Public shame has been seen as an indirect form of torture for many years, but is it really the worst consequence for a person? People who are publicly shamed carry around the scarlet letter of guilt on them because everyone knows them as "the person who did..." and not who they really are as a person. Everyone focuses on the negative side of the story; The guilt, pain, and suffering of being known as "the girl with the scarlet letter", or "the girl who had an affair with the president of the United States", or "the girl who wrote a controversial tweet". But what comes after it? What is the light at the end of the tunnel for these people? Is there a light? Is there ever an end? Using the sources of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the speech, “The Price of Shame”, …show more content…
Anyone can search up a name and find out about another person, making information readily accessible. Social media has a huge effect on people like Monica Lewinsky. After her secret went public, news got around in hours, minutes, seconds, flying from one person's phone to another. Her story was on the cover page of websites like yahoo, CNN, and NBC news within hours of publication. Monica Lewinsky said “It was the first time the traditional news was usurped by the internet for a major news story, a click that reverberated around the world.” (Lewinsky 1). Within minutes, people did not think of her as Monica Lewinsky, but as “the woman who slept with the President”, all because of social media. The internet is a powerful and dangerous place. Justine Sacco found that out the hard way, just like Monica Lewinsky. Sacco described the internet as “a mob with 140-character pitchforks” (Sacco 1) who can shut down a person’s life in seconds. All of Sacco’s social media accounts were forced to shut down for her own safety because people were getting out of hand in a situation that really didn’t even concern
Words similar to “bullying,” “target,” “complications,” and “allegations,” create the belief that the author finds the use of social media in this story to be making a bad situation even worse. The overall diction present in this piece supports the belief that social media in its entirety has a negative effect on a small town’s gossip, and that in a small town the circulation of gossip is becoming more common due to social media
During the course of this past week and a half, I have been wearing the letter I chose to represent me. My results I received were very weak and almost unresponsive. But didn’t I wear it all day for a week? Yes, people tend to mind their own business while walking in-between classes.
In her article titled The Flip Side Of Internet Fame, Jessica Bennett focuses on how social media is a place that’s full of hysteria. Bennett says, “Online there are few checks and hardly any monitoring. Moreover, studies show that the anonymity of the net encourages people to say things they normally wouldn’t.” In an attempt to fit in, many take the side of the most common posted opinion even if extremely vulgar or offensive, which can send a large group of people in the same state of fury. These incidents on the internet can have a more hysteric effect, entire cities, states, and countries have felt endangered over a post on a website.
Guilty is one of two possible verdicts in court, yet shame often follows the person who committed the crime. Guilt and shame usually go hand in hand, yet, many deal with these similar feelings in different ways. Because of their differing personalities and roles in society, Hester and Dimmesdale from the novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne approach guilt and shame in contrasting and respective ways. In Hawthorne’s novel, we are told the story of Hester, an adulteress whom cheated on her husband, and Roger Chillingworth, who had not yet arrived to the new world. Hester, on the other hand, had arrived early.
Shame in the Face of the Public Consequences of crimes are often unfit or unjust, but public humiliation serves as a fit consequence to any situation. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Lydia Woodyatt’s “The Power of Public Shaming, for Good and for Ill,” and Herbert Wray’s “The Two Faces of Shame,” the authors convey the effectiveness of public humiliation. Public shaming is effective by impacting a person’s character through guilt and embarrassment. Public shaming became a way of reshaping human character.
(Hawthorne 57). Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter proves to be a “tale of human frailty and sorrow” by demonstrating that mistakes define human nature and portraying the idea that those mistakes also act as blessings (Hawthorne 2). He argues that sins are inevitable, natural forces that cannot be suppressed, but must be expressed in order to learn from them.
He would harm himself in many ways as penance for his sins. Although he had never revealed his sin, he was followed by guilt that turned his life into misery. The Scarlet letter demonstrated the moral consequences of both hidden as well as revealed sins through two prominent characters. Hester, whose sin had been revealed, went through a grueling life judged by her community for her sins until she was able to prove her compassionate nature.
A major problem that has dominated the world in today’s society is the development of mass media. The mass media is said, “to be divided into two types: print and broadcast,” but the advancement of the internet became problematic. The internet allows the public to view the news by providing information between the citizens, and government faster than any other source. Consequently, this resulted in the decline of newspapers while more people began reading online. The negative effect of the internet is described as, “a wild west atmosphere” in which individuals may post whatever they wish online, “without professional, organizational, or legal concerns about its source” (Janda, Berry, Goldman, Schildkraut, and Manna, 2017, 148).
The scarlet letter centers around four major characters Hester Dimmesdale pearl and chillingworth, each of the characters respond to respond to an action happens before the book begins the sea in between history and Dimmesdale adultery the super which is more for the scarlet letter all these characters are dealing with the idea of different ways sister is directly accused of the crime of adultery she's can't escape it because she's at a child and so she's probably ridiculed at the beginning of the book and permanently marked the rest of her life she must carry around scarlet letter for the rest of her life she's going to be known as the adulterous She must carry around scarlet letter for the rest of her life she's going to be known as the
Should Public Humiliation Be Used As A Punishment For Crime? In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses public humiliation to shame a puritan women named Hester Prynne for her sin of adultery. To punish her for her sin, the puritan officials of the community force her to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her chest to publicly shame her and so that everyone in the community can mock her for her sin. Public humiliation is still used by people and by the government in some ways as a punishment.
In Lewinsky´s case, her private affair caused her to receive extreme harassment. Lewinsky stated, ¨Overnight I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide. I was patient zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously¨ (the price of shame TED talk by Monica Lewinskey). Lewinsky admits that the scandal between her and Clinton had shamed her reputation and humiliated her. Under the belief that her potential career was over, Lewinsky admitted that she had
William Shakespeare created the proverb “Honesty is the best policy” through his play, Antony and Cleopatra. The proverb declares that truthfulness leads to improved circumstances compared to deceit and deception. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, capitalizes on the danger of holding the truth inside and not confessing committed sins through Reverend Dimmesdale. Also, Hawthorne displays the outcome of honesty, confession, and the process of redemption with Hester’s character. Sin leads morals astray; sinners, however, may become redeemed by acknowledging and correcting the sins committed.
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates how effective public shaming really is. Hester Prynne is outcast from society and is forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her chest representing her crime of adultery. In the 17th century, the Puritans used public shaming as an effort to try to reform criminals. Today, public shaming is used more to bring attention and humiliation to a crime. In today’s world, public shaming could attract more attention because of the rapid spread of information.
Social media was such a new widespread thing and whenever Lewisnky hopped on it was a constant shameful reminder of her acts. The humiliation that Lewinsky and Prynne faced had a great deal of an impact on who they have
This rumor, which was dubbed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, was not just contained in the online community. Comet Ping Pong received hundreds of threatening calls, and the restaurant was inundated with individuals seeking to prove this conspiracy theory. This rumor culminated with Edgar Welch entering the restaurant on December 4, 2016 armed with an assault rifle and opening fire in an attempt to prove the Pizzagate theory. The rumor was able to spread so quickly because of social bots, which are “a computer algorithm that automatically produces content and interacts with humans on social media, trying to emulate and possibly alter their behavior” (Ferrara et al. 96). The Pizzagate story shows how fake news can influence actual people and events, but it also points to a deeper issue of the growing influence of social bots who propagated this false