Moral Ambiguity In Scarlet Letter And The Outcasts Of Poker Flat

“The most painful moral struggles are not those between good and evil, but between the good and the lesser good.” - Barbara Grizzuti Harrison. “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and The Scarlet Letter both contain ordinary characters that demonstrate the inborn moral ambiguity in everyone.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is branded a criminal for her sins. She is exiled from her community despite being a kindhearted woman. “It was perceived, too, that while Hester never put forward even the humblest title to share in the world’s privileges,...she was quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man whenever benefits were to be conferred.” The characters from “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” were banished even though they generous people. “...take the bundle from under my head”...in it contained Mother Shipton’s rations for the last week, untouched. “Give ‘em to the kid,” she said, pointing to the sleeping Piney.” These quotes demonstrate that despite being criminals, these characters aren’t villains.

Although these characters are good-natured, their actions are immoral. Hester and John Oakhurst are both convicted of crimes against their communities. They are seen as sinful miscreants and for

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is exiled from her community because of her sins. Although everyone in the town sins, it is the way Hester’s were presented to them that makes her seem so wrong. They could not accept their faults, so instead, oppressed Hester and Pearl. “Thus the young and pure Would be taught to look At her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,... -as the figure I the body. the reality of sin.” The outcasts in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” were treated much like Hester and Pearl were, despite religion not being very significant in their town. “A secret committee had determined to rid the town of all improper persons...two men who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the