Midway through The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne gives the reader an in-depth look at the change in Hester Prynne's character. The chapter title: "Another View of Hester" sets the stage for the discussion of the change in Hester's personality, character, and intellect as well as a summary of her past four years. This "other view" refers both to the changing perception of the Puritan community toward Hester as well as the narrator's detailed description of the changes in her. There are several key changes in this chapter, which can be considered.
Firstly, identity emerges as an important premise in this section of the novel. The ways in which a society tries to define a person are often at odds with the way that individual defines them self. As the community reinterprets the scarlet letter, Hester once again has an identity thrust upon her by her fellow townspeople, but in the end, it's just a letter.
The town's reevaluation of Hester is significant because of what it says about Hester herself, about the changes she has undergone while earning this new classification. The people in her community believe that Hester's charitable behavior is the result of their punitive system working effectively. Hester spends most of her days tending to the sick and feeding the poor and waits for no acknowledgement from those she has rendered services. When confronted by people, she bows her head and places her finger upon the Scarlet Letter. This shift in Hester's nature leads to the re-classification of the letter, so much that it comes to mean "Able" instead of "Adulterer" and leads the townspeople to think that the punishment has successfully humbled her, when in fact, "the scarlet letter had not done its office" (Hawthorne,...
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...omised not to reveal who he really is, and realizes that it was the wrong decision. Hester decides to confront him and inform him that she will no longer keep his identity a secret. This is a dramatic a shift in her personality, because in the beginning, she was terrified of what he might do to her. Now, having seen that her inaction has in fact led to Dimmesdale's demise in health, she realizes that she must act quickly. We see that in spite of Hester's tendency to think philosophically, she really is an emotional woman and represents the power of love as opposed to the stern Puritan logic.
Chapter 13 emphasizes that through her grace and charity, Hester's position in the eyes of the Puritan community has changed. She has borne her shame and sorrow with great dignity. She has evolved from a timid young girl into a woman possessing compassion and strength.
Throughout the novel, the harsh Puritan townspeople begin to realize the abilities of Hester despite her past. Hester works selflessly and devotes herself to the wellbeing of others. “Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child.
One of Hester’s greatest qualities is her unrelenting selflessness. Despite her constant mental anguish due to her sin, the constant stares and rude comments, and the
In fact, now many women revere her as a wise counselor and go to her seeking advice. Hester tells them that she has come to believe that the world is still growing and developing, and someday it will be ready to accept a new more equal relationship between men and women. However, despite her renewed optimism and the people’s apparent forgiveness for her transgressions, Hester still sees herself as “a woman stained with sin, bowed down with shame, or even burdened with a life-long sorrow” (232-233.36-2). In her youth, she sometimes envisioned herself as one who could usher in the newer and more accepting age, but she now believes that she is too tainted to play such a role and that the task must instead be left to a woman who could be “a medium of joy” and exemplify “sacred love” (233.4-5). In this final description of Hester, we don’t see any trace of the vanity she exhibited when she was young. Her opinion of herself has become much more humble and self-deprecating, and it is clear that she has matured greatly since the opening of the
Although Hester and Pearl are isolated for a while after their punishment (85), the Puritan society’s view of her changes in chapter 13. In chapter 13, Hester is shown to have become a servant of the community, and, rather than scorning her, the community praises her as holy (134). Even the symbol that embodies her punishment, the scarlet letter A, transforms into a symbol of her holiness, being interpreted by the people as meaning “Able” (134). In chapter 24, the story’s conclusion, Hester mentors young women, furthering the idea that she brings redemption from her sin by using her lessons to help others
As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.
Hawthorne depicts the character of Hester as a woman with many heroic qualities. Hester is portrayed as courageous and loyal, although she is ridiculed for her “sin” she refuses to name the father, saying she will “never’ do so, because she does not want him to endure the pain. The community even begins to view her in a different way, the “adulterer” symbol now represents “able.” She continues to be charitable and kind despite enduring dreadful hardships. Her inner strength, her defiance of convention, her honesty, and her compassion may have been in her character all along, but the scarlet letter brings them to our attention. He shows us how strong willed she is, during her confrontation with the Governor she makes it clear to him that he “shall not take her,” “she will die first!" By the end of the book she becomes an angel of mercy who eventually lives out her life as a figure of compassion in the community. Her charitable deeds continue to strengthen throughout her struggle. Hawthorne’s depiction of Hester showed us that even women can be heroic
The narrator notes her change in morals and beliefs: “She had wandered… much amiss” (180). This passage describes Hester’s state of mind and morals after seven years with the scarlet letter. Compared to Dimmesdale, Hester is much wilder, yet also much better adjusted to the weight of her guilt. She has accepted what happened and uses that acknowledgment to shape her views. She has become stronger, more untamed, and more removed from society. Not only does society reject her, but her crime forces her to question morals and dive into her wilder nature. Religion and law no longer work as simple guidelines for her life. Her act is considered a sin, but out of it she got freedom, love, and Pearl. After being cast out, she now looks at society and its rules—the things most people conform to—from a more negative, outsider perspective. The letter gives her a chance to be independent and find what she believes in as opposed to what she's been told to believe in. She rejects society through both these rebellious views, and also through her actions upon coming back to the community. She helps women in the community by offering support and counselling. In such a male dominated society, this is an important step both towards feminism and away from the
Despite Hester never fitting the description of what a Puritan actually stands for, she emerges and transforms into a respected young woman of society during her revolution. Even though Hester’s humanity degrades itself based on her imprudent actions that resisted Puritan society, the scarlet “A” transforms her rebellion. Hester creates her own symbol for herself rather than one that masks her all along. In writing the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne highlights the importance of being a nonconformist. Evidently, through the character of Hester Prynne, self-awareness is key in order to achieve happiness. To repress defining characteristics of a human being is to ultimately destroy their individuality.
