Of Hester Prynne's Child Should Be Put To Death In The Scarlet Letter

Life or Death?

The Death Penalty is enforced to protect and help others feel reassured, not to seek revenge. In the novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the father of Hester Prynne’s child has committed a crime punishable by death. The Death Penalty calls for punishment for any human being depending on how serious the crime is. The Death Penalty requires court cases and trials, long procedures, and life without parole for the criminal. It helps other people, especially the family of the victim, to feel comforted. Based on this, the question is simple. Should the father of Hester Prynne’s child be put to death for adultery? The father of Hester Prynne’s child should be put to death because it would be morally and biblically correct and it would help people feel safer and relieved.

In the novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” when a woman calls out in the crowd, she cries, “Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the scripture and the statute-book” (Hawthorne 49). The woman expresses that the crime is not just morally incorrect, but the Bible also says it’s wrong. In addition, when the townsman is talking about the husband possibly still being alive, he says, “ And that, moveover, as it is most likely, 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. The penalty therefore is death” (Hawthorne 59). The townsman insists that the people in charge of the crime should enforce the death penalty because it is against their righteous law. These examples support the reason why the father is committing unlawful crimes that go against his morals and the against the