Analysis Of Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

1384 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: women in puritan society essay

Imagine a society where religion seems very critical and has little individualism. Religion played a very significant factor in Puritan life, so they were required to read the bible and live every moment in a respectful manner to God. Puritan societies believe in doing God’s work, so if someone did not follow the testament, harsh punishments were inflicted upon them. The Massachusetts Bay Colony portrayed itself as a man’s world, where they went to town meetings and made decision about their community in the church. Females were not allowed to participate or have their own opinions in their community, and if they were to go against the rules, they had cruel punishments decided by the dominated males. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts a patriarchal, Puritan society that oppresses Hester Prynne by signifying her as a sinner, adulterer, and an outcast of society, but Hester Prynne represents herself as a silent rebel through her feminist consciousness. Even though Hester Prynne exemplifies herself as a rebellious spirit, others may have a
Hester Prynne shows herself in The Scarlet Letter as a female who struggled with male dominance in her society, but she overcomes the powerful, Puritan males by defying them with her own perspectives. Hester, compared to other traditional woman, enables herself to be represented as a very distinctive female. She was embodied with her noble character of rebellious spirit, self-reliance, and strong mind; all these factors contribute to what feminism encourages. Hester abled herself to transform and improve the old world to new world, and she believed in the possibility of a new morality in the world. Using her female conscious, Hester establishes herself as a silent rebel through her self-reliance, independence, selflessness, and defying nature in her Puritan, male dominated

Show More
Related

  • Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne, the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, exhibits considerable character growth both over the course of her life and during the events of the novel. Her view of herself and her perspective on the role of women in the world evolve as she learns from new experiences. She moves through the stages of self-centered happiness in her childhood, deep despair and depression as an adult, and a later more hopeful and selfless existence.

    Read More

  • The Strength of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading the Scarlet Letter reminds me of one of my own experience. When I was a fifth grade elementary student, two of my friends and I agreed to cheat on a geography test. On the day of the test, one of my friends was caught. The teacher found the cheat sheet where it showed the handwriting of the three of us. When he was asked who the other two is, he remained silent. The teacher said that he will be punished, standing in the corner of the classroom for one straight week, and it will be lighter if only he told our name. My friend still did not say a word, so he received the punishment. What he did was similar to what Hester Prynne does. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is portrayed as a woman with remarkable strength of character through direct and indirect characterization.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hester Prynne's Scarlet Letter

    2011 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the beginning of the novel, Hester Prynne exits the prison of the Puritan community of Boston, a large letter “A” clearly visible on her chest and a child in her arms. This is the first time the letter makes an appearance, and it is here where readers realize Hester has done something terribly wrong. The letter “A” sewn onto her clothes initially represents “adulterer”, but who exactly is the father of Pearl, the child Hester is holding, if her husband has been missing for two years? The townspeople would love to know the answer to that question, too, but it is only revealed to readers a few chapters into the story as being the unexpected Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale faces an

    Read More

  • The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    He defies the system of education by leaving the institution and starting his own school. He did this because he believed following a set system with rules would hurt his integrity. This similar act plays out in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the novel, main character Hester Prynne cares for her child despite what others think. She puts little importance to the townspeople's ridicule and judgement and continues to walk through the marketplace with her head held high. Hester keeps her integrity and continues to focus on her most important goal, which is to look after her daughter Pearl and give her all the love she deserves. Like Henry, Hester showed strength through her determination of keeping her strong moral principles and making her own decisions. Despite being judged and hated, Hester stayed sane and together because she had her integrity and knew the importance of defying against all external forces to be able to stick to what she believed

    Read More

  • Changes of Hester Prynne in Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the reader meets the character Hester Prynne who as the novel progresses, one notices the changes in her character are very dramatic. The changes are both physical and in her mannerism’s. There are many significant events which took place before the start of the novel and during the novel. Some of these events that lead to this dramatic change include the affect of wearing the scarlet letter, the secrets which she keeps, and her daughter Pearl’s evil characteristics. By these events, Hester Prynne’s image is transformed throughout the time of the story.

