Were Scarlet Letters Real? Shaming Punishments in Colonial America
In short
Yes, in some cases. Plymouth Colony law allowed adulterers to be whipped and forced to wear the letters "AD" on their clothing. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850) echoes this kind of penalty: Hester Prynne must wear an "A" after bearing a child outside her marriage in Puritan Boston.
What the full article will cover
- Did colonial courts really make people wear letters?
- What were the AD letters in Plymouth Colony?
- How did fornication and adultery punishments differ?
- How did Hawthorne turn the practice into fiction?
- When did shaming punishments disappear?
Frequently asked questions
- What does the A stand for in The Scarlet Letter?
- Was Hester Prynne a real person?
- Were scarlet letters used for fornication too?
Sources
- histarch.illinois.edu — http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/ccflaw.html
- gutenberg.org — https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25344
- britannica.com — https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Scarlet-Letter-novel-by-Hawthorne
General information, not legal or religious advice.