How Does Hester Prynne Use Religious Conflict In The Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne’s message about obtaining salvation through the means of being open and true to yourself, is shaped by the contrasts of consequences the characters Hester Prynne, who publicly acknowledges her sin, and Arthur Dimmesdale, who hides his sin, face. In Hester’s case, she was publicly shamed for her sin from the beginning and was forced to wear the symbol of her sin, the scarlet letter “A” representing adultery, to isolate her from the rest of society. She had the opportunity to leave the town and begin a new life free from the scarlet letter, but she decides to stay as, if she were to run away or remove the scarlet letter, she would be admitting to the shame of her sins. Her staying, shows she wants to change the scarlet letter to not represent her sin, but her as a character.

The Puritans despised Hester and her symbol for her sin, and shunned her for many years even after her prison sentence. Hester could have just lived a depressed, lonely life in seclusion with her daughter Pearl, but she decided to accept her sin and wrong doing to become a mentally stronger woman. During the many years of Hester being in prison and being rejected when she was released, she practiced needlework to provide food for her and her daughter. As the people in Salem recognized her talent of her embroidery and garments, they began respecting her talent, and so the scarlet “A” that stood for “adulterer” slowly began to stand for “able.” Hester started to supply apparel for babies, ceremonies, inaugurations, and funerals. Furthermore, the Scarlet letter has another symbolic meaning. When Pearl went to the seashore, she made a green letter “A” out of seaweed – nature’s color. This was symbolic for Pearl’s sinless life so far because she hasn’t truly been introduced to sin; she still is “green” and “pure”. As for Hester, her scarlet “A” is symbolic of her many sins, for no one can avoid sin as they grow older.

In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the letter is understood as a label of punishment and sin being publicized. Hester Prynne bears the label of “A” signifining adulterer upon her chest. Because of this scorching red color label she becomes

In The Scarlet Letter, an adulterer named Hester was shunned by the church and society. This book also has the church as the main group. The main unspoken rule dealt with was adultery. Hester’s husband had sent her ahead to America. She had an affair with a priest and this was just something that you did not do, and it was a logical unspoken rule that was broken, and, therefore, she was unable to really belong in this town for a very long time. The girl was so shunned, they put an “A” on her clothes. This was the epitome of humiliation. At this time, no one would associate with a girl like Hester. There was never a feel of belonging after that “A” was placed on her clothes. Hester’s actual husband who disguised himself as Roger Chillingworth to avoid the humiliation. Dimmesdale was the man she had an affair with, and he was a minister.

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.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is shunned for adultery. Her punishment set forth by the Puritan church is to stand on a scaffold so everyone can publicly shame her. Additionally, she must always wear a letter “A” on her chest, identifying her as a

First of all, the scarlet letter stands for Hester's sin. By forcing Hester to wear the letter A on her bosom, the Puritan community not only punishes this weak young woman for her adultery but labels her identity as an adulteress and immoral human being as well. "Thus the young and the pure would be taught to look at her, with the letter flaming on her chest", also "as the figure, the body and the reality of sin." And the day Hester began to wear the scarlet A on her bosom is the opening of her darkness. From that moment, people, who look at her, must notice the letter A manifest itself in the red color covering not only her bosom, but her own character. The Puritans now only see the letter A, the representation of sin, scorn and hate

The townspeople think that wearing that scarlet letter wasn't a harsh enough punishment. They were quick to judge and began shaming her. "... she had..to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of the public contumely... in every variety of insults..."(Scarlet Letter, 63). Some women in the crowd began to discuss Hester Prynee's punishment and began calling her names like a "malefactress", a female criminal. Even the "gossips" condemn her and felt strongly that wearing the letter "A" upon her chest wasn't harsh enough. One of the gossips said her punishment "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead." (Scarlet Letter, 55). Other women said that she could hide the mark but the sin will always

Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” that stands for adultery on her chest as a form of punishment for cheating on her husband and becoming pregnant. Hester has a negative physical and mental effect because of wearing the letter. “The effect of the symbol...was powerful and peculiar”(Hawthorne 115) Hawthorne describes that “It was a sad transformation...that her rich and luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine” and that “...there seemed to be no longer anything in Hester's face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in

The main character in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, emerged from the gloom of this dark society's punishment. For her crime of adultery, she faced the most commonly used punishment—public humiliation. Although this involved no physical harm, its use in such a proper society brought ridicule and shame paralleling a punishment as harsh as death itself. Hester stood amidst the crowd for three tortuous hours, struggling to withstand the burning glares of the townspeople feeling, "as if she must needs shriek out with the full power of her lungs, and cast herself from the scaffold down upon the ground, or else go mad at once." (40). This display was made even more severe because she was also sentenced "to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom," the letter "A", for the rest of her life (43). The scarlet symbol for adultery branded Hester as a sinner to others, and when she was alone it burned like fire into her innermost heart to remind her of the life-shattering punishment society sentenced her for a single sin.

Starting from the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, the letter 'A' immediately has a harsh connotation of a meaning of sin and adultery. As the story develops you realize that this is not what the letter ‘A’ symbolizes at all. It is a representation of Hester's beginning and how far she was come to adapt and alter to her new surroundings. Ever hear the saying, “Don't judge a

Hester embroiders the scarlet ‘A’ and wears it without shame. “It was the art—then, as now, almost the only one within a woman’s grasp—of needlework. She bore on her breast, in the curiously embroidered letter, a specimen of her delicate and imaginative skill, of which the dames of a court might gladly have availed themselves, to add the richer and more spiritual adornment of human ingenuity to their fabrics of silk and gold” (Hawthorne 74). By adorning and decorating her ‘A’, it is understood that Hester has associated some pride with the representation of her crime. Members of her puritan society see the scarlet ‘A’ as a symbol of shame yet Hester has deviated from this symbolism by not attempting to conceal or show embarrassment in her scarlet letter. A professor from King’s College, Laurie A. Sterling questions Hester’s actions and what they represent, “you might also ask why Hester chose to decorate the sign of her sin with gold embroidery and why she chose to embellish it—This line of inquiry could lead to a question about Hester’s place within her society. Is Hester making a statement about her sin? Is she, as one of the matron’s assumes, proud of her A?” (Sterling 224). The specific meaning of the letter A was never explicitly stated in The Scarlet Letter; it is therefore open to interpretation. Hester interprets her letter differently as opposed to

Symbolism has many different meanings, and the Scarlet ‘A’ in “The Scarlet Letter” has many different meanings as well. Hester Prynne is the main character who is forced to wear the scarlet letter as remembrance for the crime and the sin that she has committed. This letter completely ruined her reputation in her community. How could a small piece of fabric do so much harm? This letter was a representation of something much greater than the letter ‘A’. This letter was originally made to stand for adulteress, as physical reminder of her sins. The vibrant scarlet red is meant to shame Hester, to make her feel sorry for her mistakes. Most importantly it was a symbol for change and an emblem of identity. In short, the scarlet letter meant much more than a letter of shame, it was simply a piece of fabric with meaning that could easily change.

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is accused of adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest. While Hester owned the sin, the father was not as strong as Hester to face the sin. With this shame, she was forced to live in isolation with her child. As Hawthorne states in chapter 18,

The scarlet letter could also be looked as a quality of Hester's character. This quality defined the views of the townspeople regarding Hester, and in time also changed in meaning. It was at the beginning of the book that the letter embroidered on her bosom only stood for adultery, and the common consensus of the people, in respects to Hester's actions, was "this woman has shamed us all and ought to die" (50). In time, and through the actions of Hester Prynne, the letter 'A' upon her chest was understood to be something different, and "many people refused to interpret the