Hester Prynne's Punishment In The 18th Century

John Calvin had many people who followed him and agreed with his reformation on the church so he called them Calvinists. Calvinists broke with the Roman Catholic Church, but were different from the Lutherans. In 1536, John Calvin wrote a book, which was about how he believed the Protestant church should be managed. He believed in hard work, discipline, honesty and morality but had fines for swearing, fighting, dancing or laughing in church. He closed theatres and frowned on fancy dresses.

Both of these characters commit adultery and both live in the same restricted Puritan era. Yet, Hester is publically ashamed, isolated from the Puritan society, and remains a legend, while Abigail is revered, embraced by her society, and in fact is a ruthless woman; Hawthorne 's Hester is the epitome of atonement and morality, while Miller 's Abigail is an illustration of authority in the wrong hands, and the destructive impact jealousy and vengeance can have on a person. The circumstances which both of these women live in play a large role in shaping their characters. Abigail is a pariah in the society who has painful experiences with love, which are major contributing factors in making her resentful. Miller creates an atmosphere of a really restrictive society in Salem.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Pearl Prynne is the most symbolic character. Throughout the novel, she is portrayed as the main symbol of adultery. Pearl’s name comes from Hester’s constant reminder of her sin and “as being of great price,-purchased with all she had,-her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne). Hester was seen as an outcast by her community. The letter “A” she wore symbolized adultery and having Pearl makes her sin more obvious.

All of these characters have either been a victim of hypocrisy or have been exposed by hypocrisy by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne is seen as the unlawfully convicted by being burdened with the scarlet A, but does the punishment fit the crime? Hester Prynne did indeed commit adultery, but the burden of the letter A on her chest caused more harm than good. For example, the townspeople would gossip, insult, and even preach, about her while she was at church, just passing by, even while her child was present. The Puritans are so hypocritical that they claim how holy they are, but are so hateful.

The Pilgrims and the Puritans were very similar; they had similar ancestry, history and goals. They were English Protestants who believed the Church of England was in need of reform. Both groups play a significant role in American history. The Pilgrims started a holiday that is very well known today, Thanksgiving. Puritans are well known for conducting witch trials and burning people on suspicion of witchcraft or heresy like the incident in Salem.

This ‘injustice,’ which is a synonym for unfairness, can be caused by something as simple as race or gender and can be found in all parts of history. In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, faces multiple accounts of injustice towards her and her child because Hester cheated on her husband with another man. In the beginning scene, she receives her punishment for this by being forced to stand on a scaffold with her child for everyone to look at with the scarlet letter ‘A’ embroidered on her chest. The crowd is so outraged at her adultery that one woman is heard saying “this woman brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne). Further in the book, the townspeople continuously refer to Hester’s child, Pearl, as a ‘devil child,’ constantly connecting her to her mothers sin.

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells the story of a misguided women who fails into the trap of love. Through the use of symbolism, Hawthorne presents the development of characters such as Hester and Dimmesdale; this in turn helps prove the idea that people can change over time. The symbol of the letter A aids with the development of Hester. The letter A, in the beginning of the novel, embodies the sin that Hester has committed. She wears the letter A as punishment for her crimes.

John Wilson. Ms. Hester Prynne is the protagonist of the story and she ends up committing adultery and is forced to wear the letter “A” embroider on her clothing to shame her in front of the community. Pearl who is Ms. Prynne’s daughter who seems not to pure to many and is still young enough to be saved in a religious view, and is constantly forcing Hester to try to let them keep her daughter to train her properly to grow up as a Puritan or Quaker. Roger Chillingworth is the actual husband to Ms. Prynne’s who had sent her to Boston before him since he had to deal with affairs in Europe and had eventually got captured by Native Americans upon arrival to Boston and stuck around to try to save Ms. Prynne from embarrassment because he still cared deeply about her even though she had an affair with someone else in his absence. Reverend Dimmesdale is the actual father to Pearl and was the man to have had an affair with Miss.

In The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates Hester Prynne, who is affected by the sin resulting in a psychological novel. Hester’s sin of adultery affects her. The Boston community abhors Hester, including the young children who throw mud and rocks towards her. In

This novel focuses on a female heroine’s affairs and romanticized view of the world to create a disparity between her fantasy and reality. This story was notoriously made successful by the perceived obscenity of Flaubert’s message of adultery and vice that led to a court trial. The use of precise and evocative language in the text exemplifies to readers everywhere the pertinent and appalling features of the new middle-class from beginning to end. The bourgeoisie is satirically criticized of its weaknesses and failures in this provincial tragedy through Charles Bovary’s mediocrity, Emma Bovary’s ennui, Monsieur Homais’s conventionality, and Monsieur Lheureux’s

In the novel, “The Scarlet Letter”, Hester Pyrnne is the main character in the book. Hester commits a crime of Adultery while she was married, Hester must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. All throughout the book the characters try to figure out whom Hester committed the crime with. Is Hester a winner, sinner, victim, or object? I believe that Hester is a sinner.

Hester Prynne was a Victim Living during the Puritan era has its setbacks. Hester Prynne was harshly victimized for adultery and it was not taken lightly by her Puritan judges. Hester was a victim of her time because, she was caught in a “love triangle between herself, her minister lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, and her husband, now called Roger Chillingworth”. (Seabrook) Hester was also a victim because, “Her imagination was somewhat affected, and, had she been of a softer moral and intellectual fibre, would have been still more so, by the strange and solitary anguish of her life”. (Hawthorne pg 85) Another reason Hester is a true victim because “ Hester Prynne did not now occupy precisely the same position in which we beheld her during the