Hawthorne describes how Hester struggles throughout her life and is overall changed by her lifelong condemnation of shame and her "child of sin", Pearl. Hester's life was destroyed by shame and she spent the rest of her time struggling for repentance and redemption for a "crime" committed out of passion and love. So was Hester's punishment fair? While it can be argued that the scarlet “A” understood that adultery was wrong, no, it wasn't right because the punishment didn't fit the crime. The punishment was excessive as it was a severe lifelong punishment and was used incorrectly as it did more than just show that adultery is not acceptable. Especially in our society today the punishment definitely wasn't fair. He violated her rights as an individual and forced the views of others on her. This demonstrates the destructive effect shame can have on human lives. A real-life example of shame used incorrectly and excessively is shown in David Perry's article, Jeb's Medieval Politics of Shame: Upholding a Long Tradition of Keeping Women and Girls in Line, thirteen-year-old Izabel Laxamana was a victim of shaming. After Izabel's father found out she had sent a photo