Humiliation In The Princess Bride

Hester's shame does become very influential in her life making her unable to express herself freely. "Hester Prynne might have repaid them all with a bitter and disdainful smile. But under the leaden infliction which it was her doom to endure, she felt at moments as if she must needs to shriek" (52-53). Hester's guilt has surfaced fully because when she wants to simply express herself, she is prevented from doing so due to her guilty conscience. She wants to take revenge on everyone that has passed judgment on her by giving them a disdainful smile, but she is fearful that she might start feeling guilty for doing such a thing. It seems Hester can live without any consequences of sin if she is able to suppress her anger, but she is actually being slowly isolated from the world. Living peacefully for Hester is slowly isolating her because she acts kind to others to avoid confrontations, which shows that she is afraid of the world and is actually trying to hide from it. Guilt is still the consequence that causes Hester to become isolated from the world around her, but there is another larger consequence which she is reminded of everyday.

Additionally, these texts allow for readers to gain knowledge about how punishments were done publically in order to bring shame upon the guilty party. For example, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester had to wear a scarlet letter “A” in order to make others aware of her crime (Hawthorne 51). Her scarlet letter “A” displayed her crime of committing adultery. Others put her down because the letter made them aware of her action and caused them to take action avoiding her. There were times, however, that Hester would try to escape the shame caused by her letter. During

Statistics show that public humiliation is one of the most common fears. As many admit to this fear, many also grasp to this concept and shame one another for absurd conditions. In the Puritan Era, many methods were used to publicly shame someone for their wrong doing. One of their common methods was to openly tell their “sin” to the whole community. One of their extreme approaches was hanging someone. This showed the public to follow the regulations of the town and do not do anything against them. Fast forward to modern times, the scheme of humiliating one another changed drastically. For instance, many occurrences pertain from social media. In 1994, the first site of social media was created. From this point on, millions of different sites

Though their crime of adultery was mutual, Hester’s pregnancy forced her sin into the spotlight, and in Puritan society, the sin of having an illegitimate child was one of the worst a woman could commit. As punishment for her crime, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her chest as a sign of her wrongdoing. Because of this, Hester was forced to acknowledge what she has done and accept the repercussions of her crime, which ultimately makes her a stronger person and supports Hawthorne’s claim that it is “better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain” (Hawthorne 76). Hawthorne reveals Hester’s acceptance of her crime and her guilt the moment she walks out of the prison with her daughter in her arms, explaining that, “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors” (Hawthorne 31). Because of her crime, many people expect Hester to tremble with fear upon being revealed to the town, but instead she holds her head high and embraces the punishment for her sin. This in turn allows Hester to appear stronger, more beautiful, and more dignified, and choosing to portray Hester in this way shows Hawthorne’s belief that it is better to confess one’s sin and live with it rather than deal with the

Not only did they judge her harshly privately, but they judged her publicly as well. A old hag in the crowd while Hester was leaving the prison heeded “This women has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.” (Hawthorn 36) There abrasive amounts of judgment in part stems from their fear on how Hester actions reflect on the puritan society as a whole. The community also viewed Hester with the slightest bit of pity and during her first experience of public shaming “The scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as must always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame in a fellow-creature” (Hawthorn 39) Even though much of the society was blinded by their overpowering waves of judgment, many felt a small bit sorry for Hester situation. The puritan society was riddled with corruption and sins much worse than Hester's, making Hester's punishment hit close to home with many of the community. Hester's sliver of relatability allows the community to grow warmer feelings for her as time wears

By initially facing her fears of living in public with the shameful mark of the Scarlet Letter, Hester was able to accept this life and continue without the fear of public scorn and humiliation. Although the mark still played a heavy role Hester’s place in society, she was able to overcome its hindrance to an extent, and turn the letter into something positive in the eyes of the Puritans, as shown when the author writes, “Such helpfulness was found in her, —so much power to do, and power to sympathize, —that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne” (Hawthorne 158.) By accepting her fears initially and standing brave in the face of her apprehension over the Scarlet Letter, Hester was able to live a life free of the fear which could have plagued her, and instead became a positive force in society. Hester faced her fear of the town judging the Scarlet Letter and turned to a life of selflessness and

It was the name of the German composer of Hansel and Gretel: Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921).

