Hester's Sin In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Throughout history, mental illness has been labeled as a defining deformity, that harnesses in its “victims,” into a box, parallel to the familiar “mime in a box” image. In a world where we glorify “normality,” a lack of illness, which by all means is a gift, the beauty of one mind takes away from the beauty of an outlier, even though, ironically people may not even recognize their differences. Hester, at a glance suffers from a literal scarlet letter, but an imprint on her brain may exist as well. Irrational actions, sudden emotional episodes, and destructive thoughts can only prevail for so long following sin; Hester’s persona has branches of self-defeating personality disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. No one of her time, however, will bring the issue to light, Hester will be left known as the mistress, a witch, or “A,” rather than to explore her “complicated” condition. As decades pass, Hester’s state will remain, as the “A,” the mark of the stigma on mental illness today. When left neglected, society rejects the possibility that under a visible coating, mental deformities may lie; those who are divergent, who require affection more, are made subordinate, marginalized with no quest for a cure.

The citizens of Boston know that Hester is married and her husband isn 't living with her. Therefore, when she becomes pregnant, she is arrested for adultery, a grave sin in their Puritan society. Consequently Hester is punished with jail time and made to wear a scarlet letter A for the rest of her life, meaning adulterer. These punishments make her life as a single mother even more difficult. Suddenly, Hester is disliked and ridiculed by everyone in the town. People look down on Hester to make themselves seem better than her. In chapter two, several women gossip about Hester. "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die; Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute- book" (Hawthorne 78).  The women are calling for an even harsher punishment than the scarlet letter. They want Hester to be executed. As well as being ostracized by the entire community, Hester must endure living in a patriarchal society. Hester has no choice but to adapt to the adversity she faces. To avoid some of the daily persecution she faces, Hester moves to the outskirts of town, where she learns to tend a garden to grow food for her daughter Pearl and herself. This is a clear example of acquiring a skill, because talent and hard work are needed to grow a garden. She also learns to sew, and earns money by crafting beautiful articles of fabric for people in Boston. Hester also applies her free time to crafting clothes for the

Hawthorne shows that through the development of Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter, we have to pay for committed sins, but instead of feeling sorry for ourselves about it, we have to embrace it and make our lives better from that sin. It chapter five of the story, it says “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin”. This quote is Hawthorne telling the reader that all of the young and pure children in the puritan community look at Hester as a sinner now and as an all around bad person even though she use to be just as pure as all of them. She came from a good family and now she is a living sin that walks among the innocent children. Hester knows that she is looked at differently by everyone now but she doesn’t let it bother her.

Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the truth about Hester’s situation. This is the fact that she is not alone; others have sinned, just not been caught. Despite Hester’s feeling of utter isolation, her predicament gives her a second sense of the many sins under the surface. This could be compared to present day in the way that the people imprisoned are not the only sinners. It does not make everyone innocent because they do not have a scarlet letter or reside in a

The townspeople have begun to regard Hester with a certain amount of respect. She has been pure in heart and deed ever since her public fall from graces, and she is charitable to the poor. Hester earns her money by doing stitch-work for local dignitaries, but she often spends her time helping the poor and sick. In fact, her suffering makes her kinder toward others. She knows how to offer grace, because she had been denied it herself. People begin to suggest that the A stands for Able. Some suggest that the scarlet letter connotes holiness. For Hester, however, the symbol has hardened her against ever feeling passion of affection again. She has ceased, in short, to be a

For instance in the woods Hester and Dimmesdale were able to be around each other and express emotions such as "solitude, and love, and aguish"(Hawthorne 434) without having the fear of being seen and judged by religiously driven society. When they saw each other they were able to tell each other things that they couldn’t dare to tell anyone else because they would be looked down upon. However since they shared the same feelings caused by the same sin they were able to be open with one another and let the weight of their shoulders. Another example is the fact that the woods and its surroundings start to effect Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl allowing their brains to step out of religious thinking and starting to think like how savages would have in their town.

