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Scarlet Letter, The - Theme Of Punishment In The Novel

      Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter deals with many themes, the most
powerful being punishment. In this novel, Hester Prynne becomes a
highly respected person in a Puritan society by overcoming one of the
harshest punishments, the scarlet letter. This object on "her bosom";
however, does the exact opposite of that which it was meant for.
Eventually, Hester Prynne inverts all the odds against here due to her
courage, pride and effort. Hester went beyond the letter of the law
and did everything asked of here in order to prove that she is "able."

      Hester became quite a popular seamstress, admired all over the
town of Boston for her work. Hester is modest in everything that she
does. Hester herself wears only poor clothing while she embroiders
marvelous works for the rest of Boston. The only piece of clothing
forbidden to create was the wedding vail. How could a woman wearing
the scarlet letter create a dress that represents the values of
marriage; having committed sin as she did to be involved in the
marital bonds of another couple. Although she does the job willingly
and rarely ever looks back to the horrid past behind. The scarlet
letter was constantly worn by Hester with pride and dignity. Hester
knew that what was done in the past was wrong and that the scarlet A
was the right thing to do, therefor it is worn with a sense of pride.

      The child, Pearl, is "a blessing and as a reminder of her sin."
As if the scarlet A were not enough punishment there "was a brat of
that hellish breed" which would remind Hester of what happened in the
past. The "brat" could have been given away to Governor Bellingham yet
Hester proclaimed that Pearl "is my happiness!...Ye shall not take
her! I will die first!" Not a person in Boston, nor Hester herself
thought highly of the little child and Hester refused to let Pearl go.
Hester carried the kid around only because it was a direct reflection
of her sin and to cast...