The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in a puritan colony in old New England. In it, we experience the ways of the puritans. In the colony exists a barbaric and foolish justice system. The Puritan fundamentalists of The Scarlet Letter practice an unbalanced system of justice and mercy.

Puritan society drags an unneeded amount of religion into their justice system. The people see themselves as higher beings than the accused. The penalty to counteract the act of adultery is death. Such a brutal sentence is not necessary. There is no separation of church and state, which makes laws extremely strict and most of the time ridiculous. During the time puritan colonies were set up in New England, many women were accused of being witches. The foolish people saw them as servants of Satan and thought they should

A joined church and state can either brainwash a society or turn others away from religion. Most of the puritan people do not recognize forgiveness. When the people yell and treat others differently for such crimes as adultery, they do not realize that they are sinning by their judgment. Pride is in a way encouraged through this legal system. Puritans tend to think they are better than everyone else. They are also very cliquish. When one person sins, everyone else gangs up on them, as if they were all high and mighty.

Mercy is amiss in The Scarlet Letter. The main character of the story, Hester Prynne, is found guilty of adultery. Though the penalty of adultery is death, she is shown “mercy.” “But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory and

Some topics in this essay:
Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, Black Mercy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Christ Christ, scarlet letter, system justice mercy, unbalanced system justice, puritan society, system justice, unbalanced system, adultery death, separation church, justice system, justice mercy,