Public Shaming In The Scarlet Letter And The Price Of Shame

“You're Ugly”, “You look weird” these are just a couple of examples of public shaming that are often occurring on social media today. Public shame is known for humiliating and dishonoring people, Are there any benefits? Or should public shaming became a thing of the past? In the Scarlet Letter (Source A), Hester Prynne is known for being a sinner and is shamed because of it. In the Price of Shame (Source B), Monica Lewinski has been publicly shamed for having unnormal feelings for her boss, which happens to be the president of the United States. Is the Internet a Mob without consequence (Source C), the article explains how people on the internet can say whatever they want and not have any consequences. Public Shame impacts an individual in

In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Price of Shame by Monica Lewinsky, Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky are publicly shamed in their social lives. Hester is shamed by her entire town, For example,”In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbours. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 60). This elaborate quote explains how Hester would be humiliated in front of the entire town with her baby in her arms. The Letter a is a symbol for shame because when people recognize the letter, they realize who she is and how they react is just shameful. In another case, Monica Lewinsky was also socially shamed, for example,”What that meant for me personally was that overnight i went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide.I was patient zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously”(Lewinsky 3:51). In this case Monica is shamed socially because people worldwide would contribute to making fun of her and it took toll on her. The social shame is on another level for Hester and Monica,

In the TED talk, The Price of Shame by Monica Lewinsky, “At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss, and at the age of 24, i learned the devastating consequences” (Lewinsky 2:35). In this quote, Monica is being shamed professionally because she implies that she lost her job because of the mistake she made. Similarly in The New York Times article, Is The Internet a Mob Without Consequences?,” She (Justine Sacco) deleted her entire social footprint online, including her Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and was fired from her job, effective 12 hours earlier” (Bilton 6). This is another case in which the person receiving the hate lost their job and it is mostly from the fact that companies don't want to hold onto these people who are receiving all of this shame because it leaves a bad mark on their company. On top of that, when these people who are receiving the hate like Justice and Monica want to get new jobs, they will be more cautious with hiring them because of their past mistakes. As a result, professional shaming can affect one's life