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critical analysis over the scarlet letter
introduction paragrapgh on the scarlet letter on how hawthorne
Hawthorne's puritanical attitudes in The Scarlet Letter
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Each person has strengths and weaknesses. A weakness is truly exploited when a person who needs help refuses it. The idea of “I do not need anyone’s help” only blindly hurts them since they refuse the assistance of someone who can support them. The character development between Hester and Dimmesdale shows Dimmesdale’s need of aid. As seen through the characters of Hester and Dimmesdale, the strength needed to carry on in life can come from the encouragement and example of others.
Hester’s inner strength is shown through her physical characteristics. She is a tall woman compared to some of the other women of her time (Hawthorne 37). It also states she is very woman like and the people were assuming prison would take her beauty from her. Instead, they were startled to see her beauty shining out, despite her old, worn, prison clothes (Hawthorne 37). Hester also has a talent for sewing, and uses that talent to make the scarlet letter on her chest a beautiful sight. Hawthorne says it is “so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom” (Hawthorne 37). She turned what was supposed to be a punishment, into an accessory.
Hester’s description given to the reader by Hawthorne represents her character throughout the book. Her height is the first thing given. Her height represents her position in society given to her in Chapter 13 after 7 years have passed. She may have started out on a lower level than everyone else, but she earned the respect of the people. Despite her circumstance, people did not look down on her. Although Hester did not feel accepted, people still loved her sewing (North Shore Community College). Her beauty after stepping out of the prison represents how everyone will look at her after all of it was over. ...
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...illingworth’s hold on him by confession his sin publicly.
As seen through the characters of Hester and Dimmesdale, the strength needed to carry on in life can come from the encouragement and example of others. Up until the end, Dimmesdale relied on Hester. All of Dimmesdale’s strength during the course of the story was given to him from Hester. If someone offers their help, do not reject it. Friends are there to support and guide each other during tough times. True friends help each other overcome their weaknesses and fully display their strong point. A true friend is always there to share their strength.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850.
North Shore Community College. Literature related to Hester and Pearl in the Scarlet Letter. 1 September 2002. 19 October 2011 .
The key difference between Hester and all of the other main characters in The Scarlet Letter is that she had nothing to hide. These circumstances enabled her to get the courage to show who she really was. When Hester was forced on to the scaffold for all to see she made no effort at hiding the mark of sin on her chest with the very object produced by it. She is true to her self and the town for making no attempt in hiding who she is, and for lack of a better metaphor, she quite literally wore her heart on her sleeve. After Hesters brief imprisonment, she gives some thought to leaving the town but decides against it.
When being questioned on the identity of her child’s father, Hester unflinchingly refuses to give him up, shouting “I will not speak!…my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!” (47). Hester takes on the full brunt of adultery, allowing Dimmesdale to continue on with his life and frees him from the public ridicule the magistrates force upon her. She then stands on the scaffold for three hours, subject to the townspeople’s disdain and condescending remarks. However, Hester bears it all “with glazed eyed, and an air of weary indifference.” (48). Hester does not break down and cry, or wail, or beg for forgiveness, or confess who she sinned with; she stands defiantly strong in the face of the harsh Puritan law and answers to her crime. After, when Hester must put the pieces of her life back together, she continues to show her iron backbone and sheer determination by using her marvelous talent with needle work “to supply food for her thriving infant and herself.” (56). Some of her clients relish in making snide remarks and lewd commends towards Hester while she works, yet Hester never gives them the satisfaction of her reaction.
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.
Lastly Nathaniel Hawthorne brings out that we absolutely must accept responsibility for our actions or suffer the consequences come with them. Hester is the prime example for this here because she was smart and freed herself of this great weight quickly so that it wouldn’t drag her down. This theme was not as applicable to Dimmesdale, however, who decided to hide his wrongful actions and was bearing this secret upon his heart and mind at all times.
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.
Although Hester Prynne is beautiful, her beauty barely compares to her strength in character. Even when brutally punished for her crime and publicly humiliated by being made wear the scarlet letter for adultery she does not break. Through all this she remains who she is: a strong, humble, kind, proud, and loyal young woman. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses this character to represent the archetypal hero, while also making her a relatable asset throughout the novel.
