Scarlet Letter Essay

Scarlet letter

The Puritans back then had very strict punishments for breaking the laws. If you broke a major one like murder or adultery in Hester Prenn's case then you were sentenced to be stoned to death. In The Scarlet Letter Hester committed adultery and was brought to court. The normal punishment was to be stoned but because Hester was so beautiful and she was a mom they spared her. She was still punished though and it affected the rest of her life and those that were close to her.A good start. You have some insightful parts. Add your name. Write in present tense. Correct the spelling. You butchered the names of the characters. How does the punishment contribute to the theme of the novel? What is Hawthorne telling the reader through his choice of punishment? -Kristinaturner 10/5/07 9:20 AM
Hester from now on had to wear a big A on her clothing so that everyone would know that she commuted adultery. This was supposed to embrace her and she was ashamed by it for a while. Hester's embarrassment also made a very bad impression on Pearl, Hester's child. People thought she was a devil possessed and Pearl was sort of a sign to the people of Hester's sin. Little kids would throw rocks at Pearl and make fun of her so Hester and Pearl had to move to the otter edge of town. Not only did this scarlet letter affect Hester it also affected Demmesddale, which is the guy she had the affair with. "In his secret closet under a lock and key there was a bloody scourge." This quote from the book is talking about how Demmesdale felt very bad for Hester and wanted to be punished but he was to scared. Scared to confess he punishes himself in secret to make himself feel better because he knows that Hester is taking all the blame and he is to scared to tell the truth.
Meanwhile Chilling worth does not blame Hester for cheating on him even though she is his wife. He knows that he is old, and ugly and not good enough for her. He is however mad at the person who had the affair with Hester which was Demmesdale. Chillingworth did not know who it was, though he suspected it was Demmesdale. "Who is that Hester I shiver at him." This is Chillingworth talking about Demmesdale and he knows that there is something suspicious about him. Demmesdale knows that Chillingwoth is angry and is on to him so he keeps his distance.
Over the course of time Hester changed the meaning of the scarlet letter. It was meant to embrace her and to mock her. Hester helped the poor and the widows and people started looking at her differently. Instead of looking at the letter and thinking how dirty and bad she was they saw the lettered and remembered how kind she was. Hester switched the purpose of the letter so it didn't really affect her anymore, but Demmesdale on the other hand kept going down hill. Even though no one knew he was the one who had the affair with Hester and he didn't have a scarlet letter, hiding the truth just destroyed him. "More than once Demmesdale had gone into the pulpit with a purpose to reveal his secret." This quote is saying that Demmesdale did feel very awful for Hester he still couldn't bring himself to have enough courage to tell the truth to the people. This secret he keeps slowly destroys him until he died from being so sick for what he had done.
The Puritans punishment for Hester not only affected Hester but also her child, Chillingworth and defiantly Demmesdale. Hester seemed to have pulled through the hard times Demmesdale however did not and he eventually died from all the stress. Even though the scarlet letter didn't destroy Hester it affected her life a lot and it killed Demmesdale even though it was not meant to.