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Comparing Shame And Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

707 Words3 Pages

Nearly 400 years ago shame emerged as a technique for punishment and many have used it ever since. Even in puritan times, as seen in the historical novel, The Scarlet Letter, shaming, although it has some downfalls, has provided a useful way to prevent offenders from repeating their actions. Despite some critics believing that shaming has detrimental effects on an offender, shaming ultimately provides a more humane, economical, and effective way of punishing criminals, furthermore judges should use ignominy as a form of punishment. Some may believe that shame causes one to feel socially isolated, such as the main protagonist in Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne. After committing adultery and receiving the letter A, …show more content…

Petty crimes such as drunk driving, non-aggravated assault, and embezzlement can benefit from more judges using shame, but more serious crimes and criminals, like murder and murders need a strict punishment, not just shaming. Someone such as Charles Manson, a ruthless murderous cult leader, wouldn’t benefit from public humiliation and shaming; serious criminals like him need a serious punishment, like a prison sentence which he currently serves. Serious crimes need serious punishments not just shame yet, less serious crimes could reap the benefits of shaming. If judges began using shame for more petty crimes and reserve prison space for serious crimes a serious issue of the rising price for housing inmates could improve. To house just one prisoner per year could cost up to $40,000; thousands of taxpayers dollars go towards prison upkeep and the prisoners. If judges utilize shame for petty crimes the amount of inmates in federal prisons could possibly decrease. More recently one woman bought drugs with her children in the car with her. Instead of sending her to jail, officers explained that she had the option of prison or to take out an ad explaining what she did, clearly she chose to take out an ad. Keeping those that did petty crimes out of jail can save an enormous amount of money each year. Due to the fiscally attractive nature of shaming, judges should use shaming

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1655 Words | 7 Pages

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, portrays the shameful life the main character, Hester Prynne, lives because of a sinful encounter that resulted with her daughter Pearl. Throughout the novel it is evident that she grows close with a minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, who later in context is revealed as the father of Pearl. However, her public shame in never shared with Dimmesdale since neither of them let it known that he acted with her. It is not until toward the end that Dimmesdale finds the strength, right before his death, to publicly announce he is Pearl’s father. Because of this, many infer that Hester’s ignominy was at greater price than the self-shame Dimmesdale brought upon himself.

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325 Words | 2 Pages

Recently, courts and judges have used public humiliation to prevent repeated offenses by the violator and discourage others from repeating the offense. This is an effective punishment in today 's society because the punishment prevents the offender from repeating the offense in fear of being jailed. One judge sentenced a man who crashed his car into someone else while drunk driving to stand outside of the crash site every Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m with a sign admitting his guilt (foxnews). This is an effective ways for judges to handle a problem because it insures justice without the jailing, and is a constant reminder of the man and other drunk drivers that drunk driving kills. Jon Wisser, a Texas judge, believes that any public humiliation

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896 Words | 4 Pages

The reconstruction during the early 1860’s and 1870’s caused different reactions throughout the United States. The first two articles seem to have a positive viewpoint of the reconstruction and the actions being taken to allow African Americans to vote and become literate and more educated. The third article, The Ordeal of Reconstruction, expresses extremely negative points throughout the article and is almost satisfied with the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. The final article Unfinished Revolution’s article is broken down into sections and informs the audience of the events which she detonates as formal and neutral. It is critical to be informed over this period due to the impacts it had on the country in later years.

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638 Words | 3 Pages

The act of public shaming proves to be effective by changing the character of a person through self-condemnation and

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696 Words | 3 Pages

Sentencing is used as a form of punishment and rehabilitation for crimes committed. An ongoing study is the true effectiveness of such reprimands and the philosophy of judges determining proper consequence. A majority of states have developed their own hierarchy of discipline with some communities adopting minimum sentencing statues for infractions while other states value the implementation of the death penalty and work backwards on grounds of penance (Lynch). Sentencing reform is a constant public interest that varies from state to state that driven by judges, and their constituents, on how to meet the publics need for proper treatment while balancing local and state funding for imprisonment and probation

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1152 Words | 5 Pages

Guilt Obsession Within the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorne Reverend Dimmesdale drastically develops throughout the novel, from being a symbol of Puritan religion to displeasing the population of the Puritan expectations through his actions. His appearance as well as his privilege and prominence within the community alters radically. He begins the novel as the town reverend, and later, the shame of Hester accepting the entirety of the blame and the fact that he escaped with no punishment or shame from the town ultimately consumed him. Throughout the novel, it was revealed that he had a red mark on his chest in correlation to the “A” that was displayed on Hester’s chest.

