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Hester In The Scarlett Letter

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In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester represents a strong female character. The humiliation of forever wearing the embroidered scarlet letter upon her chest resulted in Hester intensifying her strength and resilience. Although Hester was very courageous, this does not make The Scarlet Letter a feminist novel. Feminism is fighting for women to have equal rights and therefore a feminist is someone who is promoting that idea. The novel itself is not advocating equal rights, it does the complete opposite. Hester is prosecuted for committing a crime of adultery while Mr.Dimmesdale is not being punished for committing the same crime. Hester is looked down upon in the community while the townspeople praise Mr.Dimmesdale. The events that took place in the story does not exemplify a feminist novel, but illustrates a strong female character. Hester was constantly persecuted by the women in town, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die”(Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 50) harsh words were said behind her back. Children even had the …show more content…

Hester is the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter she does not receive the same treatment as Mr.Dimmesdale. Since Dimmesdale is a young and handsome preacher he is not talked badly about after he confessed. Pearl was 7 years old when people started to destigmatize the scarlet letter Hester wore daily on her chest. Hester went through 7 years of tyranny from the town before people when they started to realize she was an outstanding person. Dimmesdale stood aside watching idly by as he saw the torment that was placed upon Hester, He finally took a stand and helped her in his last preach. Dimmesdale only helped her due to the fact he felt guilty she was being tyrannized while people still praised him. He would unlikely do the same to any other

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This only made his guilt worsen. Dimmesdale does not feel passionate when he is trying to do job. The people are only imagining getting help because his tainted soul could not possibly redeem other souls. He feels as if he is cheating those people in their faith. Hester then tries to rebuttal by saying “Your present life is not less holy, in very truth, than it seems in people's eyes.

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In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne goes against the ideals of the Puritan community by using topics, such as: adultery, hypocrisy, and revenge. Hawthorne uses Hester’s life and the people in her life to showcase each of these subjects and how much they can affect someone’s life. First, Hawthorne goes against the community by using the scandal between Hester and Dimmesdale and their adultery in order to challenge their Puritan way of life. “‘I fear! I fear!

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In The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of Hester Prynne, a puritan woman living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the year 1642. She lived in a community where religion and law were almost inseparable. She is known for committing an adulterous crime that is punishable by both religion and law. After moving to Boston from England without her husband, Hester engaged in an affair and had a child named Pearl. After refusing to reveal the father of her child, Reverend Dimmesdale, she is sentenced to wear a mark of her crime on her clothing for the rest of her life.

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(109). This love for Pearl that Hester has, has made her loyal to her daughter, she is thinking about revealing who the father is, just to keep Pearl. Hester’s persistence has also come out again when she continues to go on the Scaffold time and time again. Going up to the scaffold with Dimmesdale, at night shows the audience that Hester is staying loyal to her sin that has happened seven years ago and that she has also stayed in love with Dimmesdale through hatred and sickness. Hester stayed dedicated during her penance in the beginning of the novel, she did it without complaining through one of the hardest times of her life.

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Hester 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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Hester’s scarlet letter changes meaning throughout the novel to the townspeople of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. Her punishment and constant reminder of her shame and therefore her sin the scarlet letter A, was intended to mean Adulterer but through her many works of charity turns into eventually meaning Able. Her scarlet letter helps shape her identity and place within the town. While Dimmesdale’s scarlet letter revealed at the end of the novel is thought to have stood for Angel by many of the townspeople, who deny any connection between the late Mr. Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. The theme of morality in the terms of The Scarlet Letter is explored through many aspects in the classic novel.

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In the Scarlet letter, Hester takes part and rejects the gender roles of her society. This reinforces and undermines patriarchal ideology. For starters, she is seen as a powerful and able woman. " She was self-ordained a Sister of Mercy…Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power to sympathize…so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength."

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