Chapter 2-4

Puritans, the pure of spirit, mind, and body. Pure they are, yet only deceiving. These people wear a mask as a criminal at court. They are no more holy or righteous than you or I. These so-called Puritans hide in their churches of sinful religion, damning all others who live outside this pure path. But they are not the only ones. It is easy to see the flaws and point out the wrong-doings of such a society, yet today the world is no different. Today we criticize other religions and races for their customs. How do we know that their customs are less correct and righteous than our own? Take religions for example: How does anyone know what is the correct belief when each individual religion deems itself as the single ruler of the spirit? We can never be sure. Therefore, there must be flaws in each and every aspect of humanity, with no set right or wrong, just different variations. Is there really a Christ as the Christian community believes, or is Islam or Hinduism the accurate perception of history? No-one will ever know. Maybe there is not one single ruler of the human universe, but several separate gods and goddesses, as the Greeks and Native Americans thought. So how can one group of people see themselves as dominant over another? They cannot. There is no such thing as a Puritan society, no matter if it is named so.

Irony trumps everything. Ironic that Hester Prynne's husband appears from the wilderness at the same time that she is set upon the stage of grief and mockery. Also, ironic that her former love and caregiver is the physician that is brought in to care for Hester and her newborn child, a child that should be his own. Hester fears that her former husband will try to poison her or her baby with his treatments, yet he already has. He had killed them both long ago when he was presumed dead, abondaning them in this new world filled with opportunity and destruction. However, with his potions he has saved them, yet only phyically. The scars on Hester Prynne's life will never cease, and her child's soul will fester forever because of the wrong-doings of her mother, father, and Mr. Prynne.