Hypocrisy in The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is punished because she committed adultery. The leaders and people of the Puritan colony that Hester lives in constantly preach against sin and tell people to be simple and not extravagant. Although Puritan's believe that people should be punished for their sins they also believe that people should be forgiven. These leaders are hypocrites because they preach to obey God, but God says in the Bible to forgive. Instead, the leaders of this Puritan colony make Hester fulfill a lifetime of embarrassment wearing the scarlet letter. The leaders of the colony also preach that people should lead simple life's and not be extravagant but Governor Bellingham lives in a large and beautiful home. The Puritan people who live in the same town as Hester are also hypocrites because they throw rocks and mud at Pearl and Hester because Hester sinned and by doing this they are being sinful too. The people in the Puritan colony that Hester lives in are hypocrites.

Comments

[Jack B.]

This is really interesting, because I think one of the main issues Hawthorne had with the Puritan society was the near-sightedness of its people. For whatever reason, the Puritans found it very easy to criticize others, but I think they consistently failed to assess themselves and their own actions.