"The most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom amongst us is the compact majority." This quote by Henrik Ibsens in An Enemy of the People means that to be completely true and free in your community, the people together must configure that you are a good person. The Scarlet Letter is a perfect example of how people were ridiculed for committing a mortal sin, versus the carelessness that people currently have now.

Thou shalt not commit adultery. It's written in the Bible that it is a mortal sin to cheat on your spouse. But compared to the consequences that were in the Puritan era, the sixth commandment really has no effect in today's civilization. When Hester Prynne stood out on the "scaffold", with the Scarlet Letter so "fantastically embroidered and illuminating" upon her chest, after having a baby out of wedlock, she was shunned from society and looked...