Hester Hester is the target of many different punishments throughout this story. She is punished in many ways by many people. 1. The letter- Hester was punished by the Puritan government by having to wear this badge of shame with her all of the time, the scarlet letter. This was not the only tangible symbol of her sin her daughter Pearl also serves as such to her mother. Hester is constantly hurt and reminded of her undeniable sin. When she is walking to the scaffold to serve her punishment as the eyes are judging her she thinks of hiding behind pearl but she does not “In a moment, however wisely judging that one token of her same would but poorly serve to hide another… On the breast of her gown, in fire red cloth, surrounded with and elaborate embroidery of fantastic flourishes of gold thread appeared the letter A.” (55) Both of these symbols force both hester and …show more content…
Hester being a woman- Hester has to have her secrete told and she could not hide from sin or was not awarded the option to find salvation by herself because she was a Puritan woman. Because she is the one that got pregnant as result of sin she had not time to hide from her sin and no option. Being a woman she also faced much harsher judgements than Dimmesdale did or would have if he came forth with the truth at the time when the scandal was all the hype. Hester was not given an opportunity to hide from her sin nor was she awarded the convenient timing of confessing Dimmesdale did. 4. Nice Timing...Really- Dimmesdale was given the perfect opportunity to confess several times and he got to choose the most convenient time for him his death could not have been better timed out for him for several reasons. Dimmesdale was on his deathbed, in front of everyone in the town after completing a very honorable speech when he was most happy dreaming about the future but not yet sinning again in the future. He was so lucky and privileged in his death his cannot be considered the harder journey to