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Symbols Of Infidelity In The Price Of Shame By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Recommended: Critical appresiation of the novel the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne

Danielle Massauro Ms.Giombetti American Literature 2/14/23 Symbols of infidelity When a partner commits an act of adultery, there are many experiences that they will undergo. First, they will experience firsthand brutal public humiliation. Secondly they will be embedded with a label. Yet, throughout their journey of healing, they will undergo a change of character. In the novel. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and in a ted talk called “ The Price of Shame” , two women, named Hester Prynne and Monica Lewkisnky, both commit acts of adultery and undergo personal experiences of humiliation, labels and a change of character. When a person commits a wrongdoing typically they are soon gifted with a new label that they carry around with them everywhere they go. For some, a physical label may be carried around , for others, a more mental approach is taken. Unfortunately, for Hester …show more content…

For Hester Pyrnee it is said that those in her community “... in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed mistress prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory…” (Hawthorne 54). Hester Prynne stands on a scaffold various times throughout the novel, while people stand beneath her, watching and mocking her. Meanwhile, Monica Lewsinky faced a more widespread deal of public shaming. Lewinsky had her affair at the time that social media was booming so, Lewinsky said, “ what that meant for me personally was that overnight I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide” ( The Price of Shame). Social media was such a new widespread thing and whenever Lewisnky hopped on it was a constant shameful reminder of her acts. The humiliation that Lewinsky and Prynne faced had a great deal of an impact on who they have

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