    Read More

  • The Character Of Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    "Lovely ladies ready for the call. Standing up or lying down or any way at all. Bargain prices up against the wall" (Boublil). The selling of one's body is consensual. When a woman decides to put herself for sale, she will be given the cold shoulder by her peers. Many women make the decision to sell themselves solely to provide for a child. The song "Lovely Ladies" from the musical Les Misérables, involves whores in France selling themselves to men in a Parisian back ally. The musical Les Misérables was based on a book written by Victor Hugo. One character in this book goes by the name of Fantine. She had a child out of wedlock to a man who left her and their child alone. She had to work to support not only herself but also her daughter, Cosette.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hester Prynne's The Scarlet Letter

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    The scarlet letter is more than just an “A” that Hester Prynne wears as punishment. The “A” on Hester’s clothing is a symbol for adultery, but under the hand stitched “A” it is much more. The “A” tells a story of how one mistake can make a big impact on life. Throughout the book there have been many scenarios that the “A” has affected different characters, in a positive and negative way. This little letter has many meanings to many people, some people that did not know it would even affect them. The simple letter is much more powerful than what anybody thought.

    Read More

  • How Does Hester Prynne Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES"(Hawthorne 394). Hester Prynne is a character linked to many things in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, “The Scarlet Letter”. She committed, a horrible sin in her puritan society; adultery with a reverend, forming a web of repercussions. Hester’s daughter; Pearl was what was left of her innocence and the outcome of her affair.The stunningly, embroidered scarlet letter Hester had to wear on her bosom was to show her crime, and punishment to everyone in her community. She was looked down on as an disgusting sinner, and object in a constant love cycle between her, minister; her lover, and Chillingworth; her former husband. She had no control over their grief or hurt. They both still loved her and had to watch her live cast away from society. Being in the situation she was, allowed Hester to be seen as many different ways throughout the novel as an object in her society.

    Read More

  • Essay On Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    The heavy and somewhat unjustified law of puritan society is a heavy weight that is too nearly too much for any person to bare. Hester Prynne is one person to feel the full weight of the law, and not only is she damaged internally, but she also experiences a noticeable physical change, and Nathaniel Hawthorne does well to depict the overbearing weight of Puritan law through the dimming of Hester’s radiant beauty. The scarlet letter is a symbol of Hester’s sin, and is also a constant reminder, and it is also the very thing that defines her as a person in society. The effects of the letter are apparent from when Hester first stands on the scaffold, to when she gradually loses her gorgeous appearance over time, to when she removes the letter and her radiant beauty returns.

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne Transformation

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne Stereotypes

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Scarlet Letter, the main protagonist Hester Prynne is quite a strong woman handling all these trials basically on her own. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts Hester without many of the stereotypes that we know to have been in women's lives I would hope that those stereotypes have been long since buried, but sadly some still remain. Although there are many differences as to how women were treated in the time of the puritans, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s time period, and our own generation. I would hope to show that Hester Prynne defies the stereotypes pinned on her by the time frame.

    Read More

  • The Evolution of Hester in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was an objective description of the life of Hester Prynne, an adultress. The novel does not go into specific details of the thoughts of the woman except to describe the mien of her character. Throughout the novel she faces humiliation by the other people of Boston, but never loses her sense of pride. Hester Prynne suffers enormousely from the shame of her public disgrace and from the isolation of her punishment; however, she retains her self-respect and survives her punishment with dignity, grace, and ever-growing strength of character.

    Read More

  • The Symbolism of Hester Prynnes Appearance in The Scarlet Letter

    447 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many literal and figurative items to illustrate the significance of various characters or themes. Coupled with the tangible evidence given, the reader can make many miscellaneous assumptions of the importance of these items to directly and indirectly contribute to the issues of the novel. One cryptic item that symbolizes more than it seems to is the appearance of one of the main characters, Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne's appearance and hair signify the levels of will and determination she possesses at the moment.

    Read More

  • The Big "H" Word

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne exploits the life of Puritanism in his guilty pleasure The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne lends the reader into an insight of life and human nature. The Scarlet Letter reveals the ordeal and evils of Hester Prynne, a woman living in colonial Boston whom was found guilty of adultery. Hester’s punishment was to then wear a visible sign of her sin’ the scarlet letter “A.” As the novel progresses the reader is introduced to Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister Hester had an affair with; and Roger Chillingworth, the estranged husband of Hester whom is out for revenge. The Scarlet Letter examines the relations of the main characters and the consequence of these characters to Hester’s sin. Hester’s sin of adultery interacts with themes of alienation from society, revenge, creativity, and consequences of breaking the moral code. The underlying sin Hawthorn explores throughout The Scarlet Letter is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is easily defines as a falsehood between one's professed beliefs and feelings and one's actual beliefs and feelings, or an application of a criticism to others that one does not apply to oneself. Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the Puritan society were steep in their sin of hypocrisy. Hawthorne reveals through the pages of The Scarlet Letter that hypocrisy is indeed a sin by punishing the offenders.

    Read More

  • How Does Hester Prynne Change In The Scarlet Letter

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Open Document