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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there are many moral and social themes which are demonstrated throughout the novel. Each theme is very important to the overall effect of the novel. In essence, The Scarlet Letter is a story of sin, punishment a ....

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.... to spend a few hours on the scaffold to face public humiliation, and she was forced to wear the letter “A” on her clothes for the rest of her life. Hester’s punishment for her sin was distinguished in that the results of her actions were for the most part external. Hawthorne describes what Hester’s punishment was like when he states, “In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished.”(p.44) Although Hester was some ....