Hester's Romantic Ideals in The Scarlet Letter

“Be true! Be true! Be true!” (202). This powerful and simple message can be seen throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. The characters Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale portray this message clearly. Hester lived this message. She was very true to herself and wore her “A” proudly giving her a more fulfilling life. She was true to herself and everyone around her allowing her to make her own experience, a concept the Romantics values greatly. Romantic literature portrays messages and characters like the ones in The Scarlet Letter to explain the value of truth and experience. Throughout the book evidence of this can be clearly seen making it a good example of Romantic literature. The Romantic Movement started in America by American artists and authors. The Romantics had strong beliefs expressed through their writing, music, and artwork. Many novels from this movement in American history are still read and taught today. By reading this book and many others, American people may learn more about the Romantic Movement in history and about the values expressed through the artwork and literature.

Hester Prynne is first introduced as “[a] young woman [who] was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam…”(46). Hawthorne portrays her as very beautiful making the reader see Hester as a poised and proud woman. This shows that Hawthorne likes Hester and wants the reader to feel that from him. Hawthorne gives Hester many of the Romantic traits. An example can be seen where her hair was described as “so glossy it threw off the sunshine with a gleam...”(46), the reader can see that Hester makes her own truth. The Romantics...

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...husetts. It follows three main characters through their experience in their corrupt society and their own personal downfall. Hester Prynne is a woman convicted of adultery and forced to wear a letter A on her chest for the world to see her crime. It turns out the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, is the father of Hester’s child and her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who had been missing has just arrived back into their town ready for revenge. Hester shows the best depiction of the Romantic lifestyle as she is the median between Roger and Arthur. Roger, corrupt by too much science and Arthur by too much religion. The Romantics believed that too much of either will corrupt mankind making Hester the most Romantic character in the book.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. 7th ed. Clayton, DE: Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classics, 2005. Print.