Essay on Effective Punishment in Hawthornes The Scarlet...

Effective Punishment in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne, Author of The Scarlet Letter, criticizes that the style of punishment used by the Puritan Religion was radical, inhumane, and cold. He argues that the outcome of their punishments was damaging to the characters and their personality. However, this accusation is false. The punishments although seemingly inhumane, caused positive outcomes for all three characters Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne, and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne is accused of adultery in a Massachusetts puritan colony in the 1600s. (Hawthorne, 49) Although Hawthorne argues that Hester Prynne was hardened both socially and physically by puritan punishment, the outcome makes her more independent and†¦show more content†¦From her Sin, Hester became aware of the inequalities within Puritan society, and sought to make change, hoping that women would one day see the equality she was never been able to experience. Without her sin, she would have never contemplated such an independent, positive, and radical idea that offers such a beneficial outcome for women in her imbalanced community. Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale is the accomplice of Hester Prynne, they together, committed an act of adultery. Hawthorne argues that Dimmesdale sinks into a deep depression of moral shame. The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul (Hawthorne,134). He argues that the effects of the puritans cold punishments could only give a harmful outcome. Although it may be true that Dimmesdale sinks into a deep depression after feeling guilt from his crimes, the outcome was not purely negative. Dimmesdale begins to preach about the crime he commits, which improves the quality of his sermons, because the puritan community begins to accept them with great enthusiasm. He preached a discourse which was held to be the richest and most powerful, and the most replete with heavenly influences, that had ever proceeded from his lips(Hawthorne, 145). His guilt, from the sin, actually benefits his sermons and his expressions as a human b eing.Show MoreRelatedHester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter Essay906 Words   |  4 PagesD.H. Lawrence’s criticism, â€Å"On the Scarlet Letter,† criticizes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Lawrence finds fault in how Hester’s sin of adultery is glorified in the novel. D.H. Lawrence argues that Hawthorne mischaracterizes Hester Prynne as a heroine by using choppy syntax, biblical allusions, and a sarcastic tone. One rhetorical device Lawrence effectively uses to argue that Hester is mischaracterized as a heroine is choppy syntax. 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(Chase 127) In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents a very clear view of his stand on morality, which he carefully cultivates through the course of the story. The moral, which is Be true! applies equally well to all of the characters in the novel. Though his view does seem to stand as true through the length