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Social Norms In The Scarlet Letter

475 Words2 Pages

Throughout human history social norms have been an immense controversy starter against others. However now that time has passed there has been a shift of what is socially normal from times prior to today. The social norms impressed upon Hester conflict with those of today because of the decrease of morals and the society of today has become more accepting of taboo actions. Overtime the amount of morals society has held in the past has decreased. During chapter thirteen of The Scarlet Letter it is explained that the townspeople have grown to respect Hester even though she had committed such a sin that caused an outrage amongst the town. They are going as far as to changing the meaning of the letter A that rests upon her chest. “...many people …show more content…

During chapter three of The Scarlet Letter the town had gathered to witness the public punishment of Hester Prynne. Before she is led out of the prison a group of women are discussing the situation amongst themselves. The ugliest of them all believes that Hester should die for bringing shame to all of them, yet a young mother gives some sympathy towards Hester "...let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart." The young mother is being sympathetic towards Hester because she may believe that Hester herself is the most judgemental of her actions. However in our society of today there wouldn’t even be required punishment if a woman had gotten pregnant from someone who was not her husband. Sympathy and understanding can lead the acts that were once considered taboo in the past to be normal now. The social norms impressed upon Hester conflict with those of today because of the decrease of morals and the society of today has become more accepting of taboo actions. Throughout human history social norms have been an immense controversy starter against others. However with the need of understanding there has been a shift of what is socially normal from times prior to

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Hester has to wear a letter A on her chest for her punishment of adultery. In The Scarlet Letter, the meaning and significance of the letter A is altered as the novel goes on. Hester, the townspeople, and Pearl all have views of the letter that change. Through their views of the letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, reveals what his view on the letter is. Hester’s view of

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The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”

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Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.

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