Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

  "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us," stated Oliver Wendell Holmes. This eventually proves to be especially true for Hester Prynne, the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, a fair young maiden whose husband had disappeared two years prior to the opening of the novel, has an affair with the pastor of her Puritan church, resulting in the birth of her child Pearl. Because of this act of adultery, Hester Prynne is branded by the scarlet letter "A," which she is forced to forever wear upon her attire. The plot thickens as Hester's former husband returns to New England and becomes

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops the dynamic characterization of Hester Prynne from a beautiful, innocent girl into a somber, hardened women to showcase the evils and hypocrisy of Puritan New England’s culture of shaming. Hawthorne employs rhetorical devices such as metaphor and juxtaposition to further develop the characterization and his critique of Puritan society. When initially describing Hester, Hawthorne emphasizes her incredible beauty, and juxtaposes this with the other ugly, judging Puritan women, adding to the hypocrisy of her being shamed for sinning. Hawthorne emphasizes the verbal assault on Hester by employing metaphor and imagery in its description. After the community shuns and shames Hester for years, Hawthorne uses metaphor again to show how Hester’s body and character changes for the worst, emphasizes the malice and evil of public shame.

Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter is a unique character. She shows a lot of strength. Hawthorne creates a Puritan Society who isolates Hester, which made her a character of her own uniqueness. Hester is a woman of strength, compassion, and honesty.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel about guilt and innocence in Boston, Massachusetts during the 1640s. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of the novel, is a beautiful married woman who has committed adultery and had a child while her husband was lost at sea. She is now forced to bear the scarlet letter on her chest to let the public know what sin she has committed. Roger Chillingworth is Hesters lost husband who has returned back from seas to learn that his wife has been unfaithful to him. He has devoted himself to finding who Hesters lover is and seek revenge on him, even if it wreaks him. Arthur Dimmesdale is the town’s reverend and Hesters secret lover. He is in continuous conflict against himself since he is supposed to be

Not one group of people took sin more seriously than the Puritans, as they took strong conviction into the belief that everyone is a sinner and that sin is deplorable and unacceptable. With a deep passion for the Bible and its teachings, they believed that the wickedness of mankind was plaguing humans and was worthy of harsh punishments, such as public humiliation, whippings, and brandings. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, there is a large emphasis set on the effects of sin on the characters of the book, primarily, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Though these two individuals’ most prominent sin is virtually alike, the two are affected by their act of adultery in entirely different ways. While Hester, being forced

Actions played out in front of society, whether they are good or bad, receive commentary. People can get hurt or suffer from societal scrutiny, which can alter a person’s life. Hester Prynne, the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, undergoes a traumatic transformation in society after being accused of adultery, which is highly denounced in the Puritan community. Similarly, Kim Kardashian-West received public scrutiny after the accidental release of her sex tape in 2007. Both women, scorned for their momentary lapse of judgement and indiscretion, spend their time dealing with the guilt and try to make up for their mistakes for themselves and their families.

Of course the answer to this question is "neither" if she must be only one or the other. In one way, Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is a much less complicated character than her lover because her great sin is known to all and how she deals with it is overt; however, because of that public punishment, Hester does not have to deal with the effects of her sin on her soul in the same way that Arthur Dimmesdale must. If a sinner is defined simply as someone who has sinned, then Hester is, indeed, a sinner. If we think of a sinner as being someone who persists in committing the same sin--then I might make the case that Hester is a sinner. The truth is that Hester is really only sorry for getting caught, which she does because she is pregnant.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits a crime and she must wear a scarlet letter A as a punishment. The letter is placed upon her chest to be a constant reminder, to her and the town’s people, of the sin Hester committed. Because Hester has to wear the letter she is ostracized by the town, leaving her and her daughter Pearl on their own most of the time. To Hester, the letter stands for more than just adultery, the sin Hester committed. The scarlet letter represents Hester’s identity—the way society sees her and who she really is.

Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter unfolds the tale of Hester Prynne, who brought forth a child through adultery and battles a life faced with the consequences of her sin. Throughout her life, Hester is consistently reminded of her affair as she wears a scarlet letter representing “A” for adultery, experiences alienation, and encounters hostility from the Puritan community. However, Hester is not the only individual who suffers with consequences of adultery as both her significant other, Dimmesdale, and daughter, Pearl, endure miserable lives of shame, guilt, and rejection. Hawthorne demonstrates that the revelation of the truth can allow one to gain a sense of freedom.

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.

Hester Prynne, a well- known adulterous in the Puritan society of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is taken to jail and publically shamed for her sin. Unlike some others in her society, her sin is shone to light due to the fact of her pregnancy, while her husband is nowhere to be found and her lover in the woods. Ms.Hester has given birth to a baby girl she calls Pearl, and too many she uses her newborn as a shield, covering her scarlet letter ‘A’, she is deemed as an unfit mother. Consequently, the ones with authority in the Puritan country are actually trying to rip apart Hester from her child. However, the way Pearl was produced should not question Hester’s ability or role as a mother, as a matter of fact, it has very little say in Hester’s love and care she has for her child, Pearl.

Hester Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, strong, confident woman who remains determined to keep her love life hidden from society. Despite the criticism, even threats delivered from the town couldn’t affect the loyalty and bravery of Hester keeping her secret. Her ability to endure public shame and isolation exemplifies her strength of character.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne captures the conflict Hester Prynne faces as she struggles to cope with the various forms of guilt and the challenges that life presents her with. At the beginning of chapter five, Hester Prynne is out of jail and is contemplating deeply about her past and present. This deep contemplation marks the beginning of a ‘new’ Hester—one who is thinking critically about the choices she must make in life in order to survive as a ‘pure’ soul in an otherwise rigid society of Puritans. Through the author’s diction, symbolism and literary devices such as juxtaposition, personification, anaphora, visual imagery and irony, readers begin to explore the conflict in Hester’s mind and the message that amidst conflict,

In his essay On The Scarlet Letter, D.H. Lawrence contradicts Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne respects Hester and portrays her as a victim, whereas Lawrence argues that she is one of the main sinners in the novel. D.H. Lawrence establishes and supports his claim that Hester Prynne is unworthy of Hawthorne’s praise by effectively utilizing concise syntax, frequent repetition, and strong biblical allusions.

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.