Have you ever been extremely publicly shamed before? Hester Prynne has. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathienal Hawthorne, Hester Prynne was shamed and harassed by the Puritan townspeople for committing adultery. The Puritan townspeople lived in a Puritan community, in which they had unrealistic standards for their people. Hester Prynne did not meet one of their standards so she was publicly shamed and this creates barrier for her in her everyday life. Hawthorne illustrates that you can always overcome the worst obstacles in your life by showing how Hester overcomes struggling with not being accepted in Puritan society, wearing the shameful letter A, and Pearl being born and a reminder of her sin.
Hester struggles with being accepted
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For example one of the townspeople says,“Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart”(Hawthorne 38). The townspeople believe that since Hester will always have the letter A pinned to her chest, it will lead to shame. But they also believe that it is Hester’s inner personal knowledge of her wrongdoing, that will lead to guilt. Hester will use her guilt of her sin to teach Pearl a lesson. Hawthorne writes, “I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this!” answered Hester Prynne, laying her finger on the red token…This badge hath taught me-it daily teaches me,- it is teaching me at this moment,-lessons whereof my child may be the wiser and better, albeit they can profit nothing to myself”(Hawthorne 76). Hester believes that having the scarlet letter enables her to teach and show Pearl that your wrongdoings have bad consequences. The letter A also reminds Hester of her sin and what she has gone through because of it. In conclusion, Hester will eventually use the meaning of the letter A as a lesson to Pearl instead of wearing it as a badge of