Methods Of Characterization In The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hawthorne chooses to have Hester overcome her struggles. At the end of the book, Hester finds at least some degree of peace. The struggles and pain she went through were not pleasant, but they did provoke her to improve her relationship with God. Her burden seems lessened and if there is nothing else for her to be joyful about, her daughter Pearl has adapted and thrived in her new life. Hester Prynne shows mercy upon the sick and does charity work even when it goes unappreciated. She gave her time and effort to help the poor even when they rebuked her as well. Her dedication to try and fix her mistakes is admirable and the reader feels as if Hester has really changed for the better. The change in Hester makes the people respect her and come to her for advice at the end of the story. In chapter 13, Hawthorne writes about how the Puritans have mixed feelings about Hester, but the majority of the people now forgive and hold her in high regard. “They said it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.” (pg. 158) This quote shows how the interpretation of the letter and of Hester herself has changed. The new view of Hester gained by the Puritans is based on her response to the scarlet letter, a symbol meant to ruin her but in reality it made her

To begin with, Hester’s sin drove the story, but after the community established her as a sinner, she overcame her sins but she still struggled through other characters. Instead of depicting Hester’s inner turmoil directly to Hester, Hawthorne portrays her tumult through other characters in her life such as Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the community. Dimmesdale proclaimed to Hester, “If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and

In spite of that, what makes her the protagonist of the story is how she is able to overcome her punishment that was meant to give her shame. Throughout Chapter 13 of the book, Hawthorne shows how Hester’s confidence has developed in herself and in view of the town, most noticeably when considering the meaning of the scarlet letter, “Such helpfulness was found in her ... that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength,” (Hawthorne 107). Instead of subjecting to the shame that was forced upon her, she grew above it, conveying a different aspect of the theme of guilt, which is redemption. This is not to say that Hester did not care about the sin she committed, as she is very much reminded of it every day of her life while living with the child of that sin. In fact, the author addresses this by saying, “In giving her existence a great law had been broken; and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder,” (Hawthorne 60). Hawthorne is implying how Pearl represents the outcome of a sin and arranged it so that Hester is always living with that sin, therefore, always being reminded of the shame she is supposed to

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents the reader with the harsh, life changing conflicts of three Puritan characters during the 17th century. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Robert Chillingworth must endure their different, yet surprisingly similar struggles as the novel progresses. Despite their similarities, Hawthorne shows these individuals deal with their conflicts differently, and in the end, only one prevails. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s intricately critical diction helps determine his didactic tone; during the course of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals that happiness can be harnessed through one’s perseverance.

Having unseemly high expectations in her community, Hester began to realize that no matter what she did, she will always be publicly criticized any place she went. Hawthorne sets the theme of public ridicule and expectations by using the literary devices of diction and tone, the same as Moore used in The Other Wes Moore. The townspeople were aware of Hester’s beauty. In doubt, they noticed her persona “Was so artistically done; and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that is had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony” (Hawthorne 37). This caused the townspeople to denounce Hester more. They became jealous of Hester because of the beauty she gave off, even after she had committed adultery. The jealousy they presented towards Hester is captured by Hawthorne using the literary device of tone. Hawthorne describes all of the beauty Hester presumes inside and outside of her, but elaborates that her beauty has been terminated by the townspeople because of the “regulations” they placed on her. The public shame eventually caught up to her and her beauty began to fade in people’s eyes. Similar to the writing of Moore, Hawthorne added how the misery that was consumed by Hester was shared among others at

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.

Secondly, Hawthorne uses the Hester’s daughter Pearl to contribute to the theme of imperfection. Pearl is the product of sin, she is a rather odd and wild child. Even though she is a constant reminder of imperfection, she is her mother’s only treasure. Just like an actual pearl, Hester had to pay a great deal for her daughter. Pearl’s father Reverend Dimmesdale says, “…to keep the mother’s soul alive, and to preserve her from blacker depths of sin… If she bring the child to heaven, the child will also bring the parent thither.” (Hawthorne 111). Dimmesdale is trying to convince the Governor of the town to let Hester keep Pear. The Governor thinks Hester is unfit but

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates one of the most profound plots in history using sympathetic characters. The Scarlet Letter occurs in a gray area. Many characters that are supposed to be good, such as John Wilson, are unsympathetic and harsh to Hester Prynne. Hawthorne uses certain syntax and diction to show the personality of Wilson to the reader.

Although Hester consistently displays her composure and strength, she is still regarded as weak because she is a woman. When elaborating on the ‘A’ Hester must wear on her bosom, the narrator describes Hester as “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” (53). In town, men point to Hester to depict women’s weaknesses. Regardless of Hester’s actions, she is still viewed as inferior to other men. As the novel progresses, Hester proves her worth to society by feeding the poor and nursing the sick. The narrator then notes that “some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman” (100). Instead of entertaining the idea that a woman could naturally be strong and helpful, those around Hester view the change as Hester losing her womanhood. She is not seen as a strong woman. Rather, her act of gaining strength is regarded as the loss of her womanhood. This overtly sexist standard suggests that Hawthorne thought it to be

Although Hester is shunned and forced to wear a scarlet letter due to her actions, she regardless holds her head high and even gives back to her community. Hawthorne describes how she makes “coarse garments for the poor” and adds that “she offered up a real sacrifice of enjoyment in devoting so many hours to such rude handiwork” (Hawthorne 80). He emphasizes the generosity of Hester’s actions by calling them a “sacrifice” of her free time which she is wasting by doing “rude handiwork.” In addition, although she is described as dull and unpleasant when being shunned in public, Hawthorne illustrates Hester’s true self when in the woods “her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back…” (199). Through this detailed description, Hawthorne shows how Hester’s character changes when she is not under the pressure and judgement of her community. Although Hester is an adulterer, Hawthorne depicts her true upstanding

What influences an author to write a novel? Many authors use their personal experiences and ancestral backgrounds to shape the plot, themes and relationships in their novels. The events in an author’s life affect the style and content of their literate, which is expressed throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is outcasted from society because of her non-conformity to rigid Puritan morals, similar to how Hawthorne alienates his own daughter Una for having a more masculine personality. These aspects all mirror Hawthorne 's emotions and hardships of his early life through the literary element of characterization. The analysis of Pearl emphasizes how The Scarlet Letter is a reflection of Hawthorne 's life, and how the

The parallels between Hawthorne’s early life and the characters of Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter add to the greater themes in the work, such

Hawthorne doesn’t reveal any information about Hester before the actual book starts. The author brings these attributes of Hester to our attention. We come to a clearer understanding about Hester being a strong independent woman implied by the persona. Hester being publicly shamed, Hester’s confrontation with Chillingworth, Hester being threatened with Pearl’s separation, and Hester contributing to her society show how the author liked Hester; the events portrayed her in a good light.

As a result of this eclipse of her former personality, Hester became everything the Puritans wanted physically. She was a great Samaritan in the community, and was utterly humble and honest. When she showed the worst in her at all times, she had nothing to hide from the people who she met, and their opinions of her could only raise. The irony in the fact that she became a model citizen in the eyes of the Puritans only points to Hawthorne's distaste for the Puritan way of life, for Hester manifested a perfect Janus; a two faced entity of whom no one knew the true nature. Physically, the Puritans loved her behavior, actions, and example.

In the beginning of the novel, the reader is presented with a physical appearance of Hester that is pleasing to the visual eye. It is Hawthorne describes his heroine of the book by