1. Public humiliation deters “inappropriate” behavior and is a suitable form of punishment; however, public humiliation should not be used during a person’s formative years. Gossip spreads like wildfire, as exemplified in chapter 2 on page 45, as five women are gossiping about the punishment of Hester Prynne: “At the very least, they should put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead.” A man that these five gossips do not know even throws in his two cents on her punishment. With Hester
In the previous chapter Eleven; The Interior of a Heart, Dimmesdale would whip himself for the sin he had committed; adultery. The guilt has been eating him away from what Hester has to go through every single day with the Scarlet Letter. Also, Chillingworth finds out that Dimmesdale is the real father of Pearl and has any intention to use it at his will. Dimmesdale becomes famous for his speeches to the townspeople and countless times tries to tell the townspeople of his act of adultery with Hester
In Chapter 18 of his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne utilizes characterization, imagery, and organization to devise a juxtaposition of the origins and effects of sin amongst the protagonist, Hester Prynne, a humiliated, yet dignified woman who learns to cope with the effects of adultery in a relatively repressive society, and Arthur Dimmesdale, a previously renowned individual who futilely endures the prolonged deterioration of his emotional and physical spirit. Similar to that of