Hester Prynne Punishment Quotes

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Hester Prynne was a young woman who had a child out of wedlock which resulted in her being punished for adultery. The punishment for this sinful act was for Hester to stand on a scaffold to be interrogated and shamed publicly and to also wear a scarlet “A” for the rest of her life. People who sin will eventually be disciplined or punished for their preceding wrongful acts.
The novel The Scarlet Letter was set back in the 17th century in a community of Puritans therefore during that time period adultery was not tolerated. The Puritans planned on making this disgraceful act be taken with her to her grave. “Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved on her tombstone” (Hawthorne 42). Hester was aware …show more content…

Unfortunately, they still let others determine if they fit in with everyone else, just as the Puritan’s did. For example, Hester was forced to wear the scarlet letter because it allowed everyone to know she committed adultery. Most people place labels on those who do things that are not approved of, but the label that is placed upon them cannot be seen. The label is just placed inside of their minds and it triggers their emotions due to the pressure to fit social standards. It is obvious that the novel The Scarlet Letter’s portrayal of how being judgemental can affect a person did not spark a change in today’s society. These labels that are placed on person affects their mental state and they tear them down emotionally. The opinions of the Puritans,as well as the society, turned Hester into a person who was helpless after she was rejected. But farther on in the novel, she realized that the community’s opinion does not matter, the way she viewed herself did. “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate.” (Hawthorne 134). The pain and hardships that she faced could have been avoided if she would not have put herself in a risky predicament. Therefore since she made the decision to sin she received public

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