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1181 Words | 5 Pages

the novel Red Queen Mare believes she is one of the two different types of people in the world: red and silver. Mare was born red-blooded. Silvers have different sorts of super human powers, as Reds do not, so they are treated almost as slaves to the Silvers. Reds carry out pretty much all of the dirty work. This is one of the reasons why Mare hates Silvers.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

By using public shaming, judges can also avoid the costly effects of imprisonment. Through public shaming, offenders can avoid the harsh conditions of imprisonment. Offenders face harassment, torture, and a mark on their record while spending time in prison. Against the eighth amendment, judges allow cruel and unusual punishments towards offenders. Judges have the right to decide on any form of punishment towards an offender.

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Hawthorn’s Shameless Advertisement of Letting of Shame Before the age of tv ads featuring shallow message, people were brainwashed with shamelessly written romantics era books that teach deep, important lessons even modern readers can appreciate. A perfect example of this is Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, in which Hawthorne uses a shameless advertising style. Hawthorne’s advertisement focuses on Arthur Dimmesdale, a much adored but guilt haunted priest, and Hester Prynne, an aging woman who faces constant ignominy due to the letter A that she wears as punishment for adultery with Dimmesdale. Both are haunted by shame:

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How can someone be publicly shamed for something that they have done in the past. The issue of public shaming is presented when Hester Prynne was forced by her community to wear a scarlet letter A on the breast of her gown because she committed the crime of adultery in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As well as, the two articles, “Florida ‘Scarlet Letter’ Law Is Repealed by Gov. Bush” by Dana Canedy and “Houston Couple Gets the ‘Scarlet Letter’ Treatment” also show people being publicly shamed. These, for example, show the negative effects that public shaming has on the person and their life. Public shaming is not an effective punishment since it is a violation of their privacy, cruel and unusual, and it destroys their families in the process.

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784 Words | 4 Pages

However, public humiliation should still not be used as a punishment for a crime or wrongdoing. Public humiliation is not as effective as it is intended. The intention of the punishment is to embarrass the criminal so that it will deter them from continuing

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1138 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” the puritan society emphasizes their strict morals and religious beliefs that sinning of any kind is not tolerated and should be confessed as the result of punishment. Hester Prynn and Arthur Dimmesdale commit the sin of adultery and only Hester confesses her partaking in the sin and receives her punishments. By Hester confessing her sin, she is able to gain forgiveness from God and feel guilt free. Meanwhile, Dimmesdale is consumed by his overpowering guilt of not confessing and enduring the punishments with Hester. Through the experiences of Hester and Dimmesdale, Hawthorne suggests that revealing sin leads to growth while concealing sin leads to guilt and self-destruction.

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750 Words | 3 Pages

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, shows the internal conflict mankind might experience throughout their lives. This novel outwardly speaks about the guilt many carry around, seen or not, and the struggle between doing what is right or choosing to keep quiet and protect their pride, making it a good example to use. Keeping guilt hidden inside will only do more harm than good, and that through the truth peace can be found. Allowing unresolved guilt to dig its claws into your humanity and morality only furthers the downfall of a person. This may be accounted to the fact that they are afraid of how the people around them will react, or the fear that their reputation might be completely ruined.

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623 Words | 3 Pages

Put your mind to the general welfare of the population of this town. If people were to move on from the unnecessarystress and anxiety that the "sinful" woman has caused, our town could achieve peace! Hence, it is imperative that the lady Hester's current punishment of strict jailtime be repealed and the consequences that the scarlet letter itself holds be our justice. In essence, it is important to look at both of the consequential punishments in question; from an outside perspective. The true matter of importance here is the people's welfare.

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235 Words | 1 Pages

According to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the author argues that sin and suffering exists even in Utopian society. First, Hester Prynne commits the sin of adultery. Adultery is a person having sex with someone that he/ she is not married to (Merriam Webster).The townspeople know that Hester has commit adultery because they saw her pregnant when her husband was away on a ship for two years.

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