The townspeople are stern and unforgiving to anyone who breaks their strict rules; furthermore, Hester Prynne committed an outrageous ignominious sin for which they shun her from their society. In fact, “ [...] with all the townspeople assembled and leveling their stern regards at Hester [...] who stood on the scaffold.” In the event of Hester, the town felt betrayed by their Reverend, Dimmesdale, since he took on the sin of Hester, which many many individuals had mixed feelings about. The townspeople loathed the fact that Hester had committed adultery since now they would be impure in the eyes of God. In the event of Hester, the town feels betrayed by Dimmesdale, since he embraced the sin of Hester, which many many individuals in town had

The narrator has two very different opinions on the Puritans and Hester. His outlook on the Puritans is that they are a group of people that are very unforgiving and heartless. They are a group of people who are by-the-books and think conservatively. For anyone who sins in their community, it is an extreme sin. In the main character’s case, Hester Prynne, she has committed the sin of adultery. Some of the Puritan women were discussing what Hester did and when they found out her punishment, they thought it was too small. One woman even says,“This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne, 49). This is not surprising coming from them. It perfectly describes them as a whole. They are very harsh and merciless. The narrator

Everyone interprets situations differently; there would be no point of the human mind if we did not. The novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is about the character Hester’s life and struggles, after committing adultery. In the society she lives in, which is a Puritan society, adultery was a huge sin and forbidden, especially by a women. Hetser however, was smarter than the average women and knew how to manipulate the town to think she was not the one at fault in her sin. An Analysis of Hester’s Hypocrisy in The Scarlet Letter by Yanxia Sang goes into detail about how the character of Hester is hypocritical.

When Hester first emerges from the jail for her trial, the letter burns a hole in her chest which cannot be undone. This hole continues to grow under the scrutiny of the town, until Hester is left completely alone. Instead of being defeated by the letter, Hester tries her best to overcome it. She is compassionate, caring, and kind. Overtime, she starts to see herself in this way. No longer as a sinner and symbol of imperfection, but of a woman doing her best by herself and her child. As the years go by, the letter becomes a part of Hester, rooting itself inside of her. Now that it is a part of Hester, it is no longer viewed with distaste, but interpreted it as a favorable sign, due to Hester Prynne’s positive role in the town which she gained through her service to others. She transformed from a woman invisible by the hand of public scorn into a woman who not only believed in herself and her own abilities, but also one which the town respected regardless of her

To mark these foul acts of Satan's will, Hester is given a scarlet letter "A" to wear on her chest. In a society where everyone wears the same humble and plain black and white attire, this shining, elaborate scarlet letter stands as a beacon proclaiming the acts of adultery and the blackness of her soul to all who pass by. With such dependence on religion, any linkage to Satan is feared and scorned upon. Hester's acts have made her a "living sermon against sin," everyone looks to her now as the example of failure and unfaithfulness in life. The rest of Hester's life is set, for as long as she lives she will wear that "A" and day to day she will be rejected by society and out casted further. Although her daughter Pearl has just entered life, she is victim of Hester's actions and must unfortunately deal with much of the same problems as

Over the past few years, I have noticed a trend in people’s reactions to meeting me for the first time. Many times, friends have told me that when they first met me they were intimidated or scared by me. I believe that my “brand” of frightening comes from my inclination to be very forward with people, my other “brand”. My two brands are so interconnected I cannot be one without the other. However, they are, in a way, opposites that still define me. “Frightening” is a brand placed upon me by others based solely on my appearance and resting facial expression. Being forward does not mean that I am not kind; I am a just a genuinely open person. Not unlike Hester Prynne in The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, my brands build upon each other

We as human beings know from a young age the difference between right and wrong. We also know that the choices we make have consequences. In the book The Scarlett Letter there are two characters, Hester and Minster Dimmesdale who both made wrong choices. They both dealt with the consequences of their actions differently. While one accepted the wrong choices that were made; the other hides it and never really accepted punishment for what they did. In this paper I will continue to talk about Hester and Minster Dimmesdale and their wrong choices but I will discuss their punishment they received and what they could have received from making those wrong choices. I will also talk about how society today sees adultery and give an example of someone who choose to make the same wrong choice and how that affect them.

This story starts in 17th century Boston, Hester Prynne the main character in this story, is led out of prison carrying a baby in her arms, the child’s name is Pearl. Hester had a scarlet red “A” on her breast. This “A” means “able” or “adulteress”. She then is led to a platform for public shame. While she is up there she sees her long lost husband “Roger Chillingworth” in the crowd, Chillingworth recognizes her and acts like he doesn’t know Hester, he then learns her sin from a man in the crowd.

“The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy” Psalm 145:20. As this verse so obviously says, the wicked will die, which does not sit well with the readers of the Scarlet letter who have become infatuated with the story of; Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. While these characters may have a few redeeming qualities, one thing they all have in common is the three main characters are sinners. But among the three, one sticks out; Hester Prynn is undoubtedly the worst sinner, because of her original sin and the parallels between Hester and Dimmesdale and Eve and Adam.