Theme Of Punishment In The Scarlet Letter

Many people expects everyone to be perfect, but perfect in their own way. Making a mistake in this century is carried in a personal matter unless it’s involves more people. Dealing with the consequences given for your punishment makes it hard for people especially in the puritan times. During the puritan times, public shame was a normal thing for the community to discover. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynn commits adultery and has to face the consequences with the townspeople, governor, and many more surprising characters. Hester Prynn is the perfect example Hawthorne uses to show how the puritan society treats her punishment. In “The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses imagery and personification to show how guilt can destroy someone.

“The scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as must always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame in a fellow-creature, before society shall have grown corrupt enough to smile, instead of shuddering at it. The witnesses of Hester Prynne’s disgrace had not yet passed beyond their simplicity. They were stern enough to look upon her death.” (Hawthorne 86). I think the witnesses looking upon Hester’s death was overwhelming for her because no one was there to support her while the townspeople wanted something different. I think that because she had to show people around her, that committing adultery wasn’t the end of her life. Hester has been treated at her worst by the townspeople. “She said to herself had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment.” (Hawthorne 120). I think Hester’s guilt has really changed her because everyone expects her to be stuck with the scarlet letter until they no longer want her walking. But she does have her times where she gives up and where she's a strong