Hester Prynne Essay

     Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a dark tale of sin and redemption,centers around the small Puritan community of Boston during the 17th century. In the midst of this small community is Hester Prynne. She is a woman that has defied the Puritans, taken the consequences and in the end conformed with the Puritans. It did,

In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is more than a literary figure in a classic novel, she is known by some people to be one of the earliest American Hero’s. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester commits adultery and has a child that she must care for all alone. She is forced to wear a powerful, attention grabbing “Scarlet A” on her chest while she must try to make a living to support her and her child, Pearl. Even though she must face all the harsh judgment and stares she does not allow her sin to stop her from living a successful life. She looks past the Letter as a symbol of sin and turns it into a sign of approval. Hester

The burden that the scarlet letter places on Hester shows her everlasting battle with sin in the Puritan society. Yet, the Puritans seemed to be more fascinated with on its striking qualities rather than the true representation of the letter. The scarlet letter is supposed to represent shame, but as Hester evolves the symbol of the letter becomes an emblem of strength. One writer criticizes Hester's transformation by saying, “Hester’s rise takes her from low on the line of moral value, a ‘scarlet woman’ guilty of a sin black in the eyes of the Puritans, as she becomes a sister of mercy and light” (Waggoner

From the beginning, we see that Hester Prynne is a young and beautiful woman who has brought a child into the world with an unknown father. She is punished by Puritan society by wearing the scarlet letter A on the bosom of her dress and standing on the scaffold for three hours. The scaffold is a painful task to bear; the townspeople gathered around to gossip and stare at Hester and her

The Scarlet letter shows hester as a humble person. She had to suffer a lot in the beginning. I tried to convey this with her distaste of the town shaming her. I also made sure to highlight her persistence to protect herself and her child. That’s the one thing Hester always did, protect Pearl. I decided

Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter for the rest of her life because of the one sin she has committed. As she stands on the scaffold in front of the whole town she is told “... And then and the after for the remained of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.” (Hawthorne 59). This quote shows that hester is forever going to be guilty for the one sin she has committed with Dimmesdale. Hester will never be treated the same or looked at the same off because of the Scarlet A on her bosom. As the book goes on Hester moves into a cabin that is half in the forest and half in society and raised her daughter Pearl. She made clothes for a living and she decided to start making extra clothes for the poor. Hawthorne then explains how the poor don’t even have respect for Hester because of her scarlet letter “...she give of her little substance to every demand of poverty; even though the bitter-hearted pauper threw back a gibe in requital of the food…” ( Hawthorne 146). This proves that she is still being treated different because if her sin. She is getting treated so wrongly and this sometimes make her feel guilty for committing her sin. Although Hester can leave at anytime she plesases she decides to stay in this town because she believe she should be punished in the same town that she committed her sin. She also stays because of

What makes someone suffer? Does being tormented make you suffer? Is being made fun of by peers suffering? The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in an old Puritan society where many people are persecuted for not following religion in any way whether it is a small sin or a large sin. Hester Prynne is the greatest sufferer in the novel because she was publicly humiliated in front of the whole town and has been an outcast for most of her life in that town.

The central character of the novel, Hester Prynne, undergoes a significant change in character, mainly due to the shame stemming from being forced to bare the scarlet letter. During the first scaffold scene in which she is undergoing trial, Hester is described as: “lady-like . . . characterized by a certain state of dignity . . . her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (Hawthorne 103). Despite the presence of a multitude of women sneering at her as she makes the seemingly endless walk to the place of her trial, Hester maintains her cold, almost pompous facade. It is a testament to her initial immense amount of resilience of character and mental strength to keep from breaking down into tears while on the scaffold. This idea of Hester desiring to and succeeding in maintaining a proud and aloof air is further evidenced by the ornateness and intricacy of the scarlet letter itself.

