Public Shaming In The Scarlet Letter

“ 1988, I lost my reputation and my dignity. I lost almost everything, and I almost lost my life.” Monica Lewinsky is a woman that was affected by public shaming. Public Shaming is a consequence that is served when a human makes a mistake. Often it is a crime that is legal and people still get persecuted. The three sources that support my claim is the scarlet letter, Monica Lewinsky, and Justine Sacco’s issue. These sources display negative effects of public shaming towards the people is unjust. Public shaming causes cruel punishments, depression and it should be left in the past. 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
token in thy sleep? Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideous dreams? She verifies the burden of the letter on her chest that it is out in the open for people to judge. One other person women named Justine Sacco was going on a trip to Africa and makes a joke stating “I hope I don’t get Ebola just kidding I’m white.” This woman tweeted this out on twitter. When she landed she “was fired from her job, effective 12 hours later.” This woman just made a joke on twitter and lost all of social media footprint and her source of income. For what Justine did was unfair the comment may have been racist but still was legal. The public shaming that came upon this woman was awful. “Within hours people threatened to rape, shoot kill and torture her for a crime that was legal, both Hester and Justine faced horrible punishments for crimes that are unbearable. Lastly, respect given to person when being publicly shamed is irrational.
It can cause someone to take their own life because they believe it is the easier way out. Source B states “I was branded with names like slut, tramp, and whore. The Respect given to Monica Lewinsky was at an all time low. Even though she knew President Clinton had a wife she did not think once. Source C, Justine Sacco made the joke on twitter creating an outrage on people threatening her and her family about killing and raping them. This women was given no respect for the what she did, sure it was not right but what people did to her was
unbelievable
In conclusion public shaming can cause cruel punishment, depression, and should be left in the past. Depression can make somebody feel like they are under water and drowning with nobody there to help. Cruel punishment is unjust because the punishments given are extremely worse than what they should be. These public shamed people acts were legal and should have had no consequences. Public shaming should be left in the past because it is an old age tradition that is way more dreadful and cruel.