Hester Prynne Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter

Let's start with their stories. Hester of the scarlet letter, was condemned by her sin. She Lived in a small town with her husband. Hester however, cheated on her husband therefore committing adultery. Her community found out about her sin and treated her as if she were the scum of the earth.

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne comes to explore an adulterous affair, and the resulting punishments inflicted by the Puritan society and the consequences for the central characters. The sin and punishment surrounding this forbidden love emphasized the great law of morality characterizing a Puritan society. The punishment of being isolated, resulting in the shifting of the lives of four member of the community, illustrates the spiritual and psychological cost of pursuing love, and illuminates the truth of the harsh ethic of the Puritan society. As characters develop, they find different ways of dealing with their sin, which will ultimately affect how they will progress throughout the story. Hawthorne’s criticism of Puritan

By choosing to embrace her actions, Hester flourishes and presents the scarlet letter with a new meaning. Hester has no way of hiding her sins like Dimmesdale since she is pregnant. Hester’s punishment was to stand for three hours on the scaffold and wear the scarlet letter on her chest for the rest of her life. Initially, the people of the Boston were cold and scorned Hester for her sins. One resident eventually attempts to end the mocking of Hester, shouting “’[n]ot

Everyone can be forgiven for their mistakes, despite the views of those surrounding them. The Puritans believe in harsh penalties for committing sins because God’s punishment would be worse than any earthly trial. When Hester Prynne gets caught committing adultery and premarital sex, her punishment is extremely severe. She is thrown in prison, forced to wear a large letter A on her chest for the rest of her life, forced to raise her daughter Pearl and is publically humiliated upon a scaffold. Despite this lifelong punishment, many of the townspeople feel that Hester got off too easy; as the written punishment for adultery is death.

Hester did not love Chillingworth anymore and she could not love him ever . Her thought process on Chillingworth is why she committed adultery. Losing custody of Pearl was due to the punishment inflicted on her because of her disloyalty to

The Scarlet Letter and Easy A are the stories of women who defy their societies. Hester, of The Scarlet Letter commits adultery but refuses to reveal Dimmesdale or Chillingworth in order to both men from public humiliation. Hester is forced to bear the burden of her punishment alone, while her partner is held up as saintly. Olive, of Easy A, pretends to sleep with various boys in order to protect them from bullying and to boost their social statuses and inadvertently gives herself a bad reputation in doing so. Because both Hester and Olive defy their society’s views of femininity, they are ostracized by their unforgiving and judgemental societies as sinners; however, both women are actually saints who through their good deeds improve their

When spoken, the word ‘sin’ always seems to have a negative tone; when discussing the sins another has committed, it usually coincides with a condescending view. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s well-known novel, The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, committed the sin of adultery. In the time period of the Puritans, adultery was one of the most shameful crimes, considering how strictly they followed the bible. Once word travels around town the way rumours tend to do, Hester quickly becomes the center of attention in the community. There are various impacts; not only on her, but the entire community, with the birth of her barbaric child whom defies the standard Puritan etiquette, and the man who is also guilty and silently suffering.

In contrast, however, Hester has sinned and Pearl is pure, but now they are both paying the consequences of Hester’s adultery. Overall, the response

“Guilt is the source of sorrows, the avenging fiend that follows us behind with whips and stings.” - Nicholas Rowe. This message is shown in The Scarlet Letter, through Hawthorne’s character Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale was created by Nathaniel Hawthorne representing a weak character in many ways. One of the many weak decisions made by Hawthorne that stood out was the guilt he had built up, eating away at him causing an internal struggle if he should do right and confess or if he should let the one he loves suffer because of his actions.

The Scarlet Letter is about the Puritan society and the outcome of the immoral decisions of the protagonist, Hester Prynne. Nathaniel Hawthorne has an overall unfavorable view against Hester and her choices, so his storyline involves many consequences for her. The author chooses to stand from a Puritan’s point of view in the novel since Puritans are against sinning. Hester Prynne wears the scarlet letter as an accessory as well as an acceptance of her consequence for not sharing any details about her sin. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne is critical of any character committing a sin, so Hester Prynne exemplifies his criticism as she portrays an immoral protagonist.

When we keep secrets we also keep guilt and guilt will destroy us from the inside. In the book of scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and how one woman who committed adultery with a character named dimmesdale who is the town revered. Dimmesdale kept secrets to maintaining his reputation but actions the guilt eats him from the inside. Dimmesdale the town revered for the puritan religion. He commits adultery with Hester and has a child, but instead of facing his sin he keeps inside for no one to know.

The main character of The Crucible, John Proctor is someone who possesses all the necessity traits that classify a tragic hero. Not only is his downfall in the book initiated by his human flaw, but he also captures the sympathy from the readers. Even though John Proctor’s intentions are good and truthful through out the book, in the beginning we discover that he has a significant secret. He is guilty of committing the sin of adultery with his young servant, Abigail Williams. His sick wife Elizabeth learned of his infidelity and forgave him, but Abigail was in love with John and tries to kill Elizabeth by engaging in witchcraft with a few other girls in Salem.

Katerina Kilgore Mrs. Gardner AP English 10 March 2017 “Chronic remorse…is a most undesirable sentiment” “Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing.

“The most painful moral struggles are not those between good and evil, but between the good and the lesser good.” - Barbara Grizzuti Harrison. “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and The Scarlet Letter both contain ordinary characters that demonstrate the inborn moral ambiguity in everyone. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is branded a criminal for her sins.

Hester and Dimmesdale are both forgiven because even though they did commit a sin they both confessed and apologized. When Hester and Dimmesdale are trying to leave, Hester takes off the letter and the sun shines on her, she lets her hair down and she is beautiful. “Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves with her maiden hope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour.” When God sees the letter on Hester it almost seems that he frowns upon her with a dark shadow and almost shows that he is upset she still wears the letter. When she takes it off the sun shines on her and she is beautiful like God is happy and proud that she took the letter off.