Hester Prynne: A Sinner Or Saint
In a legalistic society, people adhere to strict moral codes, punishing and isolating transgressors. Hester Prynne, in the fiction that I have read recently--The Scarlet Letter is an example of the transgressor-adulteress. Hester breaks the social laws, and thus, is considered a sinner, condemned to wearing the stigmatizing ‘A’, lying in her bosom for Adultery. With this symbol of sin, Hester suffers despise and isolation. Yet, later, Hester Prynne has done charitable acts due to her repentance, achieving saintliness. In terms of saint and sinner, people think that Hester Prynne must cater to one or the other. However, based on the reading and research, I believe Hester Prynne is neither a sinner nor a saint because she was so helpful and kind …show more content…
A famous example would be Mary Magdalene. In a research paper conducted about her, Mary is identified as both a beloved follower of Jesus--the first to whom Jesus appeared after he was resurrected, and a sinner--a prostitute. In the paper, Lisa Merry eventually favors one side and claim that Mary is a saint not sinner. (3) Yet, in spite of the effort Lisa offered to portray Mary as a Saint, the counterargument of Mary Magdalene as a sinner continues.
Same debate applies to the ‘saint and sinner’ theme of Hester Prynne, many people would surly stand on one of the extremes of the thread. Some people may point out that Hester is an ultimate sinner. It sounds pretty reasonable. In puritans’ views, repentance is a life-long activity—it goes deeper than remorse into an essential change. In an article The Puritan View of Holiness, repentance is “ a hating the thing I loved before” (Beeke). Obviously, Hester disobeyed the rule of repentance.
However, sanctification of the puritan times is paradoxical, emphasizing both repentance and righteousness. While, Hester is not truly repentant, she seems to compensate for her sin through the doctrine of righteousness. “What you do and say reflects who you are within” (Beeke). Through all the kind acts, Hester’s inside should be as pristine as that of a
Comparing Reputation In The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible By Arthur Miller
511 Words | 3 PagesThe exception indicated the ever relentless vigour with which society frowned upon her sin.” (Hawthorn, pg 48.) Even years after she committed adultery, her reputation was still so foul that the townsfolk would not allow her to make things deemed “pure.” They thought it was inappropriate. Still later, seven years after Hester was forced to stand upon the scaffold, the minister Arthur Dimmesdale announced that he was the one Hester committed adultery with, and then fell down, dead.
Scarlet Letter Greed Quotes
825 Words | 4 PagesWhen Hester Prynne committed adultery she was punished greatly. She was made to stand in front of the town on a pedestal being shamed. Not to mention the scarlet letter A on her chest representing the crime that she had committed “That Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity” (Hawthrone pg.
Dimmesdale And Chillingworth Should Be Forgiven In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
524 Words | 3 PagesHester is clearly forgiven for the fact the Puritan society says she is. In chapter 14, Chillingworth on page 264 tells Hester that he has heard good “good tidings” of her and the town's fathers have considered removing her scarlet letter from her bosom. In the book it says, “Why, mistress, I hear, good tidings of you on all hands.” “No longer ago than Yester-eve, a
Hypocrisy By Arthur Miller And The Crucible By Nathaniel Hawthorne
867 Words | 4 PagesHowever, in The Scarlet Letter Hester accepts her sin: “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom” (Hawthorne 56).
Outline For The Scarlet Letter
762 Words | 4 PagesIntroduction 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. Thesis: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” can be seen as criticism of the beliefs of puritans and how symbolism is used to show Hester’s sin and how she is defined. Body Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence: When the Puritans had found out that Hester had conceived a child with another man, the Puritans saw this as a sin that deserved punishment.
Scarlet Letter Revenge Quotes
715 Words | 3 PagesSome may say Hester's sin was justifiable, some may say not. Either was, no one is free of sin. In this Puritan society mans law is God's law. They can’t speak to God, but they still hand out punishments for him. Roger Chillingworth’s wife that he sent ahead of him to the new world, cheated on him and had a child
Integrity In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
764 Words | 4 PagesThe definition of integrity in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. A character with integrity is willing to sacrifice anything of sentimental or physical value, even their life or reputation, to defend the moral system they govern themselves by. It takes someone of strong character to possess integrity, because the temptation to give in is every so often immensely appealing. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is a character of such integrity, because she upholds her promise with Chillingworth and refuses to flee from the punishment of the scarlet letter “A”.
Scarlet Letter Argumentative Essay
445 Words | 2 PagesHester knew everything would come down to this. She was born and raised just like most Puritans, she knows what is against her religion. She knows very well what she would get herself into committing certain sins. She has gone against people of her kind. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die; is there not law for it?
How Hester Prynne Changes In Scarlet Letter
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.
Perfection In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
1581 Words | 7 PagesWithin Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, antagonist Hester Prynne is subjected to the opinions and treatment of 17th century’s Massachusetts Bay Colony as a result of her sinful act of adultery. In the Puritan colony, it was important to be faithful, both to thine spouse, and most importantly, to God. Hester’s adultery issued her public ridicule and shunning, and a physical reminder to be forever worn; an embroidered ‘A’ placed upon her bosom. The symbol served to alert all of her faithless act, “It had the affect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (page 74). Throughout the novel, Hester’s treatment is obvious, and she makes many efforts to not let her choice, and her illegitimate child Pearl, define her.
Hester Prynne Punishment In Scarlet Letter
791 Words | 4 PagesConsidering the townspeople’s reactions toward Hester’s sin of adultery, it can be concluded that in the Puritan era, religion was of utmost importance, and the Puritans met sins with extremely harsh punishments. Because the majority of the Puritan town viewed Hester as a disgrace, she became “Lonely . . . and without a friend on earth” (56). This made it effortless for the inhabitants of the town to continue to insult and degrade Hester because they did not care to learn her true personality. While a few civilians had sympathy for Hester, the town mostly regarded her as shameful and
Reverend Dimmesdale's Redemption In The Scarlett Letter
389 Words | 2 PagesAlthough this is a very serious sin, Hester’s reputation is redeemable. One of the ways she can achieve redemption is by serving the punishment of being stared at by “. . . a thousand relenting eyes. . .” (Hawthorne 54) on the scaffold in the town square. By serving the socially accepted punishment, Hester is able to start redeeming her reputation in the eyes of society.
Essay On Evil In The Scarlet Letter
719 Words | 3 PagesThe townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”
Hypocrisy Of The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
936 Words | 4 PagesIn the “Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays hypocrisy of the Puritan society, where the protagonist Hester Prynne face many consequences of her actions and the how she tries to redeem herself to the society. During the seventeenth puritans believe that it is their mission to punish the ones who do not follow God’s word and it is their job to stop those from sinning. Therefore, the hypercritical puritan society punishes Hester harshly for committing adultery, but in Hester’s mind, she believes that what she did was not a sin but acts of love for her man. Eventually, she redeems herself by turning her crime into an advantage to help those in need, yet the Puritan society still view her as a “naughty bagger.” (Hawthorne 78)
Theme Of Suffering In The Scarlet Letter
1662 Words | 7 PagesIn order to overcome her sin, Hester needs to endure, “the torture of her daily shame.” The
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