“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.” Everyone deserves privacy and the right to control what information is subjected to the public. Since everyone is showing their true colors, whether they know it or not, the amount of information out there in the world should be enough to know the character of an individual. In today’s culture, there is a want to expose someone, and the person being exposed may have said those thoughts in confidence, thinking it was a safe environment. People of faith should not show themselves freely to the world because it takes away their right to privacy which can affect their everyday life. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester underwent serious public shame because everyone knew about her private life without her consent. Her punishment was to wear a scarlet colored “A”, for adultery, on her chest and stand on a scaffold in front of the whole community for public shame. They even tried to take her child away. In the book, it describes her punishments by saying, “Lastly, in the lieu of these shifting scenes, came back the rude market-place of the Puritan settlement, with all the townspeople assembled and levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne, - yes, at herself, - who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter A in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold-thread, upon her

As an individual, it’s a part of life to make plenty of mistakes, but is public shaming the answer to solving it? In todays’ society, punishment for people is completely different from back in the Puritan days. For example, in the novel the Scarlett Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery, which leads her to having to wear the letter “A” on her chest, which is a form of public humiliation but in this sense, it’s not right. This is Hester Prynne’s sin that she committed that she lives with forever and it shouldn’t be any of the public business for her to be humiliated even more. This is a form of public ridicule, reintegrative shaming where attention can be drawn by wrong doing, and in order for you to learn in life you have make some mistakes . Public shaming is immoral in today’s society because as an individual that has done something wrong, you will start to feel like an outcast besides having to endure humiliation for your actions.

In the life of Hester Prynne, she is viewed as an adulterer. During her sentencing on the scaffold, people enjoyed seeing her be humiliated and punished for her reckless actions. The self-righteous society views her as an outcast: “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin” (Hawthorne 76). Because she broke the strict Puritan laws,

As the book opens, Hester is brought forth from the jail and walked to the scaffold. For the first time being seen in public named an adulterer, Hester shies from the public as they mock her. However, "She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage; she made no claim upon it, in requital for what she suffered; she did not weight upon its sympathies." (Hawthorne 140). Soon, it did not matter what other people thought of Hester because of her sin. She chose not to live with the humiliation, but she did have to live with herself.

The main character in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, emerged from the gloom of this dark society's punishment. For her crime of adultery, she faced the most commonly used punishment—public humiliation. Although this involved no physical harm, its use in such a proper society brought ridicule and shame paralleling a punishment as harsh as death itself. Hester stood amidst the crowd for three tortuous hours, struggling to withstand the burning glares of the townspeople feeling, "as if she must needs shriek out with the full power of her lungs, and cast herself from the scaffold down upon the ground, or else go mad at once." (40). This display was made even more severe because she was also sentenced "to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom," the letter "A", for the rest of her life (43). The scarlet symbol for adultery branded Hester as a sinner to others, and when she was alone it burned like fire into her innermost heart to remind her of the life-shattering punishment society sentenced her for a single sin.

Through out the course of history, those who were considered sinners were often out casted from the society. This is much the case with Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. After a public trial, Hester is considered a sinner due to her birthing of a so called “devil child”. Hester is convicted to the life long bearing of a scarlet letter on her chest. The Scarlet Letter that Hester Prynne wears symbolizes the change in perception of sin through out the novel. Due to the revelations of the governor Winthrop and the reverend Dimmesdale, the way sin is perceived changes from one of shame to the idea that every one is a sinner in their own right.

“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change”(Brené Brown). In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman is publicly shamed for having a child with a man who is not her husband. Another example of public shame can be seen in modern day articles “Florida ‘Scarlet Letter’ Law is Repealed by Gov. Bush,” by Dana Canedy, and “Houston Couple Gets ‘The Scarlet Letter’ Treatment.” Both talk of public shame that people have had to endure in the present day. Public shaming is not an effective punishment because it is a cruel and unusual punishment, it does not deter crime, and it can emotionally traumatize the one being shamed.

In today’s internet savvy world, ‘Shaming’ has become an aspect of core-competency. And this aspect holds the power to destroy lives and confidences. This issue has become so large in the past few years that an entire book (“So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”) has been written focusing on this very topic. But who is responsible for this chaos? Is it the person engaging in bad behavior or the person pulling the curtain off of the act? The answer depends on whom you ask. Social media when used properly has proved to be a powerful tool against the powerful organizations and influential people. Giving voice to pain of millions.