Scarlet Letter Identity

Societies build rules to help individuals, but they often harm or repress the individual instead. People face the horror of having their persona and very identity stifled, forcing them to choose between following the law or staying true to themselves. Challenging society instead of following it blindly reveals true greatness within a person; it takes true strength to resist the lifestyle and laws followed by everyone. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne conveys the admirable act of defying restrictive laws in favor of staying true to one’s identity through the characterization of Puritan society as harsh and unforgiving with Hester as its sole rebel, through the irony of Hester’s dignity, and through the diction portraying the beauty

Hester, a criminal who spent months in jail, must leave the jail today and publicly show herself to all of the town. As the townspeople wait for her appearance, “…there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town beadle. This personage prefigured and represented in his aspect the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law, which it was his business to administer in its final and closest application to the offender” (Hawthorne 49). Hawthorne characterizes the beadle, who “represented…the Puritanic code of law,” as a dreary person with a bleak presence. Through describing the beadle as a “black shadow,” Hawthorne depicts Puritan society as a whole as an institution that takes the joy out of people’s lives. Typically, people portray rule-abiding societies as moral and just, but through the characterization of the beadle as a man with an aura of misery, Hawthorne illustrates the “dismal severity” of Puritan society and the lives it creates for those who follow its

As punishment for her crime, the Puritans force her to stand on display for everyone in an act of public humiliation. However, while she stood by the jail, “she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors” (Hawthorne 50). Hester conveys her internal embarrassment with her “burning blush,” a typical sign of humiliation. Therefore, the Puritans would expect her to diminish herself and attempt to hide from public view; however, she does not. Hester puts on an air of pride with a “haughty smile,” showing that she refuses to feel ashamed about her actions. She does not let herself act “abashed,” but rather maintains her dignity and self-respect. Hawthorne employs the irony of Hester’s lack of shame to convey how her choice to assert her individuality should not be shameful. Her actions not only fail to tarnish her appearance, but they actually enhance it. The Puritans watching Hester observe that “never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like…than as she issued from the prison. Those who had before knew her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a