The presence of crime was a difficult, unwanted aspect of both Puritan society and life in the eighteen hundreds that had to be dealt with in order for society to remain fully functional. Justice systems were used over the course of this particular time period to create laws, maintain order, and to justly convict criminals that threatened the societal peace in an attempt to reduce the impact of crime within communities. Laws created by these systems reflected the standards held by the majority of the population, and they worked for the greater good of all members in a particular community. In Hawthorne’s book “The Scarlet Letter,” he was able to combine both the Puritan Law and common modes of punishment from his lifetime to create Hester Prynne’s sentence. The basis of Hester’s punishment came about from the Puritans’ justice system; however her punishment was not completely identical to Puritan law because their system put adulterers to death. This system was founded on Biblical doctrine and principles, and it enforced the laws laid out in the Bible through the use of magistrates. The magistrates were chosen by the people and they were …show more content…
The most prominent difference is that despite Hester’s sin of adultery that is punishable by death, she is allowed to live. Furthermore, she is not given a trial by jury within the direct words of the text which makes the magistrates who were over her trial the supreme authority rather than just the executers of a jury’s conviction. Contradictory to Puritan methods, Mrs. Prynne did not receive any sort of physical punishment; however, she did receive emotional punishment in the hopes that she would be positively changed. Her emotional pain can be seen throughout her experiences following the somewhat merciful sentence from the
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempted to expose the varying ways in which different people deal with lingering guilt from sins they have perpetrated. The contrasting characters of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale ideally exemplified the differences in thought and behavior people have for guilt. Although they were both guilty of committing the same crime, these two individuals differed in that one punished themselves with physical and mental torture and the other chose to continue on with their life, devoting it to those less fortunate than they.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of a young adulteress named Hester Prynne and her bastard daughter, Pearl, as they endure their residence in a small town of the Massachusetts British settlement in the1600s. Pearl’s illegitimate birth is the result of the relationship between Hester Prynne and a minister of the Puritan church, Arthur Dimmesdale. Through public defamation and a perpetual embroidery of an “A” upon her dress, Hester is punished for her crime. Whereas, Arthur choses to suppress the secret over illuminating the truth and endures internal and self-inflicted punishment as consequence.
They both committed adultery, which then became the root of all of the issues within their respective stories. How this was known to be wrong was the commandment given by Jesus Christ in the Bible, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” This makes their sins completely equal to each other. The punishment inflicted upon them was different however. Hester was forced to wear a scarlet letter A and bear her shame and John was executed. Hester suffers from the intense shame and ridicule as it is stated, “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.” It is remarkable to know that both characters felt a physical weight of their guilt. And it’s rather profound when John confesses his sin. He said. “I have known her, sir. I have known her.” All the while he was trembling and weeping, showing how much he truly feels his sin. Whether or not it is true, is it society’s place to judge individuals based on rumor and or hearsay and carry out
So in that society Hester Prynne is punished. In society’s minds, she committed adultery. Hester punishment was to stand in front of all the people in town for three hours. People could yell at Hester and she had to stand and accept their verbal abuse. When Hester stood on the platform, that was showing her sin of adultery. The Puritans looked down on Hester. Rev. Hale committed adultery and no one knew this besides Hester. Rev. Hale was bothered because he was keeping the secret of Hester committing adultery with him. Rev. Hale was getting really sick because of this, and he was whipping himself for self punishment. He knew in his position that society would not accept his sin.
John Winthrop aimed to created Christian utopian society when he founded the puritan community, he failed in this goal. Even with his failure, people still thought of the society as pure and just. What he engendered instead was a community whose theology denied human being’s free will, filled with paranoia, racism, sexism and hatred of sexuality and youth. These themes are clearly represented in the Scarlet Letter. The hatred of youth is shown early on in the novel, when Hester Prynne first enters from the prison, “This woman [Hester Prynne] has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statue-book.”(199). The aged ugly woman who makes this statement is used by Hawthorne to serve as representative for the puritans, while Hester represents youth and sexuality. The undeserving punishment of death for the crime of adultery only further demonstrates the extremities of this so-called perfect society. While perhaps seen as God’s will that a person who commits adultery must die, it is instead the government’s way of controlling the people by fear and terror so that t...
