Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is set in Puritan Massachusetts, where ideals are based on conformity to strict religious laws. This idea of legalism is seen throughout the Scarlet Letter such as the scaffold and the Letter “A”. Yet Nathanial Hawthorne is not commenting on the price of sin but is questioning if puritanical laws of punishment should be held to the same stature as Forgiveness and compassion. The town’s people for her sin of adultery punish Hester; she is forced to be branded with a Scarlett “A” who forever is a reminder of not only her sin but also the town’s people’s disapproval. She also must Scaffold to endear the townspeople’s dismay causing her to be ostracized with her daughter, Pearl “For the accumulating days,
