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The Character Of Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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The book was written during the time when feminist rights and values were not established and considered in the society. Hawthorne’s novel about a female demonstrating feminism culture and importance in the society tries to highlight the equality and justice that much exist in a society. In this story, we get an exclusive view of a women, love, and sin. Unlike those women of the Puritan community, Hester follows her desires even against the strict Puritan values and norms.
We get to see a completely different image of women in the society through Hester and how bravely she takes her decisions. Hester Prynne was married to Scholar who was much older than her, who was slightly deformed, having a left shoulder higher than his right whom she never loved and she was sent to America to live and wait for him. While waiting for Chillingworth, Hester falls in love with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a clergyman of the Puritan community. Dimmesdale earns great respect and fame as a priest from the community through his sermons which are a masterpiece of expression and influence but later he was discovered to be a real father a child and most importantly a sinner.
Hester Prynne is shown as courageous and strong women than the man of the time. Even though Hester knew that her punishment will be increased, she never discloses her child’s father name. We can see that Hester is far stronger than Dimmesdale, who lack the confident to admit his sin publicly, that he is the …show more content…

Anamaria, S. (n.d.). Feminist Views on Scarlet Letter and Madame Bovary. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://www.academia.edu/7597142/Feminist_Views_on_Scarlet_Letter_and_Madame_Bovary

2. Arsdale, H. V., & Rodriguez, S. (2011, October 29). Retrieved April 04, 2017, from https://sites.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/hannah-s-humanities-dp/final-drafts/feminism-the-scarlet-letter

3. Hawthorne, N. (1850). The Scarlet Letter (2017), New Delhi, India: Peacock Books. ISBN:

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Consequently, Arthur Dimmesdale is the cause of Hester Prynne's shame for he is the man whom Hester loves. No one knows he is the father of Pearl, Hester won't say and he isn't strong enough to speak up. He struggles with this knowledge that Hester is being punished and not him. The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul, and the undissembled expression of it in his aspect, (Hawthorne 142). Being a minister of God the citizens look up to him, and he feels guilty about his hidden sin.

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Dimmesdale suffers differently from Hester, because while she “bore it all” to the townspeople (181), his fears forced him to hide his sin, living a life full of “nothing but despair” (177). Hester, though made a social pariah of the town, has a more honest and healthy way of dealing with her sin. Because Hester is forced to face her wrongdoings under the watchful eye of her Puritan neighbors, she did not have the same guilt of secrecy that Dimmesdale did. Dimmesdale, by hiding his sin, allows himself to become a captive to his guilt. The way that Dimmesdale dealt with his guilt was unhealthy for him, both mentally and physically.

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Dimmesdale’s True Colors Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, also the father of Hester’s child, showed prominent parts of his character throughout the story. The first trait the reader becomes aware of is Dimmesdale’s cowardice. He has no intentions of revealing his sin to the public, due to how highly he is seen in the community’s eyes. Remorse, or guilt, is another term that can be associated with Dimmesdale, growing increasingly more prominent as the novel goes on. Cowardice, a lacking of bravery when facing danger, was a trait that Dimmesdale carried.

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He repeatedly asked her who the father of her newborn child was knowing that it was himself all along. He did not join Hester on the scaffold when he was just as deserving of the punishment. This kind of behavior showed just how harsh his personality was to be able to stand there and watch the public display of his secret lover. The book also described him as “stone faced,” showing no emotion towards Hester as he was constantly harassing her with questions that he already knew the answer to. In this way it is also easy to see just how cowardly the young Dimmsdale was at the beginning of

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The bible said “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Hester and Dimmesdale both fell short of the glory of God but, that does not mean they should BE executed or punished for their sins any longer. They both endured a lot of suffering for their sins and did not deserve any more, they both confessed and took responsibility for it. They are forgiven. For example, In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne wrote, “Ah, but let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.” The consequences of her actions will show their face to remind her of what happened, especially Pearl’s birth, it acts as a charitable mistake that they will always have bearing down on them.

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His affair with Hester Prynne left her publicly humiliated, yet he did not face any backlash, as his identity was hidden. This became an issue for Dimmesdale, whose guilt became so intense that Chillingworth even stated, "look again at Hester 's scarlet letter...with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what [Dimmesdale] bears on his own breast...even this...is no more than the type of what has seared his innermost heart" (Hawthorne 305). Dimmesdale 's inner guilt manifested into intense self-hatred and he reverted back to a broken, guilt-ridden state in which he remained for seven years in an increasingly harmful pattern of self torture. This pain that he felt was immensely greater than that of Hester, who after being publicly shamed, could move on and surpass her individual guilt. As Hester grew stronger and became a more upstanding member of the community, Dimmesdale broke down, his spirit becoming, "so shattered and subdued that it could hardly hold itself erect" (236).

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