essay

Have you ever wondered why certain laws exsist. Sometimes you try to find a moral code behind these laws and you can't find anything. In the Scarlet letter Hester is shunned for loving someone other than her old creepy husband. This should be a private matter solved between the three of these individuals, not between Hester and all of society. Society has nothing to do with this matter and they should take no part in butting in. Rather than a sin, adultery is an individuals choice which should be respected. I find that within our legal system there are many random crimes that are looked down upon similar to the one portrayed in this book. The punishment given in return is more of a crime than the actual crime. People should have the freedom to choose for themselves and live the way they want to live. This doesn't go to say that hard crimes which harm others should be legal, they very well should not.
In the case with Hester, she is made to follow a certain path in life that she isn't allowed to break out of. She is forced into marriage at the young age of 13 because her family doesn't have the money to support her. From here she is made to be with Chillingworth for the rest of her life. Before she even reaches her peak of womanhood her life is over. She tries to break out of this path when she meets Dimmsdale and is punished for it. She never once has the option to choose for herself. Society suffocates her with it's rigid nosiness.