Why Did The Puritans Treat Sin In Their Society

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From the beginning of time, people have judged others, often leading to alienation or abandonment. The Scarlet Letter is about a woman named Hester Prynne who commits adultery and is alienated from her Puritan society. She was miserably judged and made fun of the rest of her life while living with two of her consequences. One of these consequences was her daughter, Pearl, who was a constant reminder of her sin. The second consequence was a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals the standard of how the Puritans treat sin in their society, and what the Puritans believe is right and wrong through Hester Prynne’s experiences with sin and alienation. Hester Prynne’s sin of adultery brought out the true hypocritical, and judgmental Puritan values. The Puritans believe…show more content…
However, the Puritans treat sin very differently than God does. “...a penalty which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself” (Hawthorne 35). Compared to today, the Puritans had a much more strict society. They did not take sin lightly, but thought it should have a severe punishment. The Puritans did not forgive Hester Prynne of her sin like God would have. The Puritans wanted people to be humiliated, by punishing them in front of the whole town. “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead” (Hawthorne 36). The Puritans always wanted the worse punishment and a punishment that would always be there for those who
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