be required to bear the consequences of her sin at all times. Hester, being cut off from mainstream society moves in to a small cottage outside of town.…