Hester Prynne: A Radical Feminist

Hester Prynne changed dramatically throughout the course of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter. Initially she was viewed as the antagonist and was a destructive character to those around her. After being confined in her cottage with Pearl, she began to develop a sense of who she needed to become in order to efficiently raise Pearl. Hester’s ability to do what was necessary for her improvement made her into a respectable role model for women to shadow. Hester chose to isolate she and Pearl to create a wave of self-improvement. Because of Hester’s mysterious, seductive, and rebellious actions, she demonstrated the characteristics of a byronic hero.

Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter tells the story of the life of Hester Prynne an adulteress forced to wear a Scarlet “A” on her bosom by the sinister Puritan society to mark her shame. As her husband seeks revenge for the unidentified lover, Arthur Dimmesdale stays wracked with guilt. The Scarlet Letters symbolism and use of allusions, metaphors, setting, irony, diction, and varied tone helps to unwrap the characters throughout the novel. Hawthornes motives for writing the The Scarlet Letter was to show how women can be equally as strong and independent as men as men can also be morally weak. Hawthorne uses his abilities to weave tone, mood, and style all into one story questioning his purpose of this tragic tale of shame and redemption. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose in writing the Scarlet Letter is to address the punishment Hester endures at the hands of the Puritan society and he utilizes the appeals of Pathos, Ethos, and writes with a moralizing tone in order to develop our feelings towards female strength and how one women could defy the society she lives in and live a life of punishment.

Overtime the amount of morals society has held in the past has decreased. During chapter thirteen of The Scarlet Letter it is explained that the townspeople have grown to respect Hester even though she had committed such a sin that caused an outrage amongst the town. They are going as far as to changing the meaning of the letter A that rests upon her chest. “...many people

We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility.

In the novel “The Scarlet Letter”, Hester is constantly reminded of her sin and put down for it. The Puritans look down upon her because she has committed a sin.

Throughout the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is publicly insulted and shamed as a result of her punishment for breaking the Puritan faith by committing adultery. She is then forced into standing in front of the whole town for hours as the crowd is breaking her down with hateful and abusive language. After, she had been released, "the scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as much always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame of a fellow creature" (Hawthorne 63). They almost had satisfaction in her punishment, having the perception that they had cleansed the town, and therefore only leaving a pure society. The society had thought that if they treated her so horribly no individual would attempt in committing acts that

Hester Prynne and John Proctor were very similar in certain aspects, but when you dig deeper into their lives you find that they differed greatly. They both lived in the Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts. Many deeds that were committed, such as adultery, were viewed as a sin and offenders were punished. Also, during this time period the Salem Witch Trials condemned people for participating in witchcraft. This was the cause of Proctor’s suffering. The punishment was hanging. Hester and John both committed adultery. Hester was shamed and was ostracized. Proctor’s sin was not revealed until Act 3 of “The Crucible.” Hester and Proctor suffered from their punishments. Hester was shamed and left to fend and provide for herself and her daughter alone. Proctor suffered a much greater loss than Hester, as he lost friends and his

One of the main reasons why Hester Prynne is an important and progressive feminist character in The Scarlet Letter is her refusal to follow societal norms or to be put down by her peers. A primary example of her refusal to be put down by her peers is when Hester brandishes her

Throughout human nature, people do not tell strangers as many details about themselves as they would a family member. Nathaniel Hawthorne examines these faces throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. People that wear two faces will cause immense guilt for themself and negative consequences to others.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, contains the motif of a red letter “A” that brings the story to life. The scarlet letter is an embroidered symbol which incorporates power in the novel. The scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom evolved and developed from something negative to something positive; from Hester, the villagers, Pearl, and Hawthorne, the views of the scarlet letter changed drastically.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester transforms into a stronger, more confident woman through the experiences she encounters because of the scarlet letter she wears. At the beginning of the novel when Hester is ordered to wear the scarlet letter, she suffers from feelings of hopelessness and despair; feelings that trigger the thought of suicide as an option to end her suffering. While newly wearing the letter, Hester feels as though it is only a burden; however, that changes as the letter soon reveals to be a gift in disguise. The scarlet letter allows Hester to sense the guilt of those who appear to be the purest and sinless, showing her the true hypocrisy of her society. By eventually learning of the hypocrisy of her society, Hester realizes that her fellow men and women should not have the power to ruin her life. By knowing this and continuing to not let the insults she hears from affecting her, Hester grows into a much stronger person who can ignore the ill-spirited words of the poor whom she helps and the citizens whom she has to interact with. Hester’s continual wearing of this letter makes the letter itself “her passport into regions where other women [dare] not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These [are] her teachers, —stern and wild ones, —and they [make] her strong, but [teach] her much amiss" (Hawthorne, 300). Despite the many hardships Hester

In the scarlet letter when Hester has her baby she is being talked about by the townspeople. When the king says, “Make way good people, make way, in the kings name he cried open a passage; and I promise you mistress Prynne shall be set were men, woman, and child may have a fair sight….”(Hawthorne 52). In The Scarlet Letter the townspeople are talking about Hester and Pearl on how the crime of adultery has happened. Next in The Scarlet Letter, the girls are being unexpected by the church. When the town’s people are talking and they say, “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead” (Hawthorne 49). The Scarlet Letter shows the church unaccepting of Hester and Pearl because of adultery. Finally, in The Scarlet Letter Hester realizes that all of her struggles are finally coming to ease. After the shamming has stopped, Hawthorne says, “Hester strong, calm, steadfast enduring spirit almost sank, at last on beholding this dark and grim countenance of inevitable doom…” (Hawthorne 241). In the end of The Scarlet Letter Hester has moved on along with the townspeople and she is finally being accepted in society. The Scarlet Letter features Hester who is not accepted by society, just like how the woman in the barrio is treated from “The

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the nineteenth century, provides insight into the social stigma surrounding gender equality in his own community and era. Throughout the chapters, Hawthorne's uses Hester to provide a direct reflection to the lives of women in the nineteenth century. Hawthorne employs devices such as specified diction which pertains to each individual character, multiple shifts in the tone used in order to draw attention to shifts in judgment or beliefs of characters, and imagery in order to validate his overall personal belief that women deserve the autonomy and respect that men have possessed for centuries. Hawthorne uses the Scarlet Letter as a novel for social change by characterizing Hester as a woman

At the start of the novel, Hester has just received her sentencing for her crime of adultery. Despite the condemnation being thrown on her, she remains undaunted and does not attempt to hide the result of her perceived sin. The book states "...she took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbours (Hawthorne 80)." Special emphasis is taken of her looks which are elegant and dignified. Her hair is a noted part of her appearance and is said to be "...dark and abundant...so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam... (Hawthorne 81)."

In a traditional culture at the time, the female image was inferior to men in many different aspects. Women have an inferior intelligence compared to men, inferior role in society, and inferior status. Later on, women were respected more as wives and mothers. Women remained in homes, raising children, and “rescuing men’s souls and leading them to the holy paradise” (). In his writing, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a new female-image, one that focuses on remaining a pure reputation. WHile Hester suffered from ridicule and shame from her neighbors, she presents feminist spirit in her conscious. Hester develops a strong spirit and mind. Wang notes that the feminism is carefully placed throughout the story. He analyzes Hester's refusal and determination when she is asked who the father of her baby is. This showed her individualism and her determination to stand alone without a man by her side. When Hester finally takes off the scarlet letter “A” and her cape in the wilderness, it not only represents the beauty she held despite the emotional punishment she underwent, but it also represents her removing the Puritan and patriarch society holding her back. Hester’s feminist conscious is intricately portrayed throughout the