Preview

Fair Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
345 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Fair Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
Many people think that Hester’s punishment was fair. However, in reality, her punishment was cruel and unusual. Hester Prynne’s punishment was not a fair punishment. It caused her embarrassment, people to talk about her, and it was rubbing off on her daughter, Pearl.
Hester’s punishment of wearing the letter “A” was not a fair punishment and caused her embarrassment. For example, when Hester stood on the scaffold she felt very embarrassed because everyone in the town stared at her and judged her for the crime she committed. According to the text, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, when Hester stood on the scaffold she painfully realizes her present position of shame and punishment when she remembers her past life (Hawthorne 49.)
Furthermore,
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter Ap Language Quotes
    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Scarlet Letter Ap Language Quotes

    This quote perfectly describes the Scarlet Letter and how it will be affecting Hester for the remainder of her life. Her punishment (to wear the letter “A” on her breast) will always create stares of judgment, wonder, and disgrace. This quote caught my attention because the scarlet letter must be something so interesting that people who Hester knew were looking at her like they were just seeing her for the first time.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Scarlet Letter Study Guide
    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Scarlet Letter Study Guide

    2. Hester was condemned to wear the "Scarlet Letter," as punishment for adultery. The scarlet letter was the letter "A" and is a symbol of shame. It was meant to single out the wearer for their sin and ostracize them from the community. Hester's pregnancy and Pearl's subsequent birth were the reason she was publicly shamed by the Puritan community. The scarlet letter is bright red with gold thread. The symbol symbolizes Hester being “able.”…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hester Prynne: Among The Labeled In The Scarlet Letter
    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hester Prynne: Among The Labeled In The Scarlet Letter

    The Puritan Era was the most religious time in American history; committing any sin was seen as an act of rebellion. In that time the sin of adultery was taken very literally to an extent where the women were forced to wear the letter “A” across their bosom to show the people of the town what they had committed. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne’s sin results in such a punishment, but as the reader gets deeper into the book, a prominent and more profound understanding of Hester can be reached. It is through her struggles that Hawthorne gets across his primary themes. Hawthorne illustrates his theme through Hester's struggles that becoming an outcast can help one achieve a profound grasp of who they truly…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter Composition Essay
    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Scarlet Letter Composition Essay

    When The Scarlet Letter was written the Author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, discovered many ideas and facts about the Puritan community. Knowing this Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about how women in the 17th century lived and how strict the society's rules can be, one major rule that was followed strictly phonate was “Actions spoke louder than words, so actions had to be constantly controlled.” (nd.edu). When the book begins it starts with introducing Hester and how she has done this huge violation according to the bible, maybe even causing the death penalty upon herself. As The Scarlet Letter goes through the timeline of how she is isolated and is shunned from the society; eventually, Hester slowly becomes part of the society by being the pure character she really was. This lets her take off the scarlet “A” and change the meaning of Adultery to the meaning of Able. Hawthorne decribes the climax of Hester’s story by expressing, “The letter was the symbol of her calling. such helpfulness…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale's Redemption
    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dimmesdale's Redemption

    Even though they both sinned, they each spent their lives gaining penance in their own way. Hester was an outcast of the community. Moreover, she got treated as the town punching bag practically. As a result, she always was in pain and suffering even if she didn't show it at times. Additionally, she knew that she had to bear the weight of the “A” on her bosom. Hester could have been happy and felt free by removing the scarlet letter, but instead she kept it on because she knew she had to in order…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Capital Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Capital Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    Capital punishment was wide spread in Puritan Boston. Although the Bible was a moral guide, societies were swarmed with crimes and sins. The punishments included severe whipping, imprisonment, slitting nostrils, and public execution on scaffold(“Puritan”). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, although the two main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale are guilty of the similar sins, they experience different punishments and outcomes.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hester Prynne Social Pressure
    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hester Prynne Social Pressure

    The Scarlet Letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This essay discusses how Hester is a victim of her social pressure. She was punished for something she did to achieve her dream of having someone that loves her. Hester committed adultery with minister Dimmesdale and had a child with him, Pearl. Her punishment was to stand on the scaffold with her child and wear the letter A on her breast as a sign of her “crime”. Due to the strictures of the puritan society, Hester Prynne suffers from public shaming. She almost lost her only child, and was not able to openly love who she wanted.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter Quotes And Analysis Essay
    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Scarlet Letter Quotes And Analysis Essay

    The scarlet letter A is meant to be a mark of shame for the adulterous act Hester is known for.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Feminism In The Scarlet Letter
    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Feminism In The Scarlet Letter

