Fairness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

“Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” (190) These “teachers” had guided Hester, one of the main characters in the book Scarlet Letter, to become who she needed to be. In addition to following these guidelines, Hester finds herself a representation of what is wrong with religion. She is forced into following these concepts due to a society that could not accept her. The Puritans, a group of religious dictators, claimed Hester’s love for another man besides her presumably dead husband was a sin. They forced her to wear an “A” to distinguish her as an adulteress in hopes that unending shame would teach her a lesson. Hester must learn to adapt as a

This use of an unreliable structure makes laws and regulations unfair. This concept of fairness is a desired trait in the Puritan religion because they give all lives a chance at Heaven. This chance is demonstrated in the text when it says, “It is because of the stain which that letter indicates, that we would transfer thy child to other hands.” (104) This is telling about how the governor is offering Pearl “freedom” from Hester. This is giving her a chance to get away from the embarrassment that Hester must carry with her based upon the idea that she is still young and they can somehow find a way to save her. In addition to the human emotion conflict, while the women are unrightfully gossiping about Hester, one woman says, “Her husband may be at the bottom of the sea- they have not been bold to put in force the extremity of our righteous law against her.” (59) This is informing the reader that the punishment Hester received was considered lighter in that her husband, Roger Chillingworth, was presumed dead. This is letting sorrow and pity fall into place of Hester’s punishment, inevitably making it worse than previously