"Change," declared political science writer Saul Alinsky, "means movement. Movement means friction." Indeed, society transformed and clashed between 1649 and 1850 as the austere Puritan lifestyle gave way to Romanticism. Because of their distinct contrasts, The Scarlet Letter, a nineteenth-century tale of punishment against sin in seventeenth-century Boston, misrepresents Puritan life. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter applies a Romantic technique of literature to illustrate Puritanism by tinting situations in the story to a nineteenth century approach.
             By describing Hester's punishment as romantic fantasy rather than Puritan custom, Hawthorne imposes Romanticism into The Scarlet Letter. The plot initiates as Hester Prynne receives punishment for committing adultery with the clandestine Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the zenith of divinity within the Boston community. As a punishment for her crime, Boston magistrates require Hester to wear a letter 'A' on her clothing to remind her, and others, of her sinful deeds. Upon receiving her punishment, one town's woman cries out, "This woman has brought shame upon us all and ought to die" (Hawthorne 49). The exclamation of the anonymous voice points out the brutality associated with Puritan punishments. Conversely, Hester lives with a mere mark of shame on her clothing. Hawthorne uses idyllic punishment rooted in modern psychology rather than harsh retaliation. This is because Romantics believed in the goodness of man rather than their inherent evil. In addition, the scarlet letter sewed to Hester's clothing romantically portrays punishment with unique elegance. "On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread appeared the letter 'A.' It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy" (51). H...