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The Scarlet Letter: The Price Of Shame

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Public shame has been seen as an indirect form of torture for many years, but is it really the worst consequence for a person? People who are publicly shamed carry around the scarlet letter of guilt on them because everyone knows them as "the person who did..." and not who they really are as a person. Everyone focuses on the negative side of the story; The guilt, pain, and suffering of being known as "the girl with the scarlet letter", or "the girl who had an affair with the president of the United States", or "the girl who wrote a controversial tweet". But what comes after it? What is the light at the end of the tunnel for these people? Is there a light? Is there ever an end? Using the sources of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the speech, “The Price of Shame”, …show more content…

Anyone can search up a name and find out about another person, making information readily accessible. Social media has a huge effect on people like Monica Lewinsky. After her secret went public, news got around in hours, minutes, seconds, flying from one person's phone to another. Her story was on the cover page of websites like yahoo, CNN, and NBC news within hours of publication. Monica Lewinsky said “It was the first time the traditional news was usurped by the internet for a major news story, a click that reverberated around the world.” (Lewinsky 1). Within minutes, people did not think of her as Monica Lewinsky, but as “the woman who slept with the President”, all because of social media. The internet is a powerful and dangerous place. Justine Sacco found that out the hard way, just like Monica Lewinsky. Sacco described the internet as “a mob with 140-character pitchforks” (Sacco 1) who can shut down a person’s life in seconds. All of Sacco’s social media accounts were forced to shut down for her own safety because people were getting out of hand in a situation that really didn’t even concern

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Throughout this piece there are twenty-one words that contribute to an underlying belief of this article, such as “social media,” “web,” “internet,” “forum,” and “post.” These words show that one of the focuses of this article is the form in which rumors are spread on the internet, as they are the terms that appear quite often. In addition, the context in which social media is presented can be identified through further examination. The repetition of words such as “gossip,” “commenters,” and “comments” sixteen times shows that not only is the author focusing on the internet platform, but also what negative things are being presented on these sites. Finally, the way in which this story paints social media can be determined by the use of a negative word choice sixteen times.

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“The Things They Carried” The narrative “The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien shows the man versus self conflict of the inexperienced Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his troop in the Vietnam war. O’Brien tells the story of the lieutenant’s struggles, sacrifices and transformation that the war inflicted on him. Struggle was no stranger to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross or his grunts deep in the swamps of Vietnam. They struggled across the lush jungle with the physical burden of carrying all the possessions they would need to eat, sleep, and live in the foreign mud, or at least everything the US Army found fit to issue them for such a task.

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During the course of this past week and a half, I have been wearing the letter I chose to represent me. My results I received were very weak and almost unresponsive. But didn’t I wear it all day for a week? Yes, people tend to mind their own business while walking in-between classes.

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Shame in the Face of the Public Consequences of crimes are often unfit or unjust, but public humiliation serves as a fit consequence to any situation. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Lydia Woodyatt’s “The Power of Public Shaming, for Good and for Ill,” and Herbert Wray’s “The Two Faces of Shame,” the authors convey the effectiveness of public humiliation. Public shaming is effective by impacting a person’s character through guilt and embarrassment. Public shaming became a way of reshaping human character.

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Guilty is one of two possible verdicts in court, yet shame often follows the person who committed the crime. Guilt and shame usually go hand in hand, yet, many deal with these similar feelings in different ways. Because of their differing personalities and roles in society, Hester and Dimmesdale from the novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne approach guilt and shame in contrasting and respective ways. In Hawthorne’s novel, we are told the story of Hester, an adulteress whom cheated on her husband, and Roger Chillingworth, who had not yet arrived to the new world. Hester, on the other hand, had arrived early.

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(Hawthorne 57). Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter proves to be a “tale of human frailty and sorrow” by demonstrating that mistakes define human nature and portraying the idea that those mistakes also act as blessings (Hawthorne 2). He argues that sins are inevitable, natural forces that cannot be suppressed, but must be expressed in order to learn from them.

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In Lewinsky´s case, her private affair caused her to receive extreme harassment. Lewinsky stated, ¨Overnight I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide. I was patient zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously¨ (the price of shame TED talk by Monica Lewinskey). Lewinsky admits that the scandal between her and Clinton had shamed her reputation and humiliated her. Under the belief that her potential career was over, Lewinsky admitted that she had

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He would harm himself in many ways as penance for his sins. Although he had never revealed his sin, he was followed by guilt that turned his life into misery. The Scarlet letter demonstrated the moral consequences of both hidden as well as revealed sins through two prominent characters. Hester, whose sin had been revealed, went through a grueling life judged by her community for her sins until she was able to prove her compassionate nature.

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In her article titled The Flip Side Of Internet Fame, Jessica Bennett focuses on how social media is a place that’s full of hysteria. Bennett says, “Online there are few checks and hardly any monitoring. Moreover, studies show that the anonymity of the net encourages people to say things they normally wouldn’t.” In an attempt to fit in, many take the side of the most common posted opinion even if extremely vulgar or offensive, which can send a large group of people in the same state of fury. These incidents on the internet can have a more hysteric effect, entire cities, states, and countries have felt endangered over a post on a website.

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Hawthorn’s Shameless Advertisement of Letting of Shame Before the age of tv ads featuring shallow message, people were brainwashed with shamelessly written romantics era books that teach deep, important lessons even modern readers can appreciate. A perfect example of this is Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, in which Hawthorne uses a shameless advertising style. Hawthorne’s advertisement focuses on Arthur Dimmesdale, a much adored but guilt haunted priest, and Hester Prynne, an aging woman who faces constant ignominy due to the letter A that she wears as punishment for adultery with Dimmesdale. Both are haunted by shame:

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In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates how effective public shaming really is. Hester Prynne is outcast from society and is forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her chest representing her crime of adultery. In the 17th century, the Puritans used public shaming as an effort to try to reform criminals. Today, public shaming is used more to bring attention and humiliation to a crime. In today’s world, public shaming could attract more attention because of the rapid spread of information.

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Should Public Humiliation Be Used As A Punishment For Crime? In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses public humiliation to shame a puritan women named Hester Prynne for her sin of adultery. To punish her for her sin, the puritan officials of the community force her to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her chest to publicly shame her and so that everyone in the community can mock her for her sin. Public humiliation is still used by people and by the government in some ways as a punishment.

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The Hidden Sin and The Revealed Sin As humans, we live in the that are brimming with sins and evil desire. As the creator of all the creatures, God, sent his only son to save the people from the control of devil. The only thing we have to do is to acknowledge our mistake. Bible teach us that we should tell the truth to God and your neighbors, and God will forgive you. But people are worse, they not only hide the sin and their evil behaviors but also try to deny it.

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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

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William Shakespeare created the proverb “Honesty is the best policy” through his play, Antony and Cleopatra. The proverb declares that truthfulness leads to improved circumstances compared to deceit and deception. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, capitalizes on the danger of holding the truth inside and not confessing committed sins through Reverend Dimmesdale. Also, Hawthorne displays the outcome of honesty, confession, and the process of redemption with Hester’s character. Sin leads morals astray; sinners, however, may become redeemed by acknowledging and correcting the sins committed.

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