The Role Of Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter

Scarlet “A” In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter there is no other vigorous personality like Hester Prynne. Hester was made out to be a shameful person who would never be pardoned of her sin. Hester is an empty puritan woman who commits adultery with a minister and has a daughter from her deceitful union. She goes through wearying passage from sin to salvation, but always seem to find her identity.

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.

The Virtue of Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s highly acclaimed novel, The Scarlet Letter, a Puritan town’s reaction is described after Hester Prynne raises a scandal that goes against the town’s religious views. The Puritans believe the Bible should be translated into their life and that God should be the center of it. Many of them think of Hester as a sinful woman without virtue. They treat her as an outcast and consider that she is somehow affiliated with the Devil.

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

This shows how much Hester did not want the Puritans to see her true emotions: pride, love and passion. Throughout the novel, Hester kept the true meaning of the scarlet letter hidden from her daughter. In Chapter

A Role Model that Transcends Time 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.

Hester is accused of adultery, and is forced by the city magistrates to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest for the rest of her life. She is forced to wear the mark, living with the “pang of it … always in her heart.” (78) Although she initially tries to degrade the negative connotation of the scarlet letter by decorating it and covering it up, she grows to accept “the scarlet letter flaming on her breast” (118), and the letter only increases her strength. The letter, although not a physical punishment, affects her more on a social and emotional level, isolating her from society and drawing ridicule from townsfolk. Her isolation leads her to connect with only a limited few, including Mistress Hibbins, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth.

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

Hester's punishment was a judicial sentence; however, being forced to stand on the scaffold for three hours, and to wear the scarlet letter "A" for the rest of her life. It was socially humiliating. Hester was sent to prison for committing adultery. Hester was forced to live with the consequences by wearing the scarlet letter "A". Hester is physically and emotionally reminded of her sin, while wearing the scarlet letter "A". Wherever Hester goes, people will know who she is, and what she had done. Hester's punishment was unjust because Hester was sent to prison for committing adultery. 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.

What does it mean to be a feminist? A feminist is someone who believes in gender equality, and advocates for equal social, political, legal, and economic rights . The Scarlet Letter is a prime example of a feminist novel, as it demonstrates the unfairness of gender discrimination. The way Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Hester shows that she is a strong female character, as she strays away from gender norms of the time throughout the novel.

Her isolation and the scarlet letter fastened to her bosom permitted her to look at the shortcomings of the society- as an outsider- that is typically overlooked by the civilians themselves. She discovers how women aren’t given power inside the community to think for themselves or make changes, and hence winds up stuck in the same mindset or beliefs. Due to the ideas shared by men, women begin to see themselves as inferior and are easily influenced in remaining silent. Unlike the other women in the Puritan community, Hester is depicted as a strong, unyielding lady- the “wild rosebush”-, who, despite being publicly shamed and mocked, helped the needy and disregarded others opinion of her. She isn’t stifled by the townspeople 's perspective of her, but rather is concerned about the way women are viewed upon, and feels that existence itself- is worthless for them.

In 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)

Hester was forced to wear the scarlet A and “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself,” (Hawthorne 51). Hester feels extremely isolated and alone when she wears the scarlet letter, as she knows it was not solely her in this sin. Dimmesdale uses Hester’s suffering as a reason to not confess by seeing the negative effects it has on her. Hawthorne shows that this makes the pain even worse for Hester, as she is experiencing the punishment of this sin alone. This also forces her to become a single mother and raise Pearl alone.

During the Scarlet Letter experiment I did not get many reactions. Hester Prnyee got much more reaction then I thought I ever would. She had an “A” embroider to every piece clothing she owned. The “A” symbolized adultery, however, I had a P in my binder symbolizing polite. Hester got a lot of hate for her letter because everyone knew, on the other hand not everyone knew about mine so not many people gave me hate about it. My peers were very curious.

The scarlet letter, Hester prynne had the letter A sewed on her close for part of her punishment for what she did to her husband. She was charged for adultery for having a child with another man when she was married then she was forced to go to jail. She was scorned in front of everyone in the town, after she was sent back to jail to serve her sentence.