The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Puritan societies were based upon religion and righteous doings, the judgment of the sin adultery, committed in Nathaniel Hawthone’s The Scarlet Letter, would be one that would have a punishment of death. Hester Prynne, in the beginning of the story, stands on trial with the letter A on her chest and her baby, Pearl, in her arm waiting to be publicly viewed and forced into total isolation. Married to Roger Chillingsworth, Hester commits this sin with no one other than the Reverend Dimmesdale, the most looked upon person in the society; although the society does not know Dimmesdale as the father. As time passes along, Dimmesdale, haunted by this sin, begins to isolate himself, and since the people do not know of his wrong doings he also scourges himself as a punishment as well, and even when his sin is publicly known people seem to have a different reaction than what their reaction with Hester was. Society’s views of sin and wrongful doings sends people into isolation, whether by their own choice or by the choice of society. They use isolation as a way to create a point that someone should be avoided for fear of them being different or evil, being born or inhabited by the "black man" or devil.

Hester Prynne, after committing adultery, is sentenced to wear the scarlet letter as punishment, but what society is also trying to accomplish is labeling her so they can create a feeling of isolation, as well as a public lesson on sin. An example of this would be the letter itself: “But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer, so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time,— was that SCARLET LETTER, so fanta...

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...ere worshiping him and would have never known that he had sinned had he not come before them and confessed his wrongful doings.

Through isolation, characters in The Scarlet Letter paid for their sins and wrongdoings, from it being isolation forced upon them to isolation chose by them. Hester was isolated by society, but was also isolated by herself as well. Pearl, though young, was isolated by society, herself, and her own mother. Dimmesdale was isolated by himself only, never by the public due to the fact that his sin was never public until he was on his death bed. Isolation will follow anyone throughout life, if it is brought on by themselves or others, it will always be human nature to isolate the people who are outcasts or do not seem to fit the mold of society.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam, 1981. Print.