The Scarlet Letter

1057 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical analysis of scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hester Prynne: The Ultimate Feminist Heroine

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s American classic The Scarlet Letter the main character Hester Prynne is portrayed as the preeminent feminist heroine through the portraiture of her crime and punishment. In this novel, a Puritanical society in New England condemns Hester Prynne to wear a highly embossed depiction of the letter “A” on her breast as punishment for an act of adultery. How Hester handles the consequences of her castigation is what brings about the heroic feministic qualities of the main character. Three aspects that corroborate Hester Prynne’s qualities are: 1. Admitting her sin openly to fellow man and God, 2. Putting up with the taunting and social exile of her punishment, and 3. Aspiring above her torment to give love to her daughter Pearl and Pearl’s father, Reverend Dimmesdale.
Hester Prynne openly admits her sin to fellow man and God. From the first few pages of the book, we are confronted with the fact that Hester has mothered a child without being legally betrothed in marriage. When the townspeople notice that Hester has broken one of God’s laws, she is forced to stand in the middle of the town square upon a scaffold for a

period of three hours, all for the purpose of public humiliation. Since adultery is one of the highest crimes that a mortal can commit in a Puritanical society, a tribunal quickly forms to decide that fate of the young malefactor. All the while, it could have been possible for Hester to abandon the baby to save herself from public torment and possibly the penalty of death. Nonetheless, Hester faces up to the reality of her acts and takes direct responsibility for them. To go even further, she does not even reveal the father of her illegitimate child for fear that he may suffer a fate worse than her own, which would most certainly be death. At the end of the period of time that she had to serve upon the scaffold, a crowd decides her punishment which was to wear the depiction of “The Scarlet Letter” on her breast.
Hester Prynne must put up with the taunting and social exile of her punishment from the second after she was condemned. The townspeople would consider her as an untouchable heathen who only only aired negative, evil energy. Children would be afraid of both Hester and Pearl as they c...

... middle of paper ...

... At the beginning of the novel when Hester is standing on the scaffolding, she does not reveal the secret that Dimmesdale desperately wants her to keep; the secret of his wrongful fathering of Pearl. Hester puts herself through much more stress than she needs to by not revealing this secret over a seven long years, but her love for Dimmesdale is the only strong evidence that keeps her from revealing it.
It has been thoroughly justified that in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is portrayed as the ultimate feminist heroine through the delineation of her crime and punishment. How Hester handles the consequences of her chastisement is what brings about the heroic feministic qualities of Hester as the main character. The viewpoints that corroborate Hester Prynne’s qualities are: 1. Admitting her sin openly

to fellow man and God, 2. Putting up with the taunting and extreme social exile of her punishment, and 3. Aspiring above her torment to give love, care and support to her daughter Pearl and Pearl’s illegitimate father, Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne is the absolute epitome of a feminist heroine in all of American literature.

Show More
Related

  • Scarlet Letter

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first theme expressed in The Scarlet Letter is that even well meaning deceptions and secrets can lead to destruction. Dimmesdale is a prime example of this; he meant well by concealing his secret relationship with Hester, however, keeping it bound up was deteriorating his health. Over the course of the book this fact is made to stand out by Dimmesdale’s changing appearance. Over the course of the novel Dimmesdale becomes more pale, and emaciated. Hester prevents herself from suffer the same fate. She is open about her sin but stays loyal to her lover by not telling who is the father of Pearl. Hester matures in the book; becomes a stronger character.

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne Sacrifice

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne is a character who gave up everything, even love, for her child. Hester Prynne sacrificed her peace, her beauty, her entire being for her child and this shows her determination and profound understanding of the world. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s piece, “The Scarlet Letter” shows the other side of the sinner’s story and not as a villain, but a victim.

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne: Victim or Heroine?

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester is a youthful, beautiful, proud woman who has committed an awful sin and a scandal that changes her life in a major way. She commits adultery with a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale, leader of the local Puritan church and Hester’s minister. The adultery committed results in a baby girl named Pearl. This child she clutches to her chest is the proof of her sin. This behavior is unacceptable. Hester is sent to prison and then punished. Hester is the only one who gets punished for this horrendous act, because no one knows who the man is that Hester has this scandalous affair with. Hester’s sin is confessed, and she lives with two constant reminders of that sin: the scarlet letter itself, and Pearl, the child conceived with Dimmesdale. Her punishment is that she must stand upon a scaffold receiving public humiliation for several hours each day, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, represe...

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne Suffering Quotes

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester is facing it all, from public scorn to loneliness. Hester becomes an outcast from everyone in a New England colony with her daughter, Pearl. Author, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the eventful life of an adulteress in an eighteenth century colony in this fictional classic. Hester Prynne is a young married woman who moved from England to a colony in Massachusetts. While waiting for her husband to arrive, Hester has an affair with a man named Dimmesdale and is put into prison. Hester, even though she is caught in her sin, shows great strength of character; Hester chooses to protect those that she cares about even though it causes her personal suffering. As a result of her strength, Hester causes great change in others around her.

