The Scarlet Letter is about the Puritan society and the outcome of the immoral decisions of the protagonist, Hester Prynne. Nathaniel Hawthorne has an overall unfavorable view against Hester and her choices, so his storyline involves many consequences for her. The author chooses to stand from a Puritan’s point of view in the novel since Puritans are against sinning. Hester Prynne wears the scarlet letter as an accessory as well as an acceptance of her consequence for not sharing any details about her sin. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne is critical of any character committing a sin, so Hester Prynne exemplifies his criticism as she portrays an immoral protagonist.
To begin, symbolism plays a key role in The Scarlet Letter to demonstrate
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Throughout the novel, Hawthorne makes Hester face consequences for her wrongdoing, especially judgement. The entire novel goes over seven years of Hester Prynne’s life being full of the scarlet letter and hatred. Hester is unable to live as an ordinary member in the Puritan society because “all the world had frowned upon her,-for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman…” (Hawthorne 175-176). To explain, the author uses a hyperbole to exaggerate the amount of judgement she faces from the public and claims “all the world had frowned upon her,” even though only the people she sees in person can truly judge her for her sin. Certainly Hester feels as if every person in the world only sees her for her sin; however, someone from another area obviously is not aware of Hester or her wrongdoing. Hawthorne is disappointed in Hester’s choices and wants her to think everyone in the world is judging her character to make her feel worse than she already does. All in all, figurative language throughout the novel exhibits Hawthorne’s disappointed tone towards Hester Prynne’s choice of choosing to commit her sin and wear the scarlet