Hester wants to protect the ones that she loves --, Pearl, Dimmesdale, her husband -- , even though she suffers more from it. In the Bible, it is one of the commandments is, to not commit adultery. When the gGossips were saying that they wanted Hester put to death (Hawthorn, 1994, p.g 36 lines 17-18), they were following the law of the Old Testament, but now that Christ died for our sins, we do not have to be put to death for our sins; we can ask for forgiveness of our sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne wanted to portray the life of an adulteress in a Puritan colony; he did so by writing how Hester’s sin affected other people, as well as the character’s strength throughout the book. The law from the Old Testament is portrayed by the people of the colony when Hester was on trial. At the end of the book, Hester Prynne is still wearing the letter, but she was presenting herself differently compared to the beginning despite the fact that the letter still made her heart ache from memories of the
A harsher punishment will show the towns people that it is not acceptable to commit sins and that doing so comes with an unfavorable punishment. Besides, some of the town’s people already feel as is Hester's punishment is not as harsh as it should be. One towns person said, "At the very least they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead" (Hawthorne 44). Another said, "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die" (Hawthorne 45). Also, it says in the Bible, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23). Hester’s sins are defiling her. The only way to save her is to have her punished, and to have her repent for her sins. Only then may God let her in to Heaven. The best way to help her is to have a hqarsher punishment so that she may repent and be
In the beginning of the novel, Hester Prynne exits the prison of the Puritan community of Boston, a large letter “A” clearly visible on her chest and a child in her arms. This is the first time the letter makes an appearance, and it is here where readers realize Hester has done something terribly wrong. The letter “A” sewn onto her clothes initially represents “adulterer”, but who exactly is the father of Pearl, the child Hester is holding, if her husband has been missing for two years? The townspeople would love to know the answer to that question, too, but it is only revealed to readers a few chapters into the story as being the unexpected Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale faces an
Hester Prynne’s sin was adultery. This sin was regarded very seriously by the Puritans, and was often punished by death. Hester’s punishment was to endure a public shaming on a scaffold for three hours and wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life in the town. Although Hawthorne does not pardon Hester’s sin, he considers it less serious than those of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester’s sin was a sin of passion. This sin was openly acknowledged as she wore the "A" on her chest. Hester did not commit the greatest sin of the novel. She did not deliberately mean to commit her sin or mean to hurt others.
By Hester committing a sin, they weren’t being sentenced to eternal damnation, she was. All the townspeople did was make Hester’s life a living hell. However, ironically, Hawthorne contrasts the goodness and strength with the cruelty of the religious Puritans. The letter ‘A’ upon her breast harsh cruel enough. It was “represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it” (Hawthorne 97). Hester’s identity was swallowed by her marking. Nobody knew the true Hester Prynne because the society connected the letter to her morality. Hester wasn’t a person who should be damned to Hell, but the Puritans thought so when they saw her chest. Hester almost escaped this life of being enslaved by the letter, but “Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but out loud, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation” (Hawthorne 180). She chose to live her life with the embroidery upon her chest,
In The Scarlet Letter, the idea of sin and punishment is the main theme of the novel and how Hester Prynne, the main character, has been punished for her sin of adultery. As Nathaniel Hawthorne states in this novel, "In the view of Infinite Purity, we are sinners all alike." This statement puts a big question mark on the true lives of the Puritans. If we all have once committed a moral wrongdoing, why is this young woman so harshly punished for her sin?
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, focuses on the Puritan society. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. The crime of adultery committed by Hester generated rage, and was qualified for serious punishment according to Puritan beliefs. Ultimately the town of Boston became intensely involved with Hester's life and her crime of adultery, and saw to it that she be publicly punished and tortured. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the Puritan society, Hester's entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception. Therefore it is evident within The Scarlet Letter that the Puritan community to some degree has constructed Hester's character.
Religion was one of the major reasons for European settlement in America. One of those religious groups was the Puritans, who established a society with strict moral codes. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about the Puritan occupation with guilt. Their rigid laws dictate that Hester Prynne be harshly punished for her infidelity. The people of the community take punishment to the extreme, forcing her to endure more than necessary without logical justification.
Hester’s role in the story is described as sleeping with a priest and got accused of committing adultery and got punished by having to wear a scarlet letter “A” on the breast of her gown (Hawthorne 71). Hester Prynne’s punishment is to go to prison and then with her child, Pearl, go and stand out on the platform in front of everybody wearing her scarlet letter on the breast of her gown (Howells). Hester...
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional novel that begins with an introductory passage titled ‘The Custom-House’. This passage gives a historical background of the novel and conveys the narrator’s purpose for writing about the legend of Hester Prynne even though the narrator envisions his ancestors criticizing him and calling him a “degenerate” because his career was not “glorifying God”, which is very typical of the strict, moralistic Puritans. Also, although Hawthorne is a Romantic writer, he incorporates properties of Realism into his novel by not idealizing the characters and by representing them in a more authentic manner. He does this by using very formal dialogue common to the harsh Puritan society of the seventeenth century and reflecting their ideals through this dialogue. The Puritans held somewhat similar views as the Transcendentalists in that they believed in the unity of God and the world and saw signs and symbols in human events, such as when the citizens related the meteo...