Resilient In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne creates Hester Prynne to be determined and resilient. In The Scarlet Letter Hester is determined through her want of punishment. She welcomes her punishment of the scarlet letter on her clothing. She embraces her lonely life: she stays in town to endure it for the rest of her life. Hester is resilient in how she turns away snarky comments made by the town’s people. She does not let rude comments about her crime sadden her, but she rises above them. Hester’s character is determined and resilient through her actions. Determination to live a better life after her sin is what Hester tries to do throughout the first few chapters of the book. She tries to live a better life after her crime she committed. She stays in town to live the rest of her days with her punishment: “Hester Prynne, therefore, did not flee” (68). She stays there because she wants the punishment to feel like she is living a better life now. She also feels as if one day she will be reunited with the father of her child: “there trode the feet of one with whom she deemed herself

She hears women she works for make small jabs at her constantly but says nothing in return: “Hester had schooled herself long and well; she never responded to these attacks” (71). She continues going about as if nothing has been said about her. She is a strong woman because of how she listens to these insults and reacts in a calm manner. She stays composed at all times when doing her work for the very ladies who insult her. She is able to overcome any feelings of sadness over comments quickly. She feels pain often but stays in the town to live out her punishment: “did she feel the innumerable throbs of anguish that had been so cunningly contrived for her by the undying, the ever-active sentence of the Puritan tribunal” (71). She is resilient because she stays in the town, listening to comments about her with pain in her