Scarlet Letter
In the course of a lifetime a person will commit a wrong-doing. This act may as
trivial as speaking out of turn, or it may be as serious as committing a murder.
Following
the incident a person is usaully admonished or punished by a person on a higher level.
The punishment given can take many forms. In the book The Scarlet Letter, By
Nathaniele Hawthorne, The protagonist, Hester Prynne, is punished for an act of adultery.
Her sentence was to bear a scarlet letter of "A" upon her bosom. This punishment is a
form of public humiliation. In the 1620's this form of punishment was one of the
severest sentences given. The people would want the guilty to suffer in front of his
fellow man. To keep the person from hiding himself from his humiliation, they produced
a device that would hold the hands and the head of the culprit in front of everyones
view.
According to Hawthorne,"There is no outrage more flagrant...than the culprit hiding his
face in shame" (p.54). In my opinion this form of punishment has become practicaly
extinct in today's society. It makes no difference, to most people, how someone sees
them. We are at a time where the only thought that matters is yours. This book has
confirmed my feelings toward this type of punishment. I knew that it was unorthodox in
today's society and I still beleive it.
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