The Scarlet Letter.

University make me read some pretty dull books. You know, the ones where nothing actually happens within the plot. Every now and again, a cracker comes along. Quite shocking really. One of these books is called "The Scarlet Letter", which is by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I actually want to take my time and read it, instead of my usual "let's go on spark notes and learn the plot summary" approach.

Basically, it's an American novel which is set during the 17th century. A woman called Hester Prynne (an unfeminine name, I know) awaits for her husband to return from a long voyage. However whilst he is away, Prynne cheats on her husband with a younger man. She is then imprisoned, and when released, is forced to wear a large letter "A" (for adultery) on her clothing until death. To make things worse, she becomes pregnant from the adultery, and has a daughter called Pearl. The two characters are outsiders, and are frowned upon by their community. The public believe Pearl is a creation of sin, and is doomed like her mother.

Cheating is wrong, but this sort of punishment is unnecessary. The character Prynne was lonely. How did she know if her husband was alive? So, she fell in love with another man. Who can blame her, us woman have needs. Consequently for her actions, she remains an outcast for the rest of her life, with help from the large letter "A". For example, children claim they want to "throw mud at her", and Prynne doesn't have any human communication apart from her daughter, Pearl. In my opinion, that's harsh. She wouldn't have been able to escape from her marriage, as divorce back then was hard to attain. I'm not making excuses for any type of adultery, but the members of her society are naive. They do not know the true reason behind her actions, because Prynne refuses to speak the truth.

It just goes to show how judgemental society actually is. Even though this book is based within another century, it just goes to show that times have not changed. Our society is still incredibly judgemental today. It's sad to say that we all do it, especially with something like cheating. We automatically think that person is terrible, but do we really know the reasons behind it? Don't get me wrong, I think cheating is an awful thing, but maybe there's two sides to every story?