How Is Hester Prynne Brave

An early example of this is how she handles her service to others. Even while being harassed by the general public, Hester Prynne continues to make these sacrifices which are only rewarded with hatred and insults. Hester foregoes her own pleasures, except for the lavish “decoration of her infant,” and bestows the rest of her wealth “on wretches less miserable than herself” (Hawthorne 75). She even continues to aid the poor despite the fact that they “not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them” (Hawthorne 75). Despite the fact that it was in Hester’s best interests not to aid those around her, she continued to do so. This evidences her sheer strength of character as the heroine of the novel. Hester’s loyalty is also magnified by her selfless nature, as her willingness to sacrifice lends itself well to remaining loyal to others. Hester also selflessly bears the burden of the entire community’s sin. Hester “perceives the ‘hidden sin in other hearts’ around her” and because her sin has been uncovered, “she alone bears the penalty for deviancy” (Taylor). A prime example of this is once again her refusal to reveal Dimmesdale as her child’s father. In resisting their efforts to uncover him, Hester states to the clergy: “I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” (Hawthorne 63). Here, her loyalty is greatly supplemented by her willingness to suffer in place

     Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner. She has gone against the Puritan ways by committing Adultery. The Puritans believed that Hester was a lost soul that could only be saved by sincere and thorough repentance. For this

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

Her being forced to wear the scarlet letter which led her to becoming a women’s advocate reflects the theme that good things come from bad. There was plenty of negative backlash to Hester's mistake, however she gained the ability to help other women struggling just like her. “They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength” (pg 177, Hawthorne). The sin she committed and the experience gained through the aftermath of that sin, gives her insight on what it's like to be a woman who's being discriminated. Raising her daughter on her own and her saving her from harming herself reflects the theme that everyone makes mistakes. After all Hester is human just like everyone else. It is in our nature to make mistakes or even sin. “It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society” (pg 181, Hawthorne). The actions we take to reverse or to compensate for that sin is what makes us who we are as individuals. Her being alienated from society and developing an independent thinking mindset mirrors the theme that one must acknowledge their mistakes to learn from them. Hester’s society made it abundantly clear that what she did was absolutely heinous and that she needs to repent and beg for forgiveness. The isolation she suffered through helped her become an independent thinker and develop thoughts that we would consider ahead of her time. “The world's law was no law for her mind” (pg 180, Hawthorne). Being excluded socially gave her a chance to dwell in her own thoughts and gather perceptions different from that of other puritans. This decision that Hester makes is very important to the story because it mirrors many of the major themes the author tried getting across to its

Though their crime of adultery was mutual, Hester’s pregnancy forced her sin into the spotlight, and in Puritan society, the sin of having an illegitimate child was one of the worst a woman could commit. As punishment for her crime, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her chest as a sign of her wrongdoing. Because of this, Hester was forced to acknowledge what she has done and accept the repercussions of her crime, which ultimately makes her a stronger person and supports Hawthorne’s claim that it is “better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain” (Hawthorne 76). Hawthorne reveals Hester’s acceptance of her crime and her guilt the moment she walks out of the prison with her daughter in her arms, explaining that, “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of shame would but poorly serve to hide another, 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 neighbors” (Hawthorne 31). Because of her crime, many people expect Hester to tremble with fear upon being revealed to the town, but instead she holds her head high and embraces the punishment for her sin. This in turn allows Hester to appear stronger, more beautiful, and more dignified, and choosing to portray Hester in this way shows Hawthorne’s belief that it is better to confess one’s sin and live with it rather than deal with the

As another form of atonement, Prynne still manages to do charity work like feeding and sewing clothes for the poor. She does this even when they are cruel to her, “Hester bestowed superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself” shows how much she would undertake to make amends for the sin (77). Hester redeems herself by undergoing the cruel bitterness from the dreadful people of the Boston society, and by responding to the bitterness with pure virtue. Hester Prynne atones for the infidelity in which she commits by enduring the hatred of the parochial community, and bears a badge of shame upon her chest which causes her to redeem herself to becoming a valuable human being.

Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!”(120). Flinging mud at Hester and Pearl is extremely disrespectful, nonetheless they do it anyways until Pearl scares them off. Even if they didn’t have mud spattered all over them it must have made her feel bad that even the young kids dislike her for her sins. The town hates Hester as can be seen by this, “‘This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die’”(60). People wanting her dead is extremely harsh for having a baby and not saying who the father is when she is protecting him from the harshness of the crowd as well. Hester has been doing a good thing for Minister Dimmesdale so no one knows that he is the father. Keeping the secret from the crowd is difficult for she is suffering because it would be a lot easier if she told who the father is, but she is keeping it in and it is easier to let things out than keep them in. The Minister is never there for his child which can also impact him by making him depressed.

