The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, dives into the effects of public humiliation. Hester is given the letter “A” to wear on her chest as a punishment for committing adultery. Does Hester's sin and punishment only affect her, or does this punishment affect the people around her too? Hester is placed in front of the crowd holding the baby born because of the adultery she committed. This is where she is given the letter after refusing to name the father of the child. One would think that being placed in front of a crowd of people would bring forth the feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment, but Hester is different. After she gets over the initial shock of the situation, she is able to own it. The letter separates her from …show more content…
Roger does not create more chaos for them, but takes Dimmesdale's punishment into his own hands. Roger becomes very angry and obsessed with finding out who his wife slept with. He is consumed with anger and hatred towards this person. This leads him to find Dimmesdale and drive him insane. Ultimately, Roger is making himself insane in his attempt to punish Dimmesdale in his own way. He never lets go of what happened. His whole life begins to revolve around the fact that this man slept with his wife, the woman he loves. Anger and hatred control the rest of his life. Despite all of this, Roger leaves everything he has to Pearl. The child who wasn’t his. One can sympathize with Roger because he is simply hurt, but deep down he is a good person. Pearl, the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, grew up in awful conditions because her mother bears the scarlet letter. Pearl has done nothing wrong, yet she is also shunned by society. The kids make fun of her and bully her in many different ways. Pearl was not like other kids, she did not back down whenever she was being bullied. Even as a young girl, Pearl became so upset and angry at the other kids that she would make weird noises and throw rocks at them in order to scare them