Insights

The Scarlet Letter along with its backdrop and Nathaniel Hawthornes's upbringing could have been a English Protestant propaganda piece, but instead it is presented as a self-deprecating story told by a narrator resembling the author of the manuscripts left behind by his predecessor, who was also a surveyor at the Salem Customs House. Joel Pfister who contributed to The Cambridge Companion To Nathaniel Hawthorne believes that  Hawthorne is also a "surveyor of customs" in the literal sense, as he observes society and cultural customs as a social critic and cultural theorist. The novel itself displays the idea of public and private space in terms of morals and justice. It challenges the rules and rituals of Puritanism, when a placebo act of the "ideal" protestant is performed. Hester can only be given the justice she deserves as the other two parties involved are exposed.

In modern times, the story inspired many multimedia forms such as Vice media's Scarlet Letter Reports that expose of injustice caused by similar situations.