How Is Hester Punished In The Scarlet Letter

“Whose is the greater guilt therein when either’s conduct may dismay: she who sins and takes the pay, or he who pays her for her sin?” (Cruz 296). In the 1600’s, when a woman commits adultery and brings shame upon her husband she is often put to death as punishment. However, in Hester Prynne’s case she is shamed with a scarlet letter and excluded from society. In the novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Hester is forced to wear a Scarlet Letter “A” upon be bosom for the rest of her life. Yet, why is one person punished when the act of adultery must be committed by two? Hester’s partner in the sin committed, Mr. Dimmesdale, even though he was not revealed until the end of the story, would not have faced a punishment so severe.
It seems that throughout the novel and the poem written by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Misguided Men, each text backs up the difference in the severity of punishment for men and women in the case of adultery. First of all, because of Hester’s wrongdoing against her husband she was forced to wear a Scarlet Letter “A” for the rest of her days and must stand on the scaffold for 3 hours so she could endure the judgement and the stares of the people around her.
As she stood on the scaffold she held, Pearl, the child she bore because of her sin. Hester endured this horrible punishment, but where was her partner in all of this? Mr. Dimmesdale was standing beside the magistrates watching all of this silently, not wanting anyone to know that he was also a part of this crime. Yet, what if his name was spoken and revealed? Would his punishment have been this severe? At the end of the novel, when Dimmesdale reveals he also shares Hester’s sin many citizens afterward still did not believe that such a godly man would do this. In the novel it reads, “ ...spectators of the whole scene…denied that there was any mark whatever on his breast…Neither, by their report, had his dying words acknowledged… the slightest connection, on his part, with the guilt for which Hester Prynne had… worn the scarlet letter” (Hawthorne 285). They simply remained ignorant and refused to state that they saw the scarlet letter upon his breast. Many townspeople believed that his confession of the transgression was not a confession, but rather a passionate sermon on this subject. However, if Hester would have confessed it would have been easy to believe because women were seen as weak and the main culprits of adultery.
In the poem, written by Cruz, it shares this same aspect, “There is no woman suits your taste, though circumspection be her virtue: ungrateful, she who does not love you, yet she who does, you judge unchaste” (Cruz 296). The poem explains that though society judges the woman, it is often the man who will lead her into the sin and will judge and not love them if they do not follow through. The poem and novel both show that though women are the ones usually effected by the wrongdoing, so they are punished the most severely by men.
Secondly, in the novel Hester is excommunicated from society because of her act of sin. As it says in the book, “Lonely as was Hester’s situation, and without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however incurred no risk of want” (Hawthorne 90). Except for her daughter Pearl, Hester was completely alone in her cottage. Even the poor rejected her, though she gave them food to eat. People saw her as an outcast. But, would they treat Dimmesdale this way? They would not. In the poem it says, “Misguided men, who will chastise a women when no blame is due, oblivious that it is you who prompted what you criticize” (Cruz 295). Here is another connection between the novel and the poem. They show example and support that though both men and women are sinners in the crime of adultery, only the women become the outcasts and are ridiculed by men.
Finally, another comparison seen in both the novel and the poem is that both explain how women are seen as an example of weakness and sin.
After Hester committed adultery and was forced to wear the scarlet letter, she could no longer go to church without the pastor speaking about adultery and using her as an example. The novel reads, “If she entered a church, trusting to share the Sabbath smile of the Universal Father, it was often her mishap to find herself the text of the discourse” (Hawthorne 95). Even when Hester walked the streets and was simply trying to live a normal life, she often ended up getting called out for the transgression she committed against her husband. She was now seen as an example of woman’s frailty and weakness. The poem also similarly shows that women are seen as weak in relationships and sin. In the poem it says, “...how, after leading them astray, can you wish them without strain?” (Cruz 296). This shows that men, and even women themselves, saw women as weak and unable to live life without a male figure in their lives. Then, if they are led astray they are severely shunned and punished. Both the poem and novel show that in the 1600’s women were seen as the weakness and more as sinners than
men.
In conclusion, both the novel, The Scarlet Letter, and the poem, Misguided Men, are very similar in themes. Both conclude that in the 1600’s and even today women are seen as the main culprit in adultery. Many girls would be put to death for their sin, but the man in the relationship would not have faced a punishment so horrible. Both texts support and show how uneven the punishment was for men and women who committed adultery.

Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Marco Books Company, 2001. de la Cruz, Sor Juana Inés. “Misguided Men.” from Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden, Bilingual Press, Tempe, Arizona, 1985.