The Change Of Hester's Life In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Have you ever judged someone by first sight? Nathaniel Hawthorne in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, claims that the perspective on an intimate, yet prominent object can be altered through a novel. Hawthorne supports his claim by telling the audience about how Hester, the villagers, Pearl and even Hawthorne’s diverse perspective on Hester’s scarlet letter evolves throughout the novel. The author writes in a solemn tone for the audience to take the story soberly.

The book, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the scandalous story of Hester Prynne and how the scarlet letter ‘A’ burns on her breast. Hester has a child who is born in adultery. She is sentenced to stand on the dreaded scaffold and endure public shaming and to wear the letter of conviction for the rest of her days. Even in her suffering, Hester refuses to give the identity of the father, the highly regarded Minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. He is a cowardly man who is permits Hester to suffer alone. Even though he confesses his sins eventually, he refuses several other opportunities; therefore, he is weak and cowardly, and in no way a hero.

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about a Puritan woman who has committed adultery and must pay for her sin by wearing a scarlet “A'; on her bosom. The woman, Hester Prynne, must struggle through everyday life with the guilt of her sin. The novel is also about the suffering that is endured by not admitting to one’s wrongs. Reverend Mister Dimmesdale learns that secrecy only makes the guilt increase. Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to display how guilt is the everlasting payment for sinful actions. The theme of guilt as reparation for sin in The Scarlet Letter is revealed through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of northeastern, colonial settings, various conflicts, and

Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter for the rest of her life because of the one sin she has committed. As she stands on the scaffold in front of the whole town she is told “... And then and the after for the remained of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.” (Hawthorne 59). This quote shows that hester is forever going to be guilty for the one sin she has committed with Dimmesdale. Hester will never be treated the same or looked at the same off because of the Scarlet A on her bosom. As the book goes on Hester moves into a cabin that is half in the forest and half in society and raised her daughter Pearl. She made clothes for a living and she decided to start making extra clothes for the poor. Hawthorne then explains how the poor don’t even have respect for Hester because of her scarlet letter “...she give of her little substance to every demand of poverty; even though the bitter-hearted pauper threw back a gibe in requital of the food…” ( Hawthorne 146). This proves that she is still being treated different because if her sin. She is getting treated so wrongly and this sometimes make her feel guilty for committing her sin. Although Hester can leave at anytime she plesases she decides to stay in this town because she believe she should be punished in the same town that she committed her sin. She also stays because of

  "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

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.

Shakespeare once said, “If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul.” In the 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, a young woman named Hester Prynne was just that. Nathaniel Hawthorne tells a story of a young woman named Hester, who commits adultery, and how she struggles to raise a daughter, and keep her lover from judgement. In the Puritan society, honorable sin was not a possibility. Throughout the book, characters deal with consequences for their actions that change their views on how they should deal with problems. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth, the main characters, all have consequences for their sins. In the book sin changes the characters’ personalities, choices, and actions.

Hester and her daughter Pearl "… stood together in the same circle of seclusion from human society" (Hawthorne 78; Ch. 6). Pearl and Hester Prynne learn how to ignore society's hate together. Over time, Hester begins to accept her flaws and moves on from her past. She begins to act happier and as a more life-loving human with her beautiful young child. As time goes on, Hester tries to forget her "A" upon her chest, but "the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be the most prominent feature of her appearance" (Hawthorne Pg. 88 Chapter 7).

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a picture of two equally guilty sinners, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale, and shows how both characters deal with their different forms of punishment and feelings of remorse for what they have done. Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale are both guilty of adultery, but have altered ways of performing penance for their actions. While Hester must pay for her sins under the watchful eye of the world around her, Reverend Dimmesdale must endure the heavy weight of his guilt in secret. It may seem easier for Reverend Dimmesdale to live his daily life since he is not surrounded by people who shun

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, “The Scarlet Letter,’ symbolizes a combination of shame and identity. This book is about a woman named Hester Prynne, who has an affair with a Reverend named Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester believed her husband was lost at sea, but that does not prevent the punishment and shame from her community. Even though she is pregnant with Dimmesdale’s child, she does not want to destroy his life by confessing that he was indeed her lover. Her punishment is to wear the letter “A” on her chest which represents the sin of adultery.

The effects of sin are often worn on the outside, whether in behaviour, countenance, physical repercussions, or engraved letters. The Scarlet Letter channels Nathaniel Hawthorne’s opposition towards Puritan society into a widely acclaimed novel centered around wrongdoing and its consequences. Utilizing the romantic style of his era, Hawthorne expectedly weaves allegories and emotionally-driven characters into his writing. Additionally, he employs symbolism in elements of his story. For example, each of the As in the story, whether belonging to Dimmesdale, Hester, or represented in Pearl, illustrate separate outcomes of sin.

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth

The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is set in a strict Puritan society and deals with themes of isolation and punishment as they relate to the characters of Hester and Dimmesdale. The main character, Hester Prynne, lives alone in Boston and waits for her husband’s arrival in America. She and her pastor, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, have committed the sin of adultery. After the birth of Pearl, Hester is unable to keep her sin a secret. As a result, she faces physical isolation and public punishment. She is required to wear a conspicuous scarlet letter A, that stands for adultery, for life. Although Reverend Dimmesdale is able to keep his sin a secret, he emotionally isolates and privately punishes himself. Physical isolation and public punishment have very different effects on Hester than the emotional isolation and private punishments have on

"With nothing now to lose in the sight of mankind, and with no hope, and seemingly no wish, of gaining anything, it could only be a genuine regard for virtue that had brought back the poor wanderer to its paths." (153)

Novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his fictional novel, “The Scarlet Letter”, expresses a story about a young woman, Hester Prynne, back in the 1600s who was convicted of adultery and must now wear a big “A” on her chest to show those in the small Massachusetts Bay colony the sin she has committed. Hawthorne’s purpose is to illustrate the hardships Hester must go through for committing such act in the small colony where religion was put first. Hawthorne adopts a serious and pitiful tone throughout the novel to get the adult readers to sympathize with the main character, Hester Prynne. Though this book was written back in the 1800s and is based off a woman who’s shamed for adultery, this book can still relate to today’s world with some of