Crime And Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

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At the beginning of the novel, many people do not believe the scarlet letter is serious enough, that it is not enough of a burden. Gaggles of older women are overheard expelling these conclusions in the marketplace on the day of Hester's punishment. They fumed such statements as "'They should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead,'"(44-45). Others generated more strident claims adding that "'This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die,'"(44-45). These seemingly radical ideas were surprisingly shared by most of the town. Many citizens believed that Hester's punishment was not equitable to her crimes. They found her deserving of punishments more severe than a simple stigma upon her breast.
While in the beginning,
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