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What Is Hester's Opinion In The Scarlet Letter

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A Passage of Opinions
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts a town of harsh judgment and unrelenting criticisms. In the puritan society described by Hawthorne the reader is given insight into their way of life. Due to the radically religious population, the town members were under constant scrutiny from their peers. One woman, Hester, committed the crime of adultery and was convicted to public humiliation. Adultery was a sin and not taken lightly. Hester was sentenced to hours of public shame and forced to wear the letter A on her chest to represent her sin. Many town members found this too light of a punishment. Outside the jail, where Hester was being kept, a group of women began talking about Hester’s crime. One woman, talking …show more content…

They considered her a hopeless case. Hester, however, did not succumb to her punishment or the bitter attitudes of the town. Determined to get her life back on track, Hester pushed to purge her soul and purify her past. In the years following her punishment, Hester became an avid member of the town. She created beautiful and intricate clothing for the town members. TheHer sudden aptitude for sewing was attributed to her guilt. After receiving her punishment, Hester declared, “Here… had been the scene of her guilt… and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul” (Hawthorne 55). Hester used her guilt and resentment to improve upon herself. In time, the town began to see the assuage of the letter. Hester was no longer denied the town’s attention, but she surely was not accepted into the society. The punishment, trivialized with time, was viewed in a different light. Hawthorne describes a transition in which “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said it meant able” (Hawthorne 111). Exonerated from fault, Hester began to to receive more promotion from her peers. The town’s relegation of the letter is a symbol of their acceptance. Transforming with their bitter attitudes, the town’s structure began to change. The absolve of Hester’s crime is a representation that the town’s people were

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