There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny. Frederick William Robertson. The setting is seventeenth-century Puritan inhabited, Boston Massachusetts: a society that is dull, incarcerating, unforgiving, and parochial. The narrative is repetitive in describing the Puritans as hypocrites, for example, Puritans claim to not believe in luxury and abstain from activities that are luxurious, however, Governor Bellingham, a Puritan, enjoys luxuries in the privacy of his own home and is living a double life. The scarlet letter “A” that Hester wears on her chest for public humiliation, stands for adulterer. Hester is the wife of elderly scholar, Roger Chillingworth, Roger uses his knowledge to be a type of
