The Scarlet Letter And Their Eyes Were Watching God

The author, in lines 24 to 29, compares Hester’s scarlet letter to a “passport into regions where other women dared not tread,” and later mentions how the mentors of her life—shame, despair, and solitude—taught her strong but amiss, different from other women. These metaphors depict the dual nature of Hester: the sinful bearer of the scarlet letter and audacious woman of brooding resilience. In spite of her emblem of shame, Hester boldly continued to hold her head high, resisting all the consequences of her adultery. The metaphors employed here, therefore, provide a thorough inspection of Hester’s state of mind and paints a deeper and more poignant picture of Hester Prynne’s

In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is more than a literary figure in a classic novel, she is known by some people to be one of the earliest American Hero’s. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester commits adultery and has a child that she must care for all alone. She is forced to wear a powerful, attention grabbing “Scarlet A” on her chest while she must try to make a living to support her and her child, Pearl. Even though she must face all the harsh judgment and stares she does not allow her sin to stop her from living a successful life. She looks past the Letter as a symbol of sin and turns it into a sign of approval. Hester

Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester

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

Pearl, Hester’s child out of wedlock, then emphasizes on the idea of darkness following Hester when she declares to Hester, “the sunshine does not love you. It turns away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom” (Hawthorne 167). The letter on Hester’s bosom not only repel the townspeople, it drives off the sunshine and light that used to follow her wherever she went. She is considered as a social outcast among her peers and even the children of the community. However, still in the forest, when Hester rips the Scarlet Letter from her chest and throws it into the nearby brook, “all at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees” (Hawthorne 186). Once the letter is no longer attached to Hester, she is set free from her guilt and grief that she has endured for so many years. She is no longer controlled by the “iron-framework” (Hawthorne 111) of the puritan society and is able to be with Dimmesdale, her true lover, without the guilt that was brought upon her by the Scarlet Letter.

Hester Prynne, Pearl, the townspeople, and Nathaniel Hawthorne each have different views of the “Scarlet Letter” that change throughout the story. Hester begins to feel proud of her letter but then soon humbles herself when she wears it and ends up feeling the guilt of her sin towards the conclusion of the story. The letter for Hester begins to shape her life along with pearl for it is an everyday thing for her. Pearl, as a young child, is aware of her mother’s letter but doesn’t fully understand its meaning. Pearl later on begins to only see and recognize her mother with the letter on. The townspeople, in the beginning of the story, hate Hester and her letter believing her punishment should have been more harsh, but later on they find a new meaning for it. Nathaniel Hawthorne varies with his opinions and view of the letter just as each character does. Each view represents a different side to the story.

The main character, Hester Prynne, had sex with the minister Dimmesdale, when she was already married. Hester has a baby from this sin of adultery, and names her Pearl. The town officials find out, and put her in prison. When she comes out, her punishment is to wear this scarlet letter A on her chest for the rest of her life. Hawthorne explains, “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorne 51).

In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne investigates the nature of sin and its weight on the human heart. Hester is punished for her affair with Dimmesdale and has a child named Pearl but Hester keeps his identity a secret and he continues to be a revered staple of righteousness in the puritan community. These two characters show that the struggle to keep a sin secret as well as the hypocritical community. The development of characters, setting, and plot in The Scarlet Letter are conveyed through Dimmesdale’s transformation, the development of the town as a setting, and the arrangement of the scaffold scenes to reveal how secret sin is destructive and hypocrisy in a society denies citizens justice.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne shows us the story of Hester Prynne, a woman who lives with The Scarlet Letter who commits adultery and as a result, is supposed to be punished. Then yet something beautiful came out from her sin, her daughter Pearl. To Hester, Pearl is both a sin and a gift. Pearl shows a complex character and an unusual depth of mind, coupled with a passion that Hester is incapable of controlling. Pearl shows a love of mischief and a disrespect for authority which causes her to be incapable of being bound by society.

