The Scarlet Letter The Problem with Labeling Other People

As we read the novel, â€Å"The Scarlet Letter,† we were acquainted with the manner the Puritan society branded their sinners contingent on the immoralities they have committed. They believed that punishing these sinners by humiliation was the prominent way for them to bear the cost of their debauchery. Resembling this past our present has been subject to this same form of branding and labeling. We judge the way the Puritan society strictly punished its citizens by putting them on scaffolds where they were publicly humiliated. We hypocritically judge this form of punishment when we are practicing these same immoral acts. Although we are not putting them on scaffolds or literally branding people we are causing them the same kind of degradation†¦show more content†¦She becomes overwhelmed with the thought of punishment. She feels as though the scarlet letter has become her one and only identity, acting as thought the neatly embroiled letter is all that defines her. Sham ed and alienated from the community Hester becomes full of mental anguish and physical weakness. Even her physical appearance starts changing as though the letter has taken away all the purity and beauty in her. This is what we do to people when we bestow such labels upon them. If you are labeled as someone who behaves a certain way for a long period of time it consequently becomes hard to deny it. As people keep on defining you in a certain way you eventually stop disagreeing and conform to the way people portray you. Pretty soon, it affects your life in a larger way than anyone intended it to and you become the real embodiment of that label. Although at times we do it unintentionally, it does not change the fact that an individual can be hurt by a simple word. The author Jane Porter once wrote, I never yet heard man or woman much abused that I was not inclined to think the better of them, and to transfer the suspicion or dislike to the one who found pleasure in pointing out the de fects of another. Once we understand why we act in such a way, we can work on eliminating the habit of labeling others. We can overcome it by promoting absolute approval, sympathy, and consideration. WeShow MoreRelatedThe Scarlet Letter : The Objectification, Ostracization, And Targeting Of Women Essay1523 Words   |  7 Pages The Scarlet Letter: The Objectification, Ostracization, and Targeting of Women. Kevin Sachtleben Harris- Period 3 â€Å"From the intense consciousness of being the object of severe and universal observation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning on the outskirts of the crowd a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts.†(Hawthorne, 52). 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