How Does Hester Prynne Change In The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays how a young woman, Hester Prynne, is forced to live with the scarlet letter “A” on her breast to mark her shame of adultery. Hester commits the appalling crime with the well known Puritan minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. Being punished to wear the scarlet letter brings about a change among Hester’s character due to the ridicule from the public, the constant reminder of her sin from her illegitimate child, Pearl, and becoming secluded from society. Knowing his reputation and importance to the town, Dimmesdale is forced to bury his sin, bringing about an increasing amount of guilt throughout the years. Along with Hester and Dimmesdale, the letter affects Pearl’s life, as her main purpose is to function

Additionally, the letter forces Hester into a state of isolation, driving her to live “on the outskirts of the town, within the verge of the peninsula, but not in close vicinity to any other habitation [...] Hester established herself, with her infant child [...] this woman should be shut out from the sphere of human charities [...] Lonely as was Hester’s situation, and without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however, incurred no risk of want” (84). Not only does the letter bring upon so much guilt that Hester is forced to live in isolation, but she is scorned from the public eye at every public encounter. Hester fears going into town because of the constant glares and scowls from the townspeople, resulting in her urge to quickly cover up the letter with her hands. She describes how “another peculiar torture was felt in the gaze of a new eye. When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter, - and none ever failed to do so, - they branded it afresh into Hester’s soul; so that, oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand [...] Its cool stare of familiarity was intolerable. From first to last, in short, Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne exemplifies how Pearl continually acknowledges the scarlet letter with great disrespect. To Hester’s face, Pearl mocks her about the scarlet letter, pointing, tugging, and making impudent remarks about it. For example, in the woods, Pearl casually mentions to Hester that “ ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off” (190). Clearly, as mentioned by the townspeople, Pearl is somewhat of a “devil-child” due to the reasoning for her existence, Hester’s adultery. This strange characteristic is acknowledged by Hester as she states how a “freakish, elfish cast came into the child’s eyes, while Hester was looking at her own image in them [...] she fancied that she beheld, not her own miniature portrait, but another face in the small black mirror of Pearl’s eyes. It was a face, fiend-like, fill of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and never with malice, in them” (100). Finally, the description of Pearl’s clothing is very similar to the detailing of the scarlet letter. This represents how, as mentioned previously, Pearl is the direct outcome of Hester’s adultery and served as a reminder to her adultery. When describing the detailing