Archetypal Characters In The Scarlet Letter

Every story must contain a certain list of items in order to be even considered a story; without the list, it simply would be words on a page.The list includes a theme/moral that gives a purpose for the story, plot that gives a sense of direction in which the story is going, conflict that builds the plot, and characters. Although all the items are important, the characters are probably the most important part of the story. They allow the story to have life because they tell the story through their actions, words, and even emotions. While there is numerous types of characters such as background and symbolic, there are those basic characters in in which every story is composed of; they are called archetypal characters. Archetypal characters are

In The Scarlet Letter, the hero is Hester. Hester is an uncommon character for her time as she is a female; she, however, does exhibit some of the qualities of a hero. What are the qualities that made Hester a hero? First off, she performs numerous good deeds. During the time in which Pearl is growing up, Hester would go around town and help; this would include going to hospitals to help the sick and sewing clothes for the homeless. Her deeds were especially shocking as she was perceived as pest almost since she had to wear the scarlet letter as a reminder of her sin. Due to her deeds, the town is quoted as: “Many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification.” (168). During her early days of the wearing of the scarlet letter, she was shunned and shut out from normal activities; now, the townspeople believed her to be kind; they even changed what the “A” meant: “They said that it meant to be Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a women’s strength.” (168). While she was starting to be viewed better, she still was criticized for committing adultery. Yet, she still wore. Once she came back from England after Dimmesdale’s death, she continued to wear the scarlet letter even though she could remove it. It caused her great pain, but she still took up her cross and went through with her sentence given many years earlier. The people of the town believed it was because she believed that: “Here (the

The characters are what makes the story as it would not be complete. They build the plot. They build the conflict. They build the purpose. They allow the reader to relate to the story since most stories are about normal human beings that experience realistic challenges. It doesn’t matter what type of story; it needs characters. Writers often add additional characters to increase the depth of the material and have variety, but they always remember one thing. They have to have the basics: a hero and a villain with it’s