Adultery

On pages 241-245 of the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are multiple laws describing the punishments of adultery and fornication in the 1600s. These punishments ranged from severe beatings to death. Sometimes the court even ordered that whoever commits adultery has to wear the letters A D stitched into their garments all day every day so everyone knows what they did. Ultimately, the laws explain that when someone commits adultery or fornication the punishments for he/she are usually debated and can be different for every person.

While reading, it puzzled me as to why back then they made adultery such a known thing around a community. I think when someone commits adultery it’s their own business and everyone else around shouldn’t know about it. Of course, adultery isn’t a morally good thing and no one should do it, but killing someone over it seems a little melodramatic. It seems back then they believed very strongly in morals. They didn’t want anyone to do anything that would seem even remotely sinful. Today a lot of people still have morals such as these, but they are not as drastic. It is amazing just how much ethics, beliefs, etc. have changed from back in the 1600s to today.

One sentence that really got me thinking was, “Cobbett advises men that the most important quality to look for in a wife is chastity…that made adultery a greater crime for women then for men.” I don’t understand why only the women were expected to be chaste. I’m sure the women wouldn’t have wanted to marry a man that was impure, so why did they have to? Also, I don’t understand why adultery was worse for women. That seems very sexist and unfair. A women committing adultery to a man or a man committing adultery to a woman; it’s the same thing so it doesn’t make sense that it should be greater for women. Although this way of treating women makes no sense, it all leads back to how much has really changed from back then.