Beginning of Essay
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, lives in seclusion with her daughter Pearl. Hester has been shunned from Puritan society and now lives in the shelter of the wilderness. The clear contrast between Puritan society and life in the wilderness intensi ....

Middle of Essay
.... as a place where “iniquity is searched out, and punished in the sight of rulers and people.” (pg. 58) The Puritans pride themselves on the uniform goodness of their town and their ways of dealing with sinful dissenters. Hester’s public appearance is seen as a blessing on the “righteous Colony of Massachusetts.” (pg. 50) The Puritans see their society as picturesque and proper. To them it is in essence the light shining bright in the darkness. An accurate comparison to this view would be the Garden of Eden of Adam and Eve. The Puritans see themselves as the perfect humans within the garden. Those people who, like Adam and Eve, becom ....