In the life of Hester Prynne, she is viewed as an adulterer. During her sentencing on the scaffold, people enjoyed seeing her be humiliated and punished for her reckless actions. The self-righteous society views her as an outcast: “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” (Hawthorne 76). Because she broke the strict Puritan laws,

She came, not as a guest, but as a rightful inmate, into the household that was darkened by trouble” (146). This proves that even though Hester was left alone, her actions change the views of the community around her: “They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (146). Hester’s abilities surprise community members helping her gain respect from the residents in the Puritan town.

Through Hester Prynne’s captivity of sin, as depicted by the scarlet letter on her chest, Hester is granted freedom to observe and live a life of her own choosing as well as grant that for her illegitimate child, Pearl. Hester Prynne is held physically captive by the scarlet letter which binds her to sin and the town’s public knowledge of her adultery: “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast […] as the figure, the body, the reality of sin,” (95). Hester is obligated to be both excluded from the community, but to be ridiculed and scorned daily by it as well because of the physical depiction of captivity upon her chest. The scarlet letter, however, is what grants Hester Prynne freedom: “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness. […] The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread,” (237-238). Hester uses her sin to her advantage and takes her freedom to do right by the community which has thus judged her and becomes a nurse. Hester is also free to disclose at any time

Hester Prynne, the woman that has been living as one of the biggest sinners in this town. Since the time that she had to carry with such an atrocious title, Hester has been humiliated, mentally harmed, and has slowly lost her own sanity. Now even though she has gone through so much, there is two things that have not changed and that is for one, she has not once weared the scarlet letter with shame, she wears it with pride and at the same time with the responsibility of showing the sin that she will not be able to run away from. Secondly, Hester never stays away from her daughter Pearl, the girl that brings her the consolation that she needs but also that reflects on the acts of her sin. It can obviously be seen that Hester most keep her daughter Pearl, she has gone through alot and her daughter is all she has left to accompany her and bring her peace.

The harsh townspeople force her up on the scaffold to be humiliated in front of the whole town. Not only is she sent up on the scaffold with her sin revealed by the “A” for everyone to see, Hester becomes an example of what a woman should not come to be. The author is talking about Hesters experience on the scaffold and her pregnancy, “Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion”(32). Hester looses her individuality and is labeled by the townspeople and known for the Scarlet Letter. Further, the townspeople singled her out as an alien or outcast of the town forcing her to live an abnormal live. She was ridiculed and known for her one sin, unable to have acceptance back into society. Although the townspeople feel as if Hester has brought sin upon there lives, she clearly have not harmed any of the townspeople physically, and they have no grounds to punish Hester. The cause of the townspeople's harsh disciplinary acts on Hester originates from a strict, unrealistic standards of puritan society and the zero tolerance of any ungodly behavior observed in the town. Due to the absence of proper justice, Hester's sentencing is left up to the harsh townspeople in which they show no mercy or

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’s ability to sustain her stability and strength of spirit is the express result of her public guilt and penance. She was Arthur Dimmesdale’s partner in adultery, but she is used by Hawthorne as a complete foil to his situation. Unlike Dimmesdale, Hester is both strong and honest. Walking out of prison at the beginning of the novel, she decides that she must “sustain and carry” her burden forward “by the ordinary resources of her nature, or sink with it. She could no longer borrow from the future to help her through the present grief” (54). Hester openly acknowledges her sin to the public, and always wears her scarlet letter A. In the forest scene, she explains to Dimmesdale that she has been truthful in all things except in revealing his part in her pregnancy. “A lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side” (133). Even Dimmesdale himself realizes that Hester’s situation is much healthier than his own when he states, “It must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all up in his heart” (92-93). This life of public shame and repentance, although bitter, lonely, and difficult, helps Hester retain her true identity while Dimmesdale seems to be losing his.

As Hester settled into her new home she befriended a young man, Reverend Dimmesdale. They developed a companionship over a period of two years after Hester had arrived in the new country. This union turned into an affair, which left Hester pregnant without anyone knowing the father’s identity. Hester’s husband was “lost at sea” so everyone knew that Hester’s affair was out of infidelity. The town turned against Hester and accused Hester of adultery. Hester lived in a community of Puritans who had very strick rules. Adultry was a very big sin that when committed could be resolved in death. For Hester's punishment she was lead up on the schfold in front of the whole town. It was as if she was in a trile but had nobody defending her. As she had her baby Pearl in her arms she was asked who the father was, but she would not say. Soon the reader finds out that the father is Reven Dimmesdale. During Hester's trile her was very nervous that she would tell. If she would have told he would have been sentenced to death. To the end of her trile she did not say who was the father but she could only live because of her baby and she has to wear a letter A on her cloths for now