Scarlet letter critique
Scarlet letter critiqueHester Pyrnne is a Puritan woman that thinks that her husband is dead or lost at sea. She has a love affair with Dimmesdale that no one knows about but themselves. Hester is ridiculed for it because she has a baby resulting from it, however nothing is done to Dimmesdale by his fellow Puritans because no one knows that he took part in the affair and is the baby’s father. The Puritans show their disapproval of Hester by doing a variety of things like spreading rumors, outcasting her, and even sewing a scarlet letter “A” to her bosom. So is what being done here right? How about other Puritan views and attitudes? Are they right as well? Well, it is clear that Hawthorne doesn’t think so, and he shows this in so many ways and symbols that it is at some times hard to unfold. He clearly states in his writing that the Puritans are sinners themselves in the way they act because they are stubborn and believe that their way is the only way.
There are many examples in the book that show these views that he has. The first sign of these views came in the second chapter. Here she is ridiculed by the entire Puritan society because of the adultery that she has committed, but they don’t let her get off easy. They put her on the scaffold in front of the whole town to be made an example of, and the whole village just starts talking about her and the scarlet letter on her bosom. Why do they do this? Probably because they are afraid to become just like her. So what did they do? The Puritans made an example of her. They were so bent on keeping the perfect society that whenever anyone did something wrong they felt that they had humiliate the person to avoid this type of situation from occurring again. However, in all probability this wasn’t the first time that this had occurred in the community. It was just the first time that anyone had been caught in the community. So it scared people to think that they were just like her.
For the very same reason of ridicule,...
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