The scarlet letter has different meanings throughout the story and to each of the characters. The original meaning of the scarlet “A” is “Adultery”, but later in the story the townspeople and other characters begin to interpret it in different ways, each of them with their own idea and belief. Hester starts being more active in society and that makes the townspeople think differently about the scarlet “A”. The scarlet letter doesn´t keep the same meaning throughout the whole story, it changes with Hester´s actions and the Puritans beliefs. Hester starts being more active in society, she starts helping the poor and nursing the sick. These actions make the townspeople think differently about the scarlet “A”, to a point in which the townspeople …show more content…
At the beginning of the story, the scarlet “A” is considered as a badge of shame. Hester doesn´t show the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame when she wears it, because she wears a beautiful scarlet “A” embroidered with gold, that she made herself thanks to her ability in making precious needle works. Hester is capable of wearing the scarlet letter in a very determined and secure way. This is why, at the beginning of the story, the townspeople think she is “proud” of her sin. The puritan beliefs say that the scarlet letter should not be pretty, because it is a “punishment” for the sinners to feel ashamed. Hester doesn´t reflect that when she wears it. At first, for Hester the scarlet letter represents the loneliness that she feels, the sense of guilt and how society is judging her for her sin. Later, however, she comes to terms with her fate and accepts it. This is when the letter “A” becomes something secondary because Hester finds the strength and confidence inside her, to a point where she refuses to take the scarlet letter off, saying that is has grown too deep in her. It has become part of …show more content…
He disappeared for a period of time and Hester didn´t know if he was even alive. All this time Chillingworth had been captured by Indians and was living with them. When he came back to Boston, Chillingworth finds Hester on the scaffold holding a baby that´s not his and wearing a scarlet “A” on her chest. Chillingworth talks to Hester and asks her who is the child´s father, but Hester refuses to tell him. In that moment Chillingworth swears revenge, but not towards Hester, since he thinks that the scarlet letter and Pearl is punishment enough and that she has received what she deserves. Chillingworth wants revenge towards Hester´s lover and he won´t rest until he finds him. Roger tells Hester not to tell anyone that he is her husband, he doesn´t want people to know that Hester is his wife because people would think of him as the betrayed husband and he would live in shame. Chillingworth pretends to be a doctor, that way he won´t drag too much attention since the town is small and the people living in it don´t have access to good
Chillingworth came to Boston to dig up who impregnated Hester. He seemed to have very little interest in Hester, his main goal was to find out the truth about Pearl’s father. As he does this, he twists the mind of Reverend Dimmesdale and becomes toxic. He becomes obsessed with trying to get vengeance on Dimmesdale for impregnating Hester. As the years go on, even the physical
However, as you dig deeper, you will see Hawthorne’s true purpose for writing the novel. In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses irony to criticize the Puritan ideals. Hester’s Scarlet “A” is used to show how imperfect the Puritans are. The narrator describes Hester’s scarlet letter when he says: “On the breast of her gown,
The reason why the scarlet letter started off symbolizing adultery is because her accessory was a large embroidered “A” that really meant adultery. Puritans in Boston were supposed to notice the symbol so Hester would live her life alone and embarrassed, however as the years passed and the crime became less
In the beginning the scarlet letter represented adultery and shame, but then the A represented “able.” Hester Prynne showed people that greatness can come out of huge mistake. One bad chapter does not mean your story is over. Willingly, Hester wanted to pick herself up again and move on with her life and eventually people noticed that. They began to respect her and think of her as strong and commendable
According to them, adultery is the biggest sin and if anyone was found committing this kind of sin then they will be punished and have to wear “A” on their dress for committing the shameful act. In the novel, Hester lifted the weight of the scarlet letter on her shoulders because the Puritan community forced her to wear the letter “A”. This demonstrates the importance of geography and demonstrating the community’s religious viewpoints because of its place. If the story had taken place somewhere else then Hester would not have to through this agony. Geography is the device that makes the story.
Symbols: The Letter A The scarlet letter is a red letter A that Hester is forced to wear as punishment for her crime of adultery. It is of deep scarlet color, so it is very striking and alluring. It represents the sin she has committed, adultery. Hester wears this letter of shame throughout the whole beginning of the novel.
Hester can feel the sensation of being treated more traditionally. With out the scarlet letter she will be able to forget about doing that certain sin. The voices of sin and torture can keep reminding her when she’s wearing it. Hester can feel free with
Janie Crawford is the main character of Their Eyes Were Were Watching God. Their Eyes Were Were Watching God is set in the early 20th century in Southern Florida. Janie being a Half Black woman experiences colorism, racism, and misogyny. These social disadvantages lead to Janie facing adversity and discrimination throughout the book. Similarly, in The Scarlet Letter, the main character Hester Prynne is an adulterer in a Puritan society that outcasts her after she was driven into another mans arms by her neglectful husband.
The change led to the society change in their view of Hester. She had “so much power to do, and power to sympathie,--that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by it original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 146). The ‘A’ on her chest morphs its meaning to represent being able. Robinson, held his tongue for two years, but he could not, like Hester keep quiet any longer.
When Hester emerges from the prison, one of the first things the crowd criticizes is the stunning, red letter Hester now wears. The passage reads, “But the point which drew all eyes…was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom” (51).Now let’s parallel the phrase, “Made with love,” to the Scarlet Letter symbolizing Hester’s love. Hester made the letter with her own hands, and in doing so she used key symbols. Rather than making a plain letter that wouldn’t draw attention, Hester specifically uses the vibrant color red, and also takes great care to make the scarlet letter beautiful. Another piece of evidence that supports this idea appears later in the story when the townsfolk begin thinking of the letter differently.
Hawthorne 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.
The 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.”
Hester’s husband, who calls himself Roger Chillingworth, was presumed to be lost at sea at the beginning of the book, but he is in Boston now practicing medicine. He settled in Boston with the intent to get revenge on his wife. She had an affair, although she has hidden her lover’s identity, the people knew about it because she gave birth to a child. Several years later Hester is supporting herself
They both know it is a bad symbol and they are ashamed to wear the letter. “So speaking, she undid the class that fastened the Scarlet letter, and taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves.” Hester would not of taken the letter off and throw it into a distance unless she really did not want to wear
Receiving 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.