I really enjoyed your post and you definatly pick out the main themes of Hawthorne’s stories. Both ones that I found, and also others I did not catch.

Hester and Georgina’s flaw are indeed evident and are seen in their physical apperence. Imperfection was a very large theme and something really exaggerated in both The Scarlet Letter and The Birthmark. You used one of the same quotes as I did (the first one) and it deifnatly shows that there is nothing good that can come from tirelessly trying to become perfect.

In Georgina’s case the only way she could become perfect is when at her husbands last attempt to remove the mark, he killed her. I like your comparison of perfection to an “angel”, but I also feel like the idea of the non mortal life/the afterlife works better. Angels are indeed perfect but they do not originate as humans. When humans die they are thought to have an “afterlife” which is the only point at which perfection is applicable. I’m not sure if that is what you were trying to say, it may have been…but I wasn’t sure

You opinion on sex offenders also brought up a lot of good issues and points that I agree with. The idea that the punishment need to be more crime specific is very true. It is not fair to keep some people away from society when all they did may have been to have sex with a girlfriend/boyfriend a few years younger. The line has definatly been crossed with the idea to keep all sex offenders away from every single facility that involves children. Like you said, it is a good idea, but very unrealistic. If pushed away from society these people will never have a chance to become a good citizen.