Scarlet Letter Consequences

Consequences in The Scarlet Letter

There are two sides of consequences for almost everything that

happens in life, directly or indirectly. In life, we could learn mostly

from the consequences, rather than from the punishments of our actions. If

the consequences are good, we know that the action should be repeated,

sometimes. If bad consequences outweigh the good, we know repeating would

not be wise. Hester Prynne of Nataniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter,

learns from punishment and the consequences of adultery, but from which

does she learn more from?

Punishment from the magistrates was

Hester also had to wear an embroidered

A of scarlet cloth upon her chest. The A symbolized that she was an

adulteress, and should not be associated with. Hester had also been

banished from town, and branded an outcast. Even though she did not name

her lover, so that he could be punished, he did not go unpunished.

Reverend Dimmesdale had taken it upon him to stand on the same platform

that Hester had, and he also whipped himself. The whipping did not

Torturing his soul.

A good side of Chillingworth's torturing Dimmesdale had emerged. The

doctors actions led Dimmesdale to come to reality, and face the music. He

opened up and took responsibility of Hester and Pearl. Dimmesdale stopped

avoiding them and learned to be a fatherly figure for Pearl.

Which do you think Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth learned the

most from? Did the punishment or the consequences teach them their lessons

of life??? If lessons are learned through punishment, will the moral of

the lesson be absorbed? Will you get the point get through while you are

mad or in pain? If life is learned through consequences, you have the time

to let it sink in while dealing with life and the consequences. I