Who should punish a sinner? Should it be religion, society, or the individual? Refers to Hester Prynne in "The Scarlet letter" by Hawthorne

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…Should it be religion, society, or the individual? In Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter all three affect the main character Hester Prynne. Religion punishes her with the scarlet letter, society ostracizes her as punishment, and individually she was able to move on in life but still returned to her haunting past where she died. It proves that individually a person hurts themself more then anything. Hester could live on anywhere else, her life wouldn't be the same.