The song Outside Looking In by Jordan Pruitt perfectly describes the Scarlet Letter. The first few verses describes how everyone is gossiping and talking behind someone’s back. This is a recurrent event in the Scarlet Letter. As Hester walks down the street people will look at her and gossip and she walks by. “You don’t know how it feels to be your own best friend and on the outside looking in.” These verses describe exactly how Hester is feeling. She is being left out and persecuted for her sin. She is known as the outcast of society. The second part of the chorus, “If you could read my mind you might see more of me than meets the eye. And you’ve been all wrong. Not who you think I am, you’ve never given me a chance”, shows how Hester is being
In the novel the Scarlet Letter the author Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes setting, allusion, characterization and symbolism to support his theme of independence of a women who was able to keep her dignity even when people were constantly putting her down. The world was not such an accepting place in the 1850’s, and Hawthorne ingeniously used this to his advantage to show how people did not accept Hester for her act of adultery (Hawthorne VVI-XI). The book was set in the puritan era which is known for being one of the most religious time periods of today. Hawthorne wisely chose to make the village an extremely religious and pure place because it would help with the idea that Hester was on her own because she sinned Hawthorne claims that the village is
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester to create the theme of reputation by presenting her as a woman whose reputation was ruined by an extramarital affair. She endures being forced to stand on a scaffold while holding her newborn babe, while villagers gossip below. "You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend," answered the townsman, looking curiously at the
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,” (KJV 28:13). The message of this short proverb is simple: confess. Despite this, there are millions refusing to reveal their hidden atrocities to the oblivious public. But you don’t need public ridicule for a sin to destroy you, in fact, it would be better if you did confess. This is the ideology of Nathaniel Hawthorne author of The Scarlet Letter.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's romantic novel The Scarlet Letter depicts Hester and Dimmesdale, sinners who deserve punishment by the oppressive Puritan society. Dimmesdale, however, avoids punishments through Hester’s silence, and Hester suffers through the punishment alone, broken. Hawthorne presents archetypes of darkness, color red, and star-crossed lover to establish tragedy within the contrasting characters of Hester and Dimmesdale. Hawthorne further informs the readers that consequence depends on the attitude towards punishment.
Hester changed in the book from being an adulteress to being “Able” (158). A way that she became known as able to the town was by helping others out and making them little things. In the book it mentions Hester being a woman who helps, “ It is Hester-the town’s own Hester-who is so kind too the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comforting to the afflicted” (159). This is a dramatic change in Hester’s personality. In the beginning of the book Hester was portrayed to the gossiping woman as shameful and a disgrace.
In all of society’s drama and solitude which is shown throughout this novel brings out the sympathetic side in all of us. Hester’s being an outcast is inflicted on her rather than her willfully seeking it out. Throughout the rest of her life, she is constantly seeking after relationships with other human beings on a base of honesty. She is isolated and an outcast but is still able to function as a human being and is not alienated from humanity. The blame for this tragic predicament in which she finds herself in lies squarely on the shoulders of the Puritan judges of her destiny.
On the other hand Hester doesn’t want or try getting attention through her actions. Also she becomes an outcast of the Puritan community and she slowly finds her way back through hard work and showing she cares. Secondly the way the two characters
“The Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash explains how Hester felt as she sat in the prison cell awaiting her punishment with infant, Pearl. The song talks about an inmate who is describing everything good about the free world. Johnny Cash sings, “and I ain’t seen the sunshine, since I don’t know when.” This is similar to The Scarlet Letter because Hester is never portrayed as being in the sunlight just like Johnny Cash describes. He talks about what is happening in the outside world and how, if he had the choice, he would move as far away from the prison as possible.
__________5. Most people are quite kind to Hester. __________6.
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.
Symbolizing Sunlight Secrets are like a personal, private jailer. They keep you locked away from others, isolated and alone in darkness. Every passing day makes your cell more condensed slowly trapping you between promises and morals. Secrets steal your freedom. Likewise, in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne refuses to expose the name of her husband and the name of her partner in sin; by not revealing the entire truth, Hester becomes a trapped soul in her own mind.
“‘Hester, I am most miserable!’”(182). He also tells Hester that she openly wears her sin, while
She is relatable, extremely human, and most of all, flawed. Her life is plain and average, and her personality is the exact opposite of flashy. Though she cannot represent every single struggle that Americans must deal with, her very situation is not as important as the ways in which she chooses to handle it. Hester Prynne is merely a vessel for any American situation; any struggle or hardship could be substituted in for her sin of
Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.
Laughter and embarrassment beings to surround her. She’s locked in place in front of thousands of people in front of the puritan settlement. Loud screams and chants come from the crowd, with her baby in her arms, for a crime the society believed to be wrong. Hester Prynne could be considered a mentally strong person She overcame the shame and the public humiliation that was forced on herself by the hypocritical puritan society. One cannot question the strength of shame and it is clear that it is tough to persevere as a person, but when one overcomes those obstacles, that person will receive a form of redemption, and grow for a better life.