    Read More

  • The Feminist Scarlet Letter

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    With a strong female protagonist and two mentally weak males, it is hard to consider Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter anything but a feminist treatise. He obviously intended to put down not only Puritanism, which is an obvious aspect of the novel, but to establish a powerful, secure female in American literature. Hester proves, although she has sinned in the past, she can confront her mistakes, take care of herself and her child, and help others at the same time. She can withhold a position in society that many can respect because of her character something the males of the story obviously could not succeed at doing.

    Read More

  • Sins of Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter

    2123 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hester Prynne’s sin was adultery. This sin was regarded very seriously by the Puritans, and was often punished by death. Hester’s punishment was to endure a public shaming on a scaffold for three hours and wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life in the town. Although Hawthorne does not pardon Hester’s sin, he considers it less serious than those of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester’s sin was a sin of passion.  This sin was openly acknowledged as she wore the "A" on her chest. Hester did not commit the greatest sin of the novel. She did not deliberately mean to commit her sin or mean to hurt others.

    Read More

  • The Characterization Of Hester Prynne By D. H. Lawrence

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characterization of Hester Prynne demonstrates a contrast to pure society, as writer and critic D.H. Lawrence suggests in his article, “On the Scarlet Letter.” There is a genuine disparity in the methods Lawrence uses to portray Prynne, and the methods used by The Scarlet Letter’s author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Because of his utilization of impactful syntax, religious allusion, and critical tone, D.H. Lawrence’s claim that Hester Prynne is a contradictory character to pure society is effectively justified when compared to the misleading seductive elements of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pearl is said to symbolize the result of sin but her character as a child have placed an innocent view of her contribution to the story. As any mother would accept their child she have accepted her “… torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!”(Hawthorne 38). Hester “represent the violation of social contract” (Egan1), because of her simple imperfection of “struggles to meet the social demands.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Feminism and The Scarlet Letter  Feminism has been taking the world by storm. From feminist critiques on video game characters to petitions for more female leads in film, this movement has come a long way. That is why it is so incredible that the character Hester Prynne from the novel The Scarlet Letter appears to be a strong female protagonist, a novel written long before the feminism movement began. Some critics lavish praise on Hawthorne’s depiction of a powerful female character, but others view Hester as simply a representation of what men want in a woman. Although some of Hester’s actions are questionable in terms of feminism, she makes up for it in her battle against the Puritan societal constraints she is bound by.  Throughout

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne: Challenging Patriarchy in 'The Scarlet Letter'

    2438 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the course of history, the concept of women being subordinate to men has always existed. However, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a woman named Hester Prynne tries to break prejudicial notions against women in a patriarchal society. In the story, Hester commits the crime of adultery and is sentenced by the government to wear a scarlet letter as it symbolizes ignominy. Since she lives in Puritan New England, the people do not value women a lot, her actions becomes a sight of public scrutiny. Yet, with her strength as a woman, she is able to not only survive the situation, but also reverse as she later becomes an important member of their community. In a feminist perspective of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter,

    Read More

  • Unrelenting Selflessness In The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne paints Hester Prynne as a person, a person that made mistakes, but who worked tirelessly to atone for them. Hawthorne’s use of of positive diction and profound imagery also set Hester’s tone as a woman scorned, but

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Crucible And Animal Farm

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne, from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, the Scarlet Letter, faces a crucible. She commits adultery with Reverend Dimmesdale and becomes pregnant with a daughter, Pearl. She is isolated from the community and the general public except for when she must stand upon the scaffold for three hours as part of her punishment for her sin. She must also wear a scarlet letter “A” for adultery on her breast. The town looks at her differently because of her sin but Hester stays true to her personality. Hester fairs her life by honoring her punishment and her mistakes, as well as taking care of Pearl and teaching her to be kind.

    Read More

  • Changes of Hester Prynne in Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    As a living reminder of Hester’s extreme sin, Pearl is her constant companion. From the beginning Pearl has always been considered as an evil child. For Hester to take care of such a demanding child, put lots of stress onto her life. Hester at times was in a state of uncontrollable pressure. “Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan, ‘O Father in heaven- if Thou art still my Father- what is this being which I have brought into the world!’” (Hawthorne, 77).

    Read More

  • The Range of Emotions in the Novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathanial Hawthorne

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne, the main character of the novel, was a courageous and honorable person; even though, what she had been known for wasn’t such an admirable deed. Hester Prynne was a very strong person in one’s eyes, because even though she had been publically humiliated in front of all of Boston, she still remained confident in herself and her daughter. She was ordered to wear a scarlet colored piece of fabric, with the letter “A” embroidered in gold on it, on her bosom at all times to show that she had committed adultery. She was mocked all the time and constantly looked down upon in society, because of her sin; but instead of running away from her problems, she st...

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter

    2428 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hester’s role in the story is described as sleeping with a priest and got accused of committing adultery and got punished by having to wear a scarlet letter “A” on the breast of her gown (Hawthorne 71). Hester Prynne’s punishment is to go to prison and then with her child, Pearl, go and stand out on the platform in front of everybody wearing her scarlet letter on the breast of her gown (Howells). Hester...

    Read More

More about The Scarlet Letter

Open Document