Adultery

In the article "Adultery" in "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne laws from Massachusetts Bay and New Plymouth colonies regarding adultery and crime. They spoke about sewing letters into a prisoners uniform to resemble their crime. For example, one who comitted adultery would have the letters A D sewn into the upper half of their clothing. The writing continues to explain that the main punishment of adultery was frequently debated and it always resolved to being death.

Granted that these events took place around 1647, I still question why death was the necessary punishment at the time. More or less, how could the laws of adultery ever be equally enforced? Especially after looking at the society today, adultery is comitted very often and it hasn't seemed to become a makor issue within the government. It's just one of those things that should stay one's own business.

A second thing within the writing that specifically caught my attention was the quote "Cobbet advises men that themost important quality to look for in a wife is chastity...that made adultery a greater crime for women than for men." I found that statement extremely sexist and it somewhat aggitated me. However, again looking back at the date where this took place it does make sense. Although men were most likely comitting adultery much more often it's not exactly fair that women would still recieve a harsher punishment than men.

Overall, it took quite a bit of effort to get into this reading of adultery. Remembering the time period in which these laws took place will definately help understand the situations better.