The Scarlet Letter Question #3

    One law or regulation that was present during the Puritan time period and the 21st century is the act of labeling a criminal because of the action or actions that had committed. In the Puritan period it was a crime to commit adultery, which was have sex with a man whom you weren't married to. Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale committed this act of adultery in a Puritan town. Hester Prynne was then labeled with the scarlet letter A to show to the townsmen that she was someone of faithless character who committed an act of unthoughtful tyranny. She began to be avoided by children, men, and women for the show of the scarlet letter upon her bosom.
    In the 21st century, evicted felons who have been released from prison are normally labeled by the people around them by their actions. For example, if a man rapes a young child and is evicted, then when the man is released from prison he is given the title sexual predator for the remainder of his life. Because of the title society gave him, the man becomes avoided by children and parents and becomes the shame of the whole of the society of which he resides.

    The Scarlet Letter reveals several ideals or regulations that are still present in the 21st century. One of them is that the devil is behind every sinful deed. During the novel "The Black Man" is constantly mentioned and is the one blamed for giving Hester her letter; "Once in my life I met the Black Man! This scarlet letter is his mark." In modern day life people are regularly blaming the devil, other gods, and people for their evil deeds. Another ideal is that if one wants to live forever with God, one must do good deeds. Even though Hester was wearing the Scarlet letter she was giving some of her handiwork to charity; "Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity". Hester didn't feel like God would let her be with Him unless she did those deeds. In this era there are religions where people feel that doing good will get them into heaven. Also there are religions that say that how you act in the present day life affects who you will become in the afterlife. A third ideal is this. In the Scarlet letter, Hester is publicly humiliated on the "scaffold" because of her adultery. Now when celebrities are caught cheating, the magazines and media are always the first to report it. This brings humiliation to the celebrities and to their loved ones. Also when normal people are caught having affairs, they are frowned upon and neglected by others because of what they have done. Another ideal is that God can forgive all, but humans only forgive when they see a change in a sinful person's life. When Hester committed adultery, God forgave her. But the people in her town avoided her and looked down upon her; she was" without a friend on earth". At the end of the novel, young women begin to come to Hester for advice and are able to forgive and forget her sin. During the 21st century, reputations are hard to maintain. When someone does the slightest thing wrong, their reputation is crushed in an instant and nobody forgets. God will forget all sins, but people remember and shut others out until they see a change. The Scarlet Letter brings many ideals that are still present today to the surface.

The puritans followedstrict moral and religeous teachings that eventually evolved into laws we have in todays christian society. There were also social stigmas that have not changed such as a woman cheating on a man is legally looked at the same way a man cheating on a woman. But new practices like divorce have a much more modern take on things. If someone wanted to end their marriage in the 17th century they would have no way to. Yet in todays society men can divorce women, women can divorce men, and recently in San Antonio Texas women can divorce their wives for the first time in hiistory. Cheatinng on someone else in either a relationship or marriage is not usually a grand spectacle, and is usually treated with neutrality by the public. Even premarital sex is common practice today along with many practices that are considered to be sodomy by christian society are no longer illegal. Except texas. Sodomy is still illegal in Texas. All of these things were unheard of in Hester's world but stemed from the same society.

    Some ideals, laws and regulations from the novel are still common in parts of the world today.  For instance, women being punished for adultery.  They get looked down upon in society, and, in connection, have a "scarlet letter" on their chest although it isn't actually there.  Men don't get punished for these things, like shown in the book.  The father was never punished or prosecuted because for men in some cultures, it isn't wrong to have more than one wife or to cheat.

Today in the 21st century, America still uses multiple principles from the Puritan period in the Scarlet letter. America struggles with equality just like the Puritan period did. The 21st century doesn't not want to believe in equality. Women who commit adultery are both hated upon and judged cruelly in the 21st century almost as much as the women from the Puritan period were. Women now and then are openly humiliated. The 21st century America will publicly humiliate on social media instead of in person like the Puritan period women would be humiliated. “In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it... She stood apart from mortal interests, yet close beside them, like a ghost that revisits the familiar fireside, and can no longer make itself seen or felt.” Women in American today will not be killed, tortured, or sent to jail/prison for adultery. During the Puritan period women may be tortured, killed, or sent to prison/jail for committing adultery.

Since America was first colonized by Puritans, modern America reflects some of the traits from the Puritan beliefs. Their beliefs were interpreted from the bible and were enforced accordingly. The Puritans try to make everyone pure and punishes those that aren’t. As Hester was not pure, she was “not merely estranged, but outlawed from society”(pg.180) in attempt to get rid of those that aren’t pure. In the 21st century, those that go against the laws of the government are infringed upon. These two societies both share the ideal of regulating what should be done to make the community as perfect as possible. In order to do this they make laws that will prohibit unwanted behavior.

Some Puritan ideals still thrive today such as Adultery is wrong and that all women should stay loyal to there husbands at all times ans through everything. Today, Adultery is still frowned and looked down upon. Most adulterers today are still very shameful for what they have done. Equal treatment in Society is still wanted and used today as it was back in the days on the very strong Puritanical ideals of the days that the scarlet letter was written.