Hester's Identity In The Scarlet Letter
2/28/2018 Jake Curran
THe Relation between the scarlet letter “A” and Hester’s Identity
Hester Prynne’s strength is the most intriguing thing of her character. The author doesn’t give away anything really about Hester’s life before her conflict with the letter, but he does show that she constantly lives through humiliation and torment as a result of her living in a Puritan society. Hawthorne shows how the scarlet letter ends up ruling her life and becomes a part of Hester’s identity. It shows how she can’t get away from her mistake, it follows her throughout the whole book and how it really affects her.
What Hawthorne does in fact tell of Hester’s early life is that she came from a “genteel but impoverished English family” (Hawthorne
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The author even points out that she has such amazing hair noting, “dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam” (Hawthorne ). She is mentioned as being so stunning Hawthorne reciting, “her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (Hawthorne ). But when she is met with her gruesome penance of 7 years for her sin, her beauty is outshone by the shame and guilt she deals with because of the scarlet letter that was sewn to her bosom. For example, Hester hides her luscious dark shining hair beneath a cap. The cap and the letter resemble her shame showing through and how she is struggling to deal with her crime of adultery. In Chapter 13, we see her become the radiant beauty she was several years earlier when she frantically removes her cap that is covering her beautiful hair and the scarlet letter sewn to her bosom. In this action, we can see Hester light up as she tears the letter away from her bosom and we see her really happy for the first time in the book, this shows the physical and psychological torment that the letter causes her. Hester only has a brief feeling of freedom and empowerment though, as Pearl ballistically demands she returns the letter back to her bosom. While the punishment over her sin effects her physical beauty, it has a much more massive effect on her internal identity. Even though Hester possesses this great beauty she is overlooked because of the letter She is only known as the immoral woman who committed adultery, she is still known as the woman possessing the scarlet
Hester Prynne Shame Quotes
1140 Words | 5 PagesHester's True Side In committing an act of adultery, Hester Prynne, the primary character in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, finds herself a victim of harsh judgement and ridicule by her Puritan community. She becomes isolated as a result of this scandalous behavior and becomes emotionally involved in a love triangle between her husband and her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is the town minister. As a result of her shameful history, the townspeople attempt to destroy and embarrass her by socially neglecting her and labeling her as an outcast and loner. Though the people of the community pursue several attempts to shame her, Hester Prynne's beauty, selflessness, and strength help her overcome this rejection from the townspeople and
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Hester Prynne Analysis
919 Words | 4 PagesJohn Updike described Hester Prynne, the main protagonist, as “a mythic version of every woman’s attempt to integrate her sexuality with societal demands.” In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne was used as a symbol of women’s struggle and acceptance to meet society’s expectations as a woman and especially as a wife. These expectations being; loyal, the proper mom for her child and following the guidelines of the Bible by not committing any sins, etc. She was labeled as an adulterer but above everything else she became a power identity and a symbol of bravery. Before understanding why Hester was a mythic version for all these reasons, it is important to first understand who Hester is, what she did and why she is such a crucial character in this 1850 romance novel.
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1266 Words | 6 PagesShe cannot be defined by just one label, but both. She is a mother to Pearl, who is a child born from adultery. She is a caregiver, seamstress, a lover, and a counselor, but the Puritanical society Hester lives in constantly reminds her that she is just a whore. By subscribing to this label, Hester loses her identity in a way. The effect of being an outsider due to the letter causes her to become a shell of her former self.
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1980 Words | 8 PagesYet, despite the heavy burden she has to bear, she acts more civil than most of the characters do in the entirety of “The Scarlet Letter”. Instead of her guilt and shame tearing her down, she chose to rise above it as seen in this quote; “she [Hester] repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” (50 Hawthorne) No doubt at this time, Hester’s heart is filled with pain and worry. After all, these were people she has known for some time and perhaps has even befriended.
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640 Words | 3 PagesHester was sentenced to wear the scarlet letter "A" for the rest of her life and Hester was forced to stand on the scaffold, so she could be publicly humiliated for her sin. Hester and Pearl will go through life, being shamed by others. The townspeople want to see Hester suffer. Hester and Pearl are strong enough to receive the looks and the talks that they will be getting from the
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896 Words | 4 PagesBy wearing the “A,” Hester was publicly humiliated, however, her development in character causes a change in the meaning of the Scarlet Letter, which leads her to taking pride in the letter as it grows a part of her. After Hester’s sin the Puritan community places a false
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941 Words | 4 PagesWe are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.
Scarlet Letter Compare And Contrast Essay
354 Words | 2 PagesShe is brave and does not deny that she sinned. She realizes that she needs to let go of the misery that the scarlet letter has brought upon her. Rather than letting it define her, Hester uses the letter. She helps out in the community. It does not define who she is.
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1118 Words | 5 PagesAlthough she is looked down upon by the society in the beginning of the novel, she is transformed into a symbol of strength, something typically reserved for men, towards the end of the novel. “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power to sympathize,—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 146). Through her suffering, Hester had become an inspiring symbol of strength for the community.
What Does The Deep Red Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter
940 Words | 4 PagesHawthorne uses symbolism throughout the Scarlet letter to display the sin and indecency people see Hester as. The detail represents ,the deep beauty Hester has inside although most people do not see her as a beutiful women. The deep red is a representation of adultery which shows her being an oncast from society. The symbol of the letter “A” is repetitive throughout the novel and grows with Hester and overcomes this with time as people start to see her as a person again and not just a adulterer. Hester acknowledges her sin in her puritan faith but swears to secrecy on the father of Pearl.
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719 Words | 3 PagesEven though the Puritans may have designated the letter as a representation of sin, Hester’s renewed sense of pride does not want society to define the A for her. Rather Hester wants to define it herself and by doing so she develops responsibility and power over her own actions. Because Hester has the power to change who she is, she also has the power to change what the Scarlet Letter represents. By letting the letter be “embroidered with gold thread” readers are able to see how for Hester sin is not something to be fearful of; furthermore, it allows one to see how Hester has developed into an independent individual who accepts who she is and the situation she is presented with. Hester’s lover unfortunately
The Symbolism Of 'A' In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
959 Words | 4 PagesReceiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.
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