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Hester's Acceptance Of Sin

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Acceptance of Sin Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Novel, The Scarlet Letter, about a woman forced to live on the edge of society with a red "A" on her bosom as a symbol of sinfulness. The woman, named Hester, accepts her sin as it begins to affect her life and the way people see her. She does not cover her letter and embroiders it with gold thread, so it stands out. Her action gives the reader insight to how Hester feels about her sin. Hester becomes free when she accepts her sin because she had the chance to redeem herself, she did not need to hide her sin, and she becomes individualistic. When Hester is first released from prison, the red A on her bosom has a meaning that haunts her everyday. The initial undertone gives her the opportunity …show more content…

Because Hester accepts her sin, she no longer has to keep a burning secret the way her paramour, Arthur Dimmesdale, does. In chapter two, when her sin is exposed for “a thousand unrelenting eyes” to stare at, Hester has no chance of denying it. Dimmesdale compares his situation with hers by saying, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!” (Hawthorne 176). His use of the word “burns” helps the reader understand his torment with his secret. Hester’s evident sin, leaves her with one less secret to worry about. Recognizing the sin as a part of her allows her to avoid much denial and secrecy that could hurt her later in life. She is not slave to her secret sin the way Dimmesdale is. As a third benefit, Hester receives independence and the competence to take care of her unruly daughter, Pearl. Hester’s sin forces her to live on the outskirts of the town and the dangerous forest. In chapter 18, she can be seen drifting “without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness” that can be compared to “the untamed forest.” Her setting provides her with the opportunity to be independent because she lives away from other people. She also chooses to take care of her fatherless child, Pearl. When the governor tries to take Pearl

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Hester can wear her scarlet letter in public, and has adjusted enough to continue living a normal life. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, lives in secret with his scarlet letter affecting him more every day. He envies how Hester has managed to embrace her scarlet letter, while his guilt is only increasing. At one point, Dimmesdale feels so much envy that he says, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!

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646 Words | 3 Pages

“Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! Thou little knowest what a relief it is, after the torment of a seven years' cheat, to look into an eye that recognizes me for what I am!” (Hawthorne 180). Dimmesdale had tortured himself with his mistakes.

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While Dimmesdale and Hester are discussing how guilt and sin have affected them differently, Dimmesdale states, “‘Happy are you hester that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!’” p 131. Dimmesdale compares the way Hester deals with her sin to the way he deals with his. Hester has be open about her sin to the point at which she reveals it on her bosom as the scarlet letter, whereas Dimmesdale keeps it in secret as the guilt boils up inside him.

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She is forced to stand on the scaffold at noontime, when the market place is most busy. Hester and Pearl also are forced

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941 Words | 4 Pages

Her defiance becomes stronger and will carry her through different hardships. Her determination and lonely stand repeats again when she confronts Governor Bellingham over the issue of Pearl’s guardianship. When Bellingham wants to take Pearl away from Hester, Hester reply’s with, “God gave me the child! I will die first!”(Ch.). When also pressured even more for the child’s care, Hester pleads, “God gave her into my keeping.

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896 Words | 4 Pages

By wearing the “A,” Hester was publicly humiliated, however, her development in character causes a change in the meaning of the Scarlet Letter, which leads her to taking pride in the letter as it grows a part of her. After Hester’s sin the Puritan community places a false

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“…she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors.” (p51.) The Hester seen in the first scene of the novel is not ashamed of her crime, she accepts her punishment and is unwilling to break under the pressure being put on her to tell the town who her partner was. Hester’s actions go to show that she knows her crime is something she has to accept on her own, and that what the people in the town think of her doesn't matter, only what God thinks matters. While Hester may be seen as weak by the people of the town because she gave into lust like any sinner would, the people that see the situation from the outside can see that Hester is truly strong because she accepts all of the fault for a crime she and Dimmesdale

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She cannot be defined by just one label, but both. She is a mother to Pearl, who is a child born from adultery. She is a caregiver, seamstress, a lover, and a counselor, but the Puritanical society Hester lives in constantly reminds her that she is just a whore. By subscribing to this label, Hester loses her identity in a way. The effect of being an outsider due to the letter causes her to become a shell of her former self.

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This sin, a sin of passion, unites them as one. Dimmesdale has lived his life for the past 7 years with terrible guilt, for he has only confessed his sin to God. His parishioners think he speaks as if “a tongue of Pentecost were speaking”(Hawthorne, 188).Dimmesdale has been holding on to his sin alone, while Hester wears it openly, for the Scarlet Letter is indeed a sign of her guilt and shame to anyone who sees her. Hester knows that they both need to leave in order to do God’s will in another place. Hester knows that Dimmesdale will be able to, “Preach! Write!

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455 Words | 2 Pages

The interpretation of the letter eventually shifts to Able, after the community recognizes her endeavors. Hester acknowledges and addresses her sin which sparks a change in meaning of the scarlet letter that contributes to the themes of honesty and forgiveness. Hester most notably displays honesty when she embraces her sin and makes an attempt at salvation. In the first scaffold scene, the narrator illustrates Hester and her letter while she stands ignominiously, specifically indicating that the scarlet letter removes her from “ordinary relations with humanity” (Hawthorne 81). The citizens of Massachusetts Bay abash Hester for her wrongdoings, leading to an estrangement between the two; however, the stigma that Hester carries will not

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1529 Words | 7 Pages

Because Pearl is so different than the other children in Boston, it helped Hester become a vigorous person since she had to raise Pearl on her own. As Hester is being questioned and threaten by the governor, trying to take Pearl away from her, she remains strong stating that Pearl is, “‘my happiness!-- she is my torture, nonetheless!” (104). If she didn’t have the scarlet letter branded on her, nor had Pearl, Hester wouldn’t of been the person she is, furthermore she wouldn't the best person she could be. She continues, “Pearl keeps me here in life!..

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1200 Words | 5 Pages

(Hawthorne, pg. 48). This demonstrates that Hester perseveres through her hardship by working hard because she risks her own punishment and more consequences for someone else 's reputation. As she provides for Pearl, she works hard enough that the community gradually accepts her sin. Although she still wears the scarlet letter, they begin to see her differently. She is viewed as a symbol of pride for the community.

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719 Words | 3 Pages

The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”

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796 Words | 4 Pages

Hester proves that she has a higher understanding for people and life, also a sense of honor based on her own principles not society’s. This perfectly fits the mold for a romantic hero. Towards the end of the novel, we learn that Pearl became a great women and Hester could have lived a great life with her wealthy daughter, yet she chose to return to Boston and live out her punishment. Now the book describes Hester’s final resting place, “It bore a device, a herald's wording of which might serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so somber is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow:—"On a field, sable, the letter A, gules”(Hawthorne 259).

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

She realized that everyone will eventually find out about the sin, so she became courageous and took responsibility for her action. After she had completed her punishment in prison, she moved to a cottage. Hester was guilty for what she had done, but she started to help the poor, even though they rejected her. The guilt deprived her from all the “joys [of life] [because] she rejected it as sin” (Hawthorne 130) Hester ceased enjoying anything that a normal person would think as amusing because it was wrong for her since she became the outcast of the town.

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