Scarlet Letter Essay

We all like a good scandal and mystery right? Well, The Scarlet Letter is the story for you then. It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 1840’s. The book is set in Puritan time. This woman, Hester Prynne, went to jail because she had an affair with someone. Her husband was off at sea and she got pregnant while he was away. They sent her to prison and she had the baby in jail. She was forced to wear a scarlet A on her bosom and stand in front of the whole town as her punishment. A man comes into town on the day of her punishment and it turns out it was her husband. He questions why the man is not also standing up there with her. The minister tells him that she refuses to tell who the father is. We get hints throughout the book about who

The scarlet letter is very intricate and pretty. “On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A (Hawthorne, 55).” Hester made the scarlet A and she represents it well. She had just come out of jail looking as beautiful as ever. “The young woman was tall, with a figure of elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes (Hawthorne, 55).” Hester had just gotten out of jail and she still looks like she could be of royal blood. The scarlet letter was very intricate and pretty just like Hester

Hester is shunned by the whole community, but she still uses her natural talent to help those that have condemned her. “Here, indeed, in the sable simplicity that generally characterized the Puritanic modes of dress, there might be an infrequent call for the finer productions of her handiwork (Hawthorne, 85).” Her amazing needlework was not needed very often, but everyone went to her when they needed elegant clothes. “Deep ruffs, painfully wrought bands, and gorgeously embroidered gloves, were all deemed necessary to the official state of men… In the array of funerals… By degrees, nor very slowly, her handiwork became what would now be termed the fashion (Hawthorne, 85 and 86).” She would make clothes for the rich and poor. It did not matter who needed clothes, she would provide them with what they needed. Soon everyone went to her even though she was condemned by them. Hester showed that her needlework was just as intricate as the scarlet letter that rested on her