The Scarlet Letter Essay, Research Paper

Shunning In Today?s Society

In Nathaniel Hawthorne?s novel the Scarlet Letter, a woman in a 17th century

Puritan Village in Salem, Massachusetts was put down by other people in society. This

womans name was Hester Prynne and she was on outcast in the small Puritan village. She

is considered an outcast because she cannot name her husband. Even though Hester

Prynne in the Scarlet Letter is depicted as an outcast in a 17th century society, people are

still shunned today in modern society.

A person shunned in todays modern society is Monica Lewinsky. Society has

treated her as an outcast because she had an affair with the President of The United

States. She has been put down by society because of her affair with the President. This

has affected her position in the government. She was fired from her position at the

pentagon after the news of the affair went public.

There are a couple reasons people shun others. First, society feels that a certain

person is different in one way so they are not considered normal by everyone else.

Second, they are put down as a lower person in society when they like something else that

they dont like. Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky are alike because they have both

been shunned and put down by society as an outcast.