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
Even Hester’s physical appearance is dark, yet beautiful. She has dark hair which is “so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam” and Hester’s “ beauty is shone out” while simultaneously giving her a “halo of misfortune” (Hawthorne 50). Hester’s beauty is established from the first time she appears from the prison, but the “A” she is forced to wear on her chest has
Despite being cast out, Hester quickly gets to work making garments for the townspeople, despite their unsympathetic treatment toward her. She does not depend on a man to be the breadwinner in the family, bringing in a “subsistence of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child,” Thus, the scarlet letter on her chest took on a whole new meaning, as “any people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength” (213). Hester, aside from her child, is basically alone throughout her life, but still manages to draw strength from inside and treat others with kindness and passion, proving her a strong woman.  Hester’s acts of kindness are not the only thing that sets her apart from the rest of the Puritans. She represents going against the status quo as a whole, thinking independently from the church ideology the townspeople follow like
Even though Hester faced a lot of adversities in the story, she is able to gain advantages as well when she gains power through the scarlet letter. Aside from power, she is also able to utilize the symbol to exercise her freedom against the laws of a patriarchal society. Furthermore, she is also able to control the badge’s meaning as well because through her charity work for the town, she was able to reverse the interpretation of the public to the scarlet symbol. However, this is not the only source of Hester’s power because apart from the scarlet letter, her knowledge about the concept of silence plays an important for this as well. When she remains reserve despite the constant and intimidating interrogations that she receives on the scaffold, she is able to control the townspeople’s curiosity. Other than control, the scene in the scaffold is also able to prove how determined Hester is especially when she stood up for her decision to keep the father’s name a secret. Moreover, the scene also displays her strength as a woman, which was deemed to be uncommon considering the stereotypes present during the Puritan era. Indeed, despite the existence of prejudice against women in the patriarchal Puritan community, Hester Prynne shows how women can destroy the gender discrimination and make the society
...scourse” (77). Dimmesdale as well, was greatly affected by the environment and by what was going on around him. Dimmesdale was accepted by society, but because he was greatly praised for being a “miracle of holiness” (125) he became greatly burdened and guilty. He was in a dilemma of wanting to tell all the townspeople about what he had done, yet he could not due to the fear that was inside of him. This pushed him to punishments in which he inflicted upon himself and always thinking about the incident pushed him to his limits mentally-seeing visions of his dead parents and Hester as they point a condemning finger at him along with judgmental looks in their eyes (127).
First, Hester is a main symbol in the book and she is a symbol of sin, confession, shame, and repentance. The first two symbols Hester represents are shame and sin. She has committed adultery and was forced to stand on the scaffold for public humiliation. She has to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’. The scarlet letter ‘A’ stands for adultery and is a symbol of shame. Hester is forced to wear this so she will always be reminded of the sin she has committed and so everyone knows that she has committed adultery. Although Hester has to wear the scarlet letter, she is a very strong, independent woman even without a male influence in her life. Hester is also a symbol of strength because she has to hold all of the shame and punishment in the sin that her and Reverend Dimmesdale committed. On Election Day Reverend Dimmesdale gives his sermon and people say it is the most powerful speech he has ever given. They think that
Hester’s principal qualities of strength and honesty are revealed throughout the novel. Her strength is seen in her actions after her sin is revealed. Foremost, she thinks of her adultery as an act committed out of passion and denies the belief that man’s nature is corrupt
Not only has Hester changed physically but she has also changed emotionally and cognitively. In chapter two, we are introduced to defiant Hester, standing on the scaffold as punishment for her sins. Hawthorne states “…he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman whom he thus drew forward, until, on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character…” (9). Hawthorne describes Hester’s actions as natural dignity and forceful to convey her defiance and reluctance to the Puritan society and culture. In contrast, Hester, after seven years of suffering and loneliness with her humanity stripped from
When Hester has the choice to move away or stay in the community, she decides to stay in the community but in a secluded area in the forest. Hester Prynne did not flee, “On the outskirts of the town, within the verge of the peninsula, but not in close vicinity to any other habitation, there was a small thatched cottage. It had been built by an earlier settler, and abandoned, because the soil about it was too sterile for cultivation, while its comparative remoteness put it out of the sphere of that social activity which already marked the habits of the emigrants. It stood on the shore, looking across a basin of the sea at the forest-covered hills, towards the west”(Hawthorne 67). She decided to stay but become secluded in the forest because there, one can generate a different identity or character. Rules are not exercised in the forest so she develops herself here. With Dimmesdale, he lives in town where everything is known and anything can be punished if it is necessary. Dimmesdale when living in society has to constantly fear that someone will find out his guilty secret. This puts a burden on his health from the pain he has been feeling from the guilt and weakness he has for not being able to admit his actions. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the woods they become happy again. For example, “It was with a feeling which neither of them had ever before experienced,