Knowing that the novel was written 200 years after the fictionalized setting, what inference can you make about the societal values of the Puritan age and Hawthorne’s time? Hester is an admirable protagonist in Hawthorne’s time but is considered a sinner in her own time. Hawthorne’s interpretation of Hester’s sin is the same as Puritan values in the 1600s. Societal values regarding sin did not change much between the Puritan age and Hawthorne’s time.

The inference that can be made about societal values of the Puritan age and Hawthorne's time is:

A. Hester is an admirable protagonist in Hawthorne’s time but is considered a sinner in her own time.

Explanation:

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" was published in 1850, but the story is set in Puritan Boston, in the 1600s. The two-hundred-year difference between the setting of the book's story and its publication represent greatly how different are people's views of Hester Prynne, the main character, and sin.

In the book, Hester is shunned and humiliated after having an affair and a daughter from it. She suffers greatly, and even her daughter ends up punished, growing up without friends. The book was a tremendous success as soon as it was published. The audience in Hawthorne's time was capable of seeing Hester in a different way than the characters in the story, who are a representative of Puritan society. To the audience, she is a hero, a symbol of patience, humility, loyalty. To the other characters, she was nothing but a sinner who deserved to be condemned, punished, and mistreated.