The Scarlet Letter Review Essay, Research Paper

Adultery, betrayal, promiscuity, subterfuge, and intrigue, all of which would make an excellent coming attraction at the box office and probably make a really good book. Add Puritan ideals and writing styles, making it long, drawn out, tedious, wearisome, sleep inducing, insipidly asinine, and the end result is The Scarlet Letter. Despite all these things it was considered a classic and was a statement of the era.

The Scarlet Letter is a wonderful and not such a traditional example of the good versus evil theme. What makes this story a unique instance of good versus evil is that either side can be considered either one. Hester could have very easily been deduced as evil, or ?the bad guy,? as she was by the townspeople. She was convicted of committing adultery, a horrible sin at the time, which is not really viewed upon as criminal today. The way the Puritans decided to punish her was by making her wear a scarlet letter ?A? upon her chest, which today would not be considered much of a burden due to our society and the types of clothing we wear. The other way that you can see this story is by Hester being ?the good guy/girl? because she can be seen as rebelling against society where she was forced into a loveless marriage.

the scarlet letter