Theme of Punishment in Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter: The Theme of Punishment

Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter deals with many themes, the most

powerful being punishment. In this novel, Hester Prynne becomes a

highly respected person in a Puritan society by overcoming one of the

harshest punishments, the scarlet letter. This object on "her bosom";

however, does the exact opposite of that which it was meant for.

Eventually, Hester Prynne inverts all the odds against here due to her

courage, pride and effort. Hester went beyond the letter of the law

and did everything asked of here in order to prove that she is "able."

Hester became quite a popular seamstress, admired all over the

town of Boston for her work. Hester is modest in everything that she

does. Hester herself wears only poor clothing while she embroiders

marvelous works for the rest of Boston. The only piece of clothing

forbidden to create was the wedding vail. How could a woman wearing

the scarlet letter create a dress that represents the values of

marriage; having committed sin as she did to be involved in the

marital bonds of another couple. Although she does the job willingly

and rarely ever looks back to the horrid past behind. The scarlet

letter was constantly worn by Hester with pride and dignity. Hester

knew that what was done in the past was wrong and that the scarlet A

was the right thing to do, therefor it is worn with a sense of pride.

The child, Pearl, is "a blessing and as a reminder of her sin."

As if the scarlet A were not enough punishment there "was a brat of

that hellish breed" which would remind Hester of what happened in the

past. The "brat" could have been given away to Governor Bellingham yet

Hester proclaimed that Pearl "is my happiness!...Ye shall not take

her! I will die first!" Not a person in Boston, nor Hester herself

thought highly of the little child and