The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

In this novel Hester Prynee is represented in several

different ways. Before this story starts she was sent to

Boston by her husband (Roger Chillingworth) who was supposed

to be meeting her there shortly. He never makes it, she

assumes he died at sea. While in Boston she meets Rev.

Dimmesdale she has an affair with him and gets pregnent. He

then starts to ignore her. Months later when everyone finds

out about her illegitimate daughter (Pearl) and that she is

un married. She is looked upon with great sin. When she is

first introduced into the novel she is in the prison. She

emerges wearing an elaborately emroidered scarlet letter

“A” (meaning adultery) on her breast, and carries her 3

month old infant in her arms. She is led onto the scaffold

where she has to stand in fron of the whole town as part of

her punishment. While on the scaffold she has flashbacks of

her old life, this is where we first learn about the real

Hester Prynne. The rest of her punishment is that she has to

wear the scarlet “A” for the rest of her life. The Rev. Mr.

Dimmesdale pleads with Hester to tell the name of the man

she had a sexual affair with, but she will not. After the 3

hours she is lead back to the prison with Pearl. At this

point in the novel we learn that back in England Hester was

married to a man, Roger Chillingworth. This man is now in

Boston and comes to visit Hesters prison cell. Hester and

Dimmesdale discuss who is at fault for her affair. He admits

that he will find the father though. When Hester is released

from prison she has the choice to go anywhere in the world,

but she chooses to stay in Boston where she commited her sin

and where she will have her punishment. She starts sewing

and sells her garments but puritan society never accepts

her. Believes “A” allows her to see sinful and immoral

feelings in other people. Hesters strength is most seen when

she goes to the Governers mansion to plead for her daughter.

In the following years Hester and Dimmesdale start speaking

again. Now you will be able to see her weaker side.She

falls in love with him all over, they plan to leave Boston

and move to Bristol, England and live the rest of their

lives there. But they never make it, When Hester dies she is

burried next to Dimmesdale. Physically Hester at the

begining of the novel is a tall young woman with a figure of