The Scarlet Letter Forgiven

Being a woman in a Puritan society, Hester did not have much influence, and her crime as an adulteress made her a public figure of shame. Over time, Hester became accepted and also accepted herself, and this caused her dealings with sin to not be as heavy. In the 13th chapter of the Scarlet Letter, “Another View of Hester”, Hawthorne describes how Hester has found her place. (13-146/147). This quote shows how Hester’s role has changed and how she had developed.

In his essay “On the Scarlet Letter,” D.H. Lawrence criticizes Hester’s immoral behavior for her adulterous actions. Lawrence views her as a shameful member of Puritan society and centers his argument on her sin and its effects on the story’s plot. D.H. Lawrence’s use of different literary techniques strengthens his claim that Hester is not the heroine through his sarcastic tone, abrupt syntax, and biblical allusions.

This shows that Hester’s strength and compassion as a woman and as a feminist leader of her time. With the restraints put on Hester because of the social hierarchy and the oppression that society scorned upon her, any normal woman of her time would not be able

In the book The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is convicted of adultery and severely punished. Hester is sentenced to wear the scarlet letter 'A' on her clothes at all times. The letter “A” is a symbol that is meant to identify Hester as a sinner and an adulteress in her community. She is seen as a negative example for others not to follow. Hester is also sentenced to spend an unidentified period of time in jail; furthermore, she must also stand on the scaffold for hours in the middle of the town. Everyone sees Hester in her most vulnerable and embarrassed state. However, she handles it with dignity and grace.

In the book The Scarlet Letter dimmesdale, pearl, and Hester were not forgiven. The sins they committed had just been told to the people so they were very angry that Dimmesdale had kept the secret that long. Also she put the letter back on so the sunlight went away from Hester even though it was on her before.

Haunted by the scarlet letter, Hester circles her life around its existence; it lights its way into her every passage, becoming a great fragment of her persona, shaping her every move, touch and…. sight. “A” warps a route into Hester’s life, to an extent where it’s

Everyone sins. but not everyone learns from his or her sins, however, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne sins but overcomes this sin. She is forced to wear an “A” as punishment. Hester gains Confidence, redemption, and hope.

In the beginning of the novel, Hester refuses to let her sin define her, which her subtle, beautiful, yet defiant nature displays. With all eyes on her as she walks out of the jail, the townspeople notice “On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 46). This embroidered A serves as a punishment of her sin and is supposed to be a disgraceful, ugly reminder to her and everyone around her. If she had succumbed to her punishment and the persona that went with it, then it would be an ugly A, but she makes

The Scarlet letter shows hester as a humble person. She had to suffer a lot in the beginning. I tried to convey this with her distaste of the town shaming her. I also made sure to highlight her persistence to protect herself and her child. That’s the one thing Hester always did, protect Pearl. I decided

Together with the transformation of Hester, the scarlet letter once again symbolizes her identity as pure as an angel. Though she committed adultery and had to suffer a lot from this sin, her soul still remains in an original shape of purity. And the red color of letter A on her bosom, which once was the call of scorn, hate and bitterness towards Hester, now attracted people's warmth, admiration and love as if it were a red burning color deep inside her heart. Hester deserves the highest recognition that the scarlet letter has done for her: a woman with a pure heart and soul of an angel.

In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is more than a literary figure in a classic novel, she is known by some people to be one of the earliest American Hero’s. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester commits adultery and has a child that she must care for all alone. She is forced to wear a powerful, attention grabbing “Scarlet A” on her chest while she must try to make a living to support her and her child, Pearl. Even though she must face all the harsh judgment and stares she does not allow her sin to stop her from living a successful life. She looks past the Letter as a symbol of sin and turns it into a sign of approval. Hester

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

After reading The Scarlet Letter there are questions Hawthorne did not answer. Were they forgiven for their sins? Has “sin” paid its debt to “conscience”? Why do Hester and Dimmesdale share the same tombstone but aren't buried together? These main three questions that we are what we are going to discuss about.

When Hester fixed the onerous scarlet letter back onto her bosom, “the warmth and richness of her womanhood departed, like fading sunshine,” leaving behind only a “gray shadow” in its place (145). As a result, the beauty Hester once held with such alacrity was snatched away by the venomous stigma society had placed on her. Moreover, society, by humiliating Hester with the scarlet letter, destroyed her very sense of self, thus causing her to grow into a character filled with woe; the infectious remorse placed by society consumed Hester - eating away at her beauty and humanity. Over time, Hester’s face began to incorporate the “frozen calmness of a dead woman’s features,” and Hester seemed “actually dead” (155). Hester, similar to a dead body, was unable to return to the living; she lost everything that once made her a beautiful lady. The woman whom society once viewed with esteem no longer existed, and in her place was a ghoulish, empty shell of a human who could never return to its original form. Hester is comparable to the rose bush with its “delicate gems,” and “fragile beauty,” caged behind the prison door “studded with iron spikes” (33). Hester’s allure is restrained by the pernicious barbs of society’s harsh punishments, so that she herself is an object not of admiration, but of scorn. Shackled by the chains of an immoral

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is accused of adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest. While Hester owned the sin, the father was not as strong as Hester to face the sin. With this shame, she was forced to live in isolation with her child. As Hawthorne states in chapter 18,