First of all, she was terribly ashamed of herself. Everywhere she went, people mocked her and told her that she was the biggest sinner of them all. Hester felt completely bound to the letter she wore, but she learned a few things from it. She grew in wisdom and gained an understanding of guilt; she could see the sin and hypocrisy in the community around her. She also grew in strength, as she decided not to let her shame bring her down. Hester was very talented at sewing, and she used that skill to make clothes and linen for the townsfolk. She was very generous with her money and sewing, often giving food and clothing to the poor of her town. Over the years, she became known for these deeds. As she walked through town, the people began to view her with respect. They even viewed the scarlet letter A differently, theorizing that it may mean “able.” While Hester managed to purge the pain and guilt out of her, she did so at the expense of her womanhood and beauty: “All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by his red-hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it. Even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change. It might be partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of

Hester Prynne wears “The Scarlet Letter” in the beginning of the story proudly while it accentuates her features. Hester doesn’t hide her true feelings “with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors” (Hawthorne 50). Hester acknowledges her sin but doesn’t feel shame for what she has done. Towards the middle of the story Hester begins to change her outlook on the letter and also her whole demeanor changes as well. Hester did not use the letter to battle “with the public, but submitted,

Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan settler, gets exiled from the Puritan Settlement because of her actions. Similarly, Hester Prynne’s sinful action results in her confinement in prison, away from the town people. In the 1850’s, Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The Scarlet Letter. Set in a Puritanical Society, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of how one simple act of passion upsets the very basic thread of society. In the novel, Hester Prynne personally transcends the judgments of society through her discoveries in nature, while she lives a simplistic life and becomes more self-reliant.

While Hester stands on the scaffold, “the rude market place of the Puritan settlement, appears Hester Prynne who stood on the scaffold, an infant on her arm, and the letter “A” in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom!” (Hawthorne 57). When the townspeople arrived, they gave her stern looks, the women especially did so. She stands on the scaffold with her child, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter is clearly visible to the judgmental Puritans. As Hawthorne describes to the reader, the gold embroidery surrounding the letter shows the time and effort Hester took to make the letter stand out and look stunning. Hester made it noticeable that she sinned, but she was forced to wear the letter. She owned up to her sin and accepted the punishment of wearing the letter and did not fight this. The judgment and thoughts on Hester from the community played a role into how Hester dealt with the letter. People saw the letter displayed upon her chest and thought of her “as the figure, the body, the reality of sin” (Hawthorne 76). This is important because Hawthorne outlines that the Puritan community views her as the one and only great example of what sin is. They teach their kids to look at her that way, once innocent and now not. Hester took it into thought for a little while, but realized that it does not

“She took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbours. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared a letter A. (6) As she walked Hester was ladylike, dignified than ever before. I presume that Hester is not proud of the crime she committed but she is willing to stand tall and accept the consequences. The author described the scarlet letter as a spell on Hester Prynne that set her out of ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself, thus bringing her isolation (7). Hester’s walk of shame was the worse part of wearing the scarlet letter, with crude, stark, callous eyes staring at her knowing she will never be considered a part of their society again; though Hester sustained herself as best as she could. She began reminiscing remembering her old house in England with her mother, father, and a scholar, then she realizes the Scarlet Letter will always target her as an outcast. Which leads into chapter

Hester was tall, with dark and abundant hair. She had deep black eyes. She had a beautiful face. She was lady-like, and characterized by a certain state of

‘The Scarlet letter’ is meant to be a symbol of shame for Hester, and instead it becomes a symbol of identity. As Hester’s character develops the Letter ‘matures” along side her . As it ages, it shifts from meaning “Adulterer” to stand for “ Able”.. Hester bonds to the letter as much as she bonds to little Pearl, by choosing to keep them both. She could have given Pearl to the minister and she could have fled New England and left the letter far behind her and moved on with her life, instead she chooses to embrace her punishments. The letter is almost insignificant beside Pearl as a symbol of the sinful act commited by Hester, and helps to point out the meaninglessness of the community’s system of judgment and punishment. The ineffectiveness of this course of action is reinforced in chapter seven “...and the bond-servant, perhaps judging from the decision of her air and the glittering symbol in her bosom, that she was a great lady in the land, offered no opposition.”