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How Does Hester Prynne Change In The Scarlet Letter

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Many think of the scarlet letter as a letter of sin and regret. But hester eventually owned up to the letter and it became a part of her. It is hard to explain, but you will understand as we go on through the story. The scarlet letter describes what hester has done wrong and they want everyone to know. The letter describes her and she embarrassed the letter. In the scarlet letter, we see how everything falls into place. Hester comes out of the prison and stands on the scaffold in the middle of the town in front of everyone holding her child and wearing a shirt with the letter “A” printed on the shirt, standing for adultery. "Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt it in her heart”(*Fitzgerald 46). The scarlet letter is a sign of adultery and in this time period it was very frowned upon. Hester …show more content…

“such helpfulness was found in her-so much power to do, and power to sympathize-that many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a women’s strength” (Renner 152). Hester is not the only one that as changed because of the letter. The community looks at her as a new woman who is able and she raised her child and stayed pure, the community looks at her a role model. Hester has to wear the scarlet letter A and be put up on the scaffold for public ridicule. Hester decides to move away from the community so she moves to a small cottage on the outskirts of town. She is able to see all the sin that other people have committed. Hester sees Dimmsdale at the scaffold and they go to stand on the scaffold together with Pearl. In the second scaffold scene, the community sees the scarlet A in the sky as a sign that the Governor has become an angel. (Coale). They all embraced the letter and it brought them closer together. The letter has actually made her life better in a

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705 Words | 3 Pages

The scarlet letter ‘A’ did not stand for “adultery” anymore. It stood for “able.” “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her, —so much power to do, and power to sympathize, —that many 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.”

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1113 Words | 5 Pages

In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces the main character Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful member of a Puritan society being punished for her sin of love, not lust. The opening chapters introduce the reader to gossips who deem her original punishment, death, too harsh and contrary to Puritan beliefs that unborn babies should be given a chance at life. Instead, Hester and her child are to be alienated and shunned. In addition she is to wear the letter ‘A’ (which stands for ‘adultery’) on her chest which will forever display her as a symbol of shame for her sin. Though a very resilient figure who soon overcomes this pain, Hester’s isolation takes a negative toll on her life.

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1257 Words | 6 Pages

Hester is confident that things will get better, so she stays in Boston. She is courageous because she talks to Chillingworth, her former husband, and tells him to stop trying to get revenge. The “A” brings Hester redemption. She is finally redeemed when her and Dimmesdale confess and ask for forgiveness. Everyone sins, but accepting the sin, learning from the sin, and changing is what makes Hester admirable.

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813 Words | 4 Pages

Such helpfulness was found in her, so much power to do, and power to sympathize, that many people refused to interpret the Scarlet A by its original signification. They said it meant Able. So strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength. On page 185” This changes Hester’s sin because she learned to not sin anymore and the people started to accept her for who she was when they all said the Letter means able instead of adultery. She doesn’t let others’ words define her or let her mistakes define who she truly is because only she knows who she truly is.

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530 Words | 3 Pages

The Scarlet Letter opens with Hester Prynne, a young woman who has committed adultery and is being punished. She is shown to be a proud, confident woman but is quickly forced to mature under the burden of public humiliation. Hester becomes an unhappy and bitter woman, her mind and body hardened by the stress of her punishment and her inability to forgive herself and move on. Throughout the story, she struggles to come to terms with what she has done and only when she finally does, can she return to her former happy, unburdened self and regain her former beauty. At the start of the novel, Hester has just received her sentencing for her crime of adultery.

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941 Words | 4 Pages

We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.

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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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599 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning the scarlet letter represented adultery and shame, but then the A represented “able.” Hester Prynne showed people that greatness can come out of huge mistake. One bad chapter does not mean your story is over. Willingly, Hester wanted to pick herself up again and move on with her life and eventually people noticed that. They began to respect her and think of her as strong and commendable

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665 Words | 3 Pages

She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but also the physical scarlet letter, a sign of shame, is shown as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece which

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1079 Words | 5 Pages

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about a woman who commits a crime. Hester Prynne committed adultery, resulting in pregnancy and public shame. In the 1600’s, your religion made the rules. If you were to break these rules, you would get publicly shamed, and you have to wear a letter on your chest. Hester Prynne committed the crime of adultery, so she had to wear the letter ‘A’ on her chest.

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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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499 Words | 2 Pages

There are various examples of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter, but one of them wraps the whole story together: the meaning of the scarlet letter A. In this passage, Hester Prynne wears an embroidered letter A on her bosom as punishment. At first the A stood for “adulterer”, but the townspeople later gained respect for her and said “Such helpfulness was found in her-so much power to do and to sympathize-that many people refused to interpret the scarlet “A” by its original significance. They said it meant ‘Able’” (Hawthorne 107).

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1322 Words | 6 Pages

The scarlet letter has different meanings throughout the story and to each of the characters. The original meaning of the scarlet “A” is “Adultery”, but later in the story the townspeople and other characters begin to interpret it in different ways, each of them with their own idea and belief. Hester starts being more active in society and that makes the townspeople think differently about the scarlet “A”. The scarlet letter doesn´t keep the same meaning throughout the whole story, it changes with Hester´s actions and the Puritans beliefs. Hester starts being more active in society, she starts helping the poor and nursing the sick.

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714 Words | 3 Pages

Learned Leadership Skills Leaders tend to have innate characteristics like charisma and confidence that inspire a following. However, such characteristics do not guarantee that they will be successful leaders (Andersen, 2012). According to the MindTools’ content team, good leadership skills can be learned (“How Good Are Your Leadership Skills”, n.d.). The MindTools leadership quiz allows one to understand their leadership strengths and weaknesses and suggests tools for improvement. Below is a discussion of my scores and the recommended areas of improvement.

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959 Words | 4 Pages

Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.

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