Hester experiences moments of misery as Pearl personifies the sin that haunts them. Viewed as the bane of Hester’s purity, Pearl is an “emblem and product of sin”. The “little Puritans” look down upon Hester and Pearl who meet their “intolerable”, “public gaze”(TSL 83). Similar to the scarlet letter itself, when they are seen the townspeople are expected to reflect on the consequences of sin. Instead, they utter callous remarks that forbid Hester from forgetting or moving on from her misdeed. Portraying the image of discontent, Hester and Pearl stand “together in the same circle of seclusion”(TSL 84). Hester is aware of her sin and accepts that she must live out her punishment in hopes of redemption. However, floating in “seclusion” with Pearl leaves room for the overcoming presence of guilt that continues to loom over Hester. As she witnesses not just herself but Pearl be frowned upon, the shame she feels is multiplied. Studying Pearl, and noticing that she “never created a friend” leads Hester to place the blame on only herself for the misfortune that she has caused Pearl. She is unable to shield the repercussions of her sin from “her sole treasure”(TSL 85,82). Moreover, Hester feels “inexplicable” sadness, she cries out in “agony” for the confusion she feels(TSL 84-85). Not making sense of Pearl’s hostile playing habits and her wild nature frustrates Hester. Pearl mimics “ a little elf” when she dances by herself, holding a “peculiar” look in her eyes(TSL 86). Hester observes the effect that the adverse society that they live in has on Pearl. She has been robbed of a normal childhood. With regards to the absence of sympathy and acceptance, Pearl is “only capable of being loved”(TSL 100). In

“On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A.” (40) Every aspect of the story of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, whether it be major or minor, stems from this line. From beginning to end, the scarlet letter has a major bearing on the unfolding of the plot. Hester Prynne, an adulteress, has been spared death for her sin, but she must wear a scarlet letter “A” for the rest of her life. Her husband, who has been living with Native Americans for the past two years, arrives in town just in time to see her holding a baby and being publicly humiliated for the crime of adultery and vows to get revenge. As the story unfolds, Hester and Pearl continue with their day to day lives while Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl’s father, struggles with the sin that he has committed. It later becomes public knowledge that Pearl, Hester’s daughter is the child of the beloved reverend. Hawthorne uses the themes of adversity resulting in joyfulness, presenting to the reader that even though everything at the present may be hopeless, there is something that will come about and make all the suffering seem petty, and freedom from captivity, allowing the reader to consider that while a burden may not seem like such, once it is removed, the effect is similar to that of a bird being set free from a cage. These lead to the production of the novel that is

Being widowed and shunned by the rest of society and still being able to survive and live well, Hester was very able. The last meaningful the scarlet letter was “awe”. This was because by the end of the novel when Hester came back without Pearl, many looked up to her and seemed her for council because she had been through so much. Hester Prynne’s story was put in place by Hawthorne in order to show that no matter how great anyone's sin, that can always be redeemed in both the eyes of God and

sinner”. Hester Prynne, a tenacious, honest, courageous woman, has committed an irreversible mistake that she will be tormented with, for the rest of her miserable existence. She will be shunned from the rest of her community, only to be accompanied with a constant reminder of the result of her act of love and passion, an act which was also adultery. Her character is revealed through her isolated life with her daughter, Pearl, but will never be forgotten by the scarlet letter upon her bosom. Additionally, Hester Prynne connects to the main themes of the novel, frustration and guilt coagulated with sin by internally struggling with the effects of her sin.

Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne displays powerful feminist ideas and behaviors present in many of the novel’s characters especially Hester Prynne. As the personalities and beliefs of the characters in The Scarlet Letter develop, rebellious acts against the traditional ways of Puritanical life unfold. Hawthorne depicts the rebellious nature of Hester, her daughter Pearl, and a few others to demonstrate the severe impacts these individuals have on the oppressing Puritan society, as well as the importance of breaking free from the strict and harsh Puritan lifestyle. Hawthorne reveals his bias mainly through Hester Prynne, the defiant anarchist and main character in the novel. By making Hester society’s antagonist,

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic literary work, The Scarlet Letter, focuses on two female main characters, Hester and Pearl Prynne, as they search for redemption and acceptance in a 1600s Puritanical society. Hester, who wears the scarlet letter “A” as a sign of her earlier extramarital affair, is the mother of Pearl, a girl who is an outsider to the homogenous, pious community due to her links to the sin of Hester. Written in a Romanticist style, this book emphasizes the desire to attain moral “goodness” and the desire to live a good life according to strict Christian ideals. While both women are indefinitely linked to Hester’s perceived sin in the Puritan society, Hawthorne specifically designs the plot to show how Hester and Pearl are heroines in their own light. Hester assigns the scarlet letter a new meaning, using charity as a means of personal and communal forgiveness; Pearl, being an outcast from such a young age, connects to the wild, happy natural world, linking her to the romanticist idea of goodness, which stresses that being away from the “corrupt” society and instead being in nature to be “good.” These aspects help negate the negative reputation both women have in the society, and instead present them as uniquely powerful women in a patriarchal narrative. Through reimagining the roles of Pearl and Hester in their strict, sexist society, Hawthorne takes on a message of feminism, where the women hold the power of self-determination equal to that of their male