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Puritan Society


The society made her face all these tests and suffer all these punishments because she was an insult to them; she was an individual and that scared them(Buitenhuis 30): "These "perfect" Puritans threw her out of their lives because she was not a drone to their ways, but a distinctive person"(Buitenhuis 10). Punished already by living outside her community, the people were still not satisfied with this punishment and chose to pass their negativity on to their offspring. "Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast as the figure, the body, the reality of sin"(83). The mothers of the children in the community would point her out and tell their childern not to be like her. They would use her as an example of the consequences of being and individual and going against society's rules. "Children to young to comprehend wherefore this women so be shut out from the sphere of human charities coming forth along the pathway that lead town ward; and, discerning the scarlet letter on her breast, would scamper off with a strange, contagious fear"(85).
             Fear was the motivation that drove the Puritans to exclude Hester Prynne from society. This society was afraid that it would fall apart "in a land where iniquity is searched out and punished"(68) if they did not seek out those individuals that were immoral in their eyes. Their fear and wickedness drove them in their quest to do what they felt was right. Everyone could be glad it was not he or she(Smith 350). .
             In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne sympathizes with his sinners some sympathy, and gives the transgressor some chance. Hester accepts society's condemnation and does not run away from her problems. Hester does not leave the comunity and is willing to accept the consequences of her past decisions(3). .
             Hawthorne emphasize that nobody should be treated with inhumanity and all should get a second chance.


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