    In the beginning of the novel, Hester’s community, specifically the goodwives, discuss how they are angry with Hester’s punishment because they think it is not severe enough. One of the goodwives says, “I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!” (46) This quote shows the community’s resentment of Hester near the beginning of the novel. However, later in the book, it is revealed that as the years have gone by, Hester gained much respect and love through the community because of her hard work and her charity services. Her symbol, the scarlet letter, has also changed in meaning over time. Now, it is not a symbol of sin and isolation, but instead a symbol of Hester’s strength and kindness. Hawthorne says, “Such helpfulness was found in her,--so much power to do, and power to sympathize,--that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They say that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Public Shaming In The Scarlet Letter
    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Public Shaming In The Scarlet Letter

    First, cruel punishment is something that is given to you that is way more dreadful then what it should actually be. Hester Pryme is a victim of a cruel punishment that she truly did not deserve. Chapter 5 of Scarlet Letter “Here, she said herself had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment, and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost more saint like, because the result of martyrdom.” This exposes how cruel Hester’s punishment was. The stress and hatred brought upon her was unbearable. Page 74 of the Scarlet Letter “ I leave with the scarlet letter alone! How is it Hester? Doth thy sentence blind thee to wear the…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Shame In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Shame In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    again. Since Hester’s punishment was public she was greatly humiliated by the scarlet letter and…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter
    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

    In this part of the book, the ‘A’ represents one of the worst sins that a person could commit; adultery. There really weren’t many other sins back in those days that were worse than sexual impurity. Hester’s crime was so serious that her punishment would follow her around for the rest of her life. Even at the beginning of the story Hester is feeling the weight of her punishment on her chest. Hester’s punishment really began with her on the scaffold, being mocked by the whole town. The book said, “Yet those same bleared optics had a strange penetrating power, when it was their owner’s purpose to read the human soul” (46). One of the most important things to Hester was to not give up her pride and her dignity. This quote just expresses the pain and agony that she felt when she was being mocked by the members of her community; but she stayed strong and didn’t let her feelings…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Hester Prynne Change
    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Hester Prynne Change

    In the book The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is convicted of adultery and ordered to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest as a permanent sign of her sin. Hester is sentenced to never take off this badge of shame, and doesn't until chapter thirteen. As the novel proceeds, Hawthorne presents several questions that are left unanswered. How does the nature of the letter "A" seem to change? What role of does Hester's own response to her situation play in changing the meaning of the letter "A"? How does the letter "A" come to be seen as a symbol of the mysterious connection between human experiences (sinful in nature) and a kind of wisdom that would be impossible without failure? Why does Hester not tell who Pearl's father is when she is on…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Feminism In The Scarlett Letter
    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Feminism In The Scarlett Letter

    The scarlet letter brings with it the punishing mockery and humiliation from her fellow Puritans, so continuing to bear this mark requires a great amount of strength. Hawthorne wrote Hester’s character to seem beautiful yet powerful in that she believes her own sinful ways cannot be redeemed or reconciled without proper punishment. Until Hester believes that she has renounced her sinful ways and learned from her mistakes, she will not allow herself or anyone in the town to remove the letter. During her discourse with Roger Chillingworth regarding the removal of the scarlet letter, Hester responds, “It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge...Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport” (153). Hester believes that it is not in her own power or the power of the town to remove the scarlet letter from her bosom. Although the letter can be physically removed, it cannot be removed by God until Hester becomes worthy of its removal. Hester also discusses the removal of the scarlet letter when she faces public humiliation for her crimes near the beginning of her story. Near the end of the novel, when Hester returns from Europe to Boston without Pearl, Hester still continues to wear the letter. Hawthorne describes this event when he writes, “But her hesitation was only for an instant, though long enough to display a scarlet letter on her breast. And Hester Prynne had returned, and taken up her long-forsaken shame” (233) Although Hester has already completed her punishment of bearing the shame of the scarlet letter, she still continues to wear the letter after returning. This not only characterizes Hester as a determined woman, but also shows how the scarlet letter has become a part…

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Identity In The Scarlet Letter
    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Identity In The Scarlet Letter

    Hester Prynne's scarlet letter is a symbol of the beauty in being true to one’s self. Her “A” is a badge she must to wear to shame her for her sin. One would think that removing the badge would come as a blessing to Hester. However, in chapter 14, Chillingworth tells Hester, “It was debated whether or not with safety to common weal, yonder scarlet letter might be taken off your bosom,” to which Hester calmly replies, “It lies not in the pleasure of magistrates to take off this badge…” (122; Ch 14). Hester wants to decide her own identity rather than allow others to choose it for her. Removing the letter would show that the letter was a symbol of shame to her and would exemplify society's power over her. Hester is shameful of her scarlet letter but would never let society know. Because the wears the…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics