Scarlet Letter Heroine Quotes

Imagine, after making one mistake, being placed in the public eye and forced to wear and everyday reminder of that one mistake. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that brings attention to the way society ostracizes people who it deems unfit. The main character, Hester Prynne, is condemned to a life of shame and seclusion as a result of the punishments of her sin of adultery. By displaying a character that experiences the harsh punishments and lifelong effects of the world’s treatment of what it views as abominationabonination, Hawthorne argues that society’s ruthless behavior toward sin and sinners is emotionally and morally crippling to those

In Hester’s mind, her actions are justified by the fact that she “felt no love” with Chillingworth. Even though she feels that she is innocent, she blindly succombs to the punishment and consequences of her actions. Even though throughout the rest of the novel her goal is to break away and change the typical Puritan society, in this moment, she gives in to the court. Hester accepts the letter, but will not admit that she made a mistake. It is extremely hypocritical that Hester advocates for her individualism and originality in the Puritan society, but she never once protests the letter or her ruling. Hawthorne punishes Hester’s hypocrisy by making her an outcast in society with the scarlet letter.

Throughout the duration of the novel, Hester displays copious amounts of bravery. In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester is forced to stand in front of the town as part of her punishment for her crimes. Instead of displaying emotion or cowering away, Hester stands tall and accepts the reality she is in. Gracefully, she exhorts an air of dignity that can be matched by few as she accepts the first portion of her sentence. After her initial punishment, Hester is flung into the world as a single mother of an infant with no source of income or support. Freedom to leave and live anywhere she chooses is given to her, yet she decides to stay in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Using her skills as a seamstress to provide for herself and Pearl,

Her sin is her act of adultery that she commits with Dimmesdale. As punishment, she has to wear a Scarlet Letter, however, as the story moves along, the scarlet letter becomes less of a symbol of shame, and more of a symbol of strength. As a result of the scarlet letter, Hester becomes stronger both emotionally and mentally. The punishment ultimately teaches Hester that strength and individuality are not gained by wearing noticeable clothing, but through quiet self-assertion and a self-reconfiguration of one’s assigned identity

The “visible sign of her adultery” was the scarlet letter, and during the first years upon wearing the scarlet letter, Hester experienced great trouble and sadness. In fact, “every

When he is gone, Hester cheats on her husband with a minister named Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester’s punishment for the crime was a scarlet letter “A” that she had to wear on her chest.

Hester is unwilling to be brought down by the humiliation and ridicule of other people, because she will be seen as weak and useless in society. She wants to show everyone that she will endure the punishment she receives for committing adultery, but she will not give up the dignity that she has left, even if it means continuing to stay and suffer in her town.(Wright). Hester doesn't choose to hide her scarlet “A”, she instead uses the attention to highlight her good deeds by being more involved in her town. Hester chooses to give to the poor, she knits clothes for them, she nurses them when they're sick. Despite her own poverty and despite the fact that the poor also look down on her as a sinful woman.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne while courageous and loyal, is foolish. Hester is the protagonist of the novel, an adulteress with a daughter as the result of her sin. Besides serving jail time and going on the scaffold, she has to wear the letter ‘A’ on her chest for the rest of her life as a reminder of her sin. Even while facing her punishments, she refuses to confess her lover’s identity. When her husband, Roger Chillingworth, enters her Puritan community and is faced with her infidelity, he vows to discover who her lover is.

His image is quite strong and influential to the Puritans, thus Hester hides his guilt: “And now, through the chamber with these spectral thoughts had made so ghostly, glided Hester Prynne, leading along little Pearl, in her scarlet garb, and pointing her forefinger, first, at the scarlet ltter on her bosom,and then at the clergyman’s own breast” (100). Although Dimmesdale is guilty, Hester grants him safety. She understands that his reputation is on the line, and that one small mistake shouldn’t ruin his whole Puritan image. Hester accepts her mistakes in the sinful manner and does not want others to feel the shame she has. In conclusion, Hester Prynne is an exemplary figure of bravery and humility in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romantic literature, demonstrated by her

Her sin became her legacy, or at least it became her legacy for some time to the most critical members of the society. They shunned her and tried to shame her. Living with this reputation, however, awakened in Hester Prynne a quality she probably did not realize existed - unbelievable strength. Refusing to simply give up and hide in the midst of the loss of her reputation, she showed amazing courage. While on the scaffold, she, for a moment was tempted to hide her sin by covering her A with her infant daughter Pearl.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne chooses to follow her heart and commit the crime of adultery. By acting upon her passion and choosing to follow her love for Dimmesdale, Hester's true character is revealed. She refused to be shackled to the loveless marriage with Chillingworth and believed she had the right to engage in true romance. Her life-changing decision caused her to be humiliated and scorned among the community, but she had pride in her choice to defy Puritan society's strict moral code. Her character was revealed to be one of courage, sympathy,

At first Hester was ashamed of what she had done, but she learned to accept it and didn’t let it define who she was; she continued to care for the poor, even when they began to mock her. The scarlet letter embroidered on her chest became a part of who Hester

She makes little effort to prove herself to the townspeople and accepts their continual ridicule for years on end without so much as a single conjecture to the punishment relative to the nature of her crime; she makes no effort to defend her personal life, though realistically, it is none of their business. This is solid testimony to the matter of her naivety. In this way, Hester reinforces the message that Hawthorne tries to communicate to the reader, which can be most easily defined as “sin destroys a person from the inside out and causes irreversible

She must deal with “giving up her individuality” and becoming “the general symbol … of woman’s frailty and sinful passion,” (54). The letter A has a “powerful and peculiar” effect on Hester withering “all the light and graceful foliage of her character…[and] leaving a bare and harsh outline,” (112). This once colorful and expressive woman is now bare. The judgement and shame forces Hester to seek freedom in the forest. As Hester shows growth in the forest after conversations with both Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale, the townspeople forgive “Hester Prynne for her frailty” and see the scarlet letter as a “token… of her many good deeds,” (111) Hester feels that the “Shame, Despair, [and] Solitude,” has “made her strong,” (137). In the end, Hester suffers through living a life where she is isolated from society but not seeking a true freedom for herself. She lives alone in her cottage “on the outskirts of the town, “(55) but not in the forest where she could truly be free. Because of the “roots she had struck in the soil,” (55) Hester feels an attachment to this place and becomes a “shadow-like figure” (178) dressed in gray because she is not being her true self. The passion Hester once exuded has been subdued in her link to

Hester in “The Scarlet Letter” is an influential person in literature that embraced her public humiliation. She looked at her punishment with contempt and strength. The sin of adultery that she committed was represented through her scarlet letter that she wore. She wore this letter on her chest not as a shame or guilt , she wore it loud and proud with no regrets. For example when she wore this letter out in public her reaction toward this was a haughty smile.