" The Scarlett Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in Massachussets ,throughout the Puritan Era. In this time people were extremely religous and had imense fear towards God. Religion and government were one at this time, so ministers made court ruling in court cases. Sinning was most forbidden , so when Hester Prynne was commtited of adultery she was shunned,scorned at and excluded from society. For punishment she had to wear the letter "A" on her bossom to announce to everyone that she was the one who committed adultery. She became the symbol of women's sinful nature and is pointed out where ever she goes by ministers and moralists. She stayed very calm for the sake of daughter Pearl. When she was released from prison she lived in a small house near the shore, isolated from the rest and spent her days with her needles. She sewed many eloquent gourments that would not be allowed to worn by the common people. Pearl was the only person that was obviously always around Hester. Hester is scared that her daughters beauitiful, angel like appearance will be transformed into something ugly and devilish. She knows she committied a sin so she strongly believes that God would not give her a beautiful perfect gift , Pearl.
Question: Is it fair that Hester is punished to wear an "A", is excluded and shunned for her sin, knowing that probably many other women have comitted the same sin?
I personally don't think it is fair, however, i question as to why she is punished so quickly without the city even doing a search for the guy who helped commit this sin. As we all know, it takes two to make a baby. I wonder if it has to do with the era in which they were in. This brings me to my second question, is it just to punish someone more harshly than another solely based on their gender? Just because a woman gives the actual birth, it takes the man to inject his sinful sin into a woman.
ReplyDeleteIt is not fair, but one of the only reasons for which I believe Hester is being punished publicly is because she has a visual representation of the sin she committed, which is Pearl. If she did not have Pearl, I am sure others would not have known unless it was seen by another person. Like Ashley said, it takes two to create a child. Yet, they did not look for the other person. Would this be because she did not give much importance to who it was when she was being asked?
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