At the beginning of the Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is labeled as the “bad guy”. The townspeople demand the other adulterer’s name, but Hester denies this revelation. She does not reveal it because she knows that the information will crumble the foundation of the Puritan religion and the town itself. “‘But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?’ ‘Ask me not!’ replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his face. ‘That thou shalt never know!’(Hawthorne 52). Hester knows that finding out that the father of the child, the Minister that is leading the town, will diminish credibility for the church and for Dimmesdale, the Minister. During her punishment, Hester decides to move out near the woods and make a living as a seamstress. Hester is regarded as an outcast from Boston, but she still gives back to the society that shuns her. ‘“Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?’ they would say to strangers. ‘It is our Hester, —the town's own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!’”(Hawthorne 111). Her acts of kindness, helping the sick and comforting the afflicted, toward the society that makes her an outcast shows the inner goodness of a person. Throu...
The central theme in The Scarlet Letter is that manifested sin will ostracize one from society and un-confessed sin will lead to the destruction of the inner spirit. Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to bring out this idea. In the novel, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A (the symbol of her sin) because she committed adultery with the clergyman, Dimmesdale. Because the public's knowledge of her sin, Hester is excluded physically, mentally, and socially from the normal society of the Puritan settlement. She lives on the outskirts of town in a small cottage where she makes her living as a seamstress. Though she is known to be a great sewer amongst the people, Hester is still not able to sew certain items, such as a new bride's veil. Hester also has no interaction with others; instead she is taunted, if not completely ignored, by all that pass her by. Despite the ill treatment of the society, Hester's soul is not corrupted. Instead, she flourishes and improves herself in spite of the burden of wearing the scarlet letter and she repeatedly defies the conventional Puritan thoughts and values by showing what appears to us as strength of character. Her good works, such as helping the less fortunate, strengthen her inner spirit, and eventually partially welcome her back to the society that once shunned her.
First, there many instances, both literal and symbolic, which support the notion that the scarlet letter has a strong affect on Hester. As seen early in the novel, the public opinion of a seventeenth century puritan society can be quite narrow-minded. As Hester is first marched out of the prison, the women of the town scowl at her. "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead." (p.36) The initial opinion of the society is extremely cruel and Hester, who tries desperately to remain strong and undisturbed in the face of this mob anger, is by no means deaf. The cruel actions of the townspeople throughout the novel contribute to the ways in which the scarlet letter affects Hester. Yet, these affects of the scarlet letter on Hester can be defined more specifically when examined on the symbolic level. In many ways, Hes...
Human nature thrives on labels and stereotypes; they are methods society uses to better comprehend others disposition and justify their behavior. However, when placed stereotypes can override individuality, and this can force one to conform to such labels, hide their true character, and change their persona. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is a victim of such a stereotype. The Puritan society in which she lives confines and defines her based on her sin, and not by a totality of her actions and character. Nevertheless she emerges, reborn, as her own person once again. Hester Prynne's development through the use of archetypes, symbols, and Romanticism reinforce the theme of the effects of stereotypes and labels and their refutal in The Scarlet Letter.
Hester had committed the sin of adultery. Hester is hidden behind her scarlet letter where she cannot show her identity. Because the way a sin can define a person is by defining their identity. The scarlet letter defines Hester as someone who sinned in her society. Her society reacted to her with the scarlet letter, which made her question her identity of who she is with the scarlet letter. Hester is forced to change her identity and the society around her looks at her in a different eye than what she was before she received the scarlet
The "human tenderness" Hester exerts shows how she did not care what the Puritans thought and acted. Her sin is also an example of her independence; Hester acted on her feelings and didn’t allow the Puritan’s views to interfere with her emotions.
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.