Character Analysis Of Hester Prynne In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne of Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter defies the Puritan belief system through her rebellion and compassion. Hester defies the Puritan belief system through her rebellion. Hester Prynne, while in Boston waiting for her husband to come from Amsterdam, commits the crime of adultery and gives birth to a child, causing her to be punished. Hawthorne describes her crime in dialogue between Hester’s husband, who has just arrived in Boston and is unaware of Hester’s circumstances, and a towns member who infers as to what she has done and how much of an uproar it has caused, during her public punishment, in the government forces her to stand on a scaffold for three hours and condemned to wear an A on her chest

Edward Said, literary critic, has described exile as something “strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience,” and as something that can be “potent, even enriching.” In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne experiences an exile after being marked as an adulteress which intrigues the reader because of its ability to change her substantially throughout the novel. Hester’s exile is intriguing because she often is near other people, but she remains on the outskirts of the town, and of society. Through the years, this exile leads to Hester’s complete transformation proves her incredible strength, even when faced with such tragedy.

The character of Hester Prynne changed significantly throughout the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life.

Hester Prynne is the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. She was a beautiful woman who, because of her adultery, experienced persecution and was ostracized by everyone in her town. Her shame and guilt gave her an understanding of sin and redemption. She serves as an example of someone who is rejected by society and, because of it, grows in both strength and wisdom. Hester’s sin overshadowed her beauty and talent, but her humble and generous deeds gained her respect over many years.

“To be- or not to be.” Isn’t that the question that revolves around everything? In order to become something, one must first do something. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, an adulterous woman lives with the consequences of her actions. Throughout the years, she became something different than she was before her sin. Some say that Hester remained a sinner and that her sin was so enormous that she could not remove it from her name. Others argue that she became a victim of society where no one let her move on from her sin, though she had undergone a heartfelt change. Finally- the best choice- Hester became a saint and changed her life for better in order to change the lives of those around her.

Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter is most wronged by not one of the characters, but by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne himself, inadvertently, through his portrayal of women.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne the characters who condemn Hester Prynne are hypocrites because they too go against many Puritan beliefs. Puritans are supposed to live conservatively, yet Governor Bellingham himself decorates house lavishly and Hester Prynne makes her living embroidering people's clothes to make them more fanciful. Both of those things show the puritan community not following its own strict laws, but not having any punishment. Lying is also a sin in the bible, yet Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale never says that he is the father of Pearl and therefore never ostracized by the community like Hester Prynne. He does receive his punishment from Roger Chillingworth who torments Dimmesdale until Dimmesdale's death. It is hypocrisy

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is portrayed to be heroic woman who surmounts her sufferings and pain. However, Hester is no more than a mortal sinner, who is not to be revered as anything more. In his essay, “On the Scarlet Letter,” by D.H Lawrence, Lawrence argues that Hester Prynne is not what she is portrayed to be. Lawrence manages to create an effective argument for Hester Prynne being a farce by using critical diction, verbal irony, and biblical allusions.

Hawthorne shows that through the development of Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter, we have to pay for committed sins, but instead of feeling sorry for ourselves about it, we have to embrace it and make our lives better from that sin. It chapter five of the story, it says “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin”. This quote is Hawthorne telling the reader that all of the young and pure children in the puritan community look at Hester as a sinner now and as an all around bad person even though she use to be just as pure as all of them. She came from a good family and now she is a living sin that walks among the innocent children. Hester knows that she is looked at differently by everyone now but she doesn’t let it bother her.

Imagine yourself on display in front of your whole town, being punished for cheating on your husband or wife. Today adultery is looked down on, but in reality nobody makes a huge deal out of it. Sin can affect a person in many ways, but whether it’s good or bad only time can tell. In the old days, religion and law were looked at as one, and Hester Prynne just so happened to sin, which in turn caused her to break the law. In the novel, Hester displays that how a person deals with sin has a lasting impact on the people around her, and most importantly those that are the closest to her.

Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter is a brave individual with a terrible sin. During the time of 1642 in Boston, Massachusetts, the Puritans took over. The Puritans were strict over their religion and forced the Bible to be taught properly. Someone who did not follow every rule would be humiliated in their community, like Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne had to wear a stitched “A” to show that she has committed the sin: Adultery. The standards of Prynne’s society is ridiculously strict on their word, she is affected harshly, and responds to this situation maturely.

Hester recognizes a man in the crowd and he recognizes her as well, hence the title. She is struck with horror and holds Pearl very tightly, to the point the baby cries in pain. The man asks about Hester, he also vows that the “other “man will be known. The title also services to show Hester refusing to reveal her partner in sin, when questioned about it.

Nathaniel Hawthorne aims to make Hester Prynne, the protagonist of his novel, “The Scarlet Letter.” While some scholars believe she is not a heroic protagonist, many dispute that claim by stating that Hester Prynne is the first American heroine. In fact, Hester`s silent suffering was not cowardly but heroic and her work ethic inspiring.

In the first several chapters of The Scarlet Letter we can understand Hester Prynne to be a good but misunderstood soul. Labeled as an adulteress, she is the victim of the Puritan lifestyle. A person with many positive traits, she is treated as a terrible person for one unholy act. Far from the evil woman that some of her neighbors see, Hester is a strong, proud and loyal person who resists the worst influences of her community.

Hester Prynne, a character within The Scarlet Letter, is a prime example of Hawthorne's common transformation of individuals within his books. These mutations involve the qualities and attributes of her physical appearance, feminine emotions, and reputation among the townspeople. Throughout the novel, the mentioned elements of Hester's character develop and change several times, providing the reader with better understanding of the influence that the scarlet letter and other characters have on her.