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What Is Hester's Purpose In Chapter 5 Of The Scarlet Letter

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Chapter 5 of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the main character, Hester, being released from jail after she was punished for adultery. She is allowed to stay in a log cabin on the edge of town next to the forest. However, she becomes quite lonely. She is viewed as the epitome of sin to the townspeople and feels as if she is living in complete isolation. The only way she can support herself and her daughter Pearl is by making high-quality garments, but still the town does not appreciate her fine art. If she is living such a hard life in Boston, the reader is left to ask why she would not want to leave, as there appears to be no good reason to stay. Hawthorne leaves this up for debate. Hawthorne's purpose in Chapter 5 is to …show more content…

Hawthorne speculates that she does not want to leave because she cannot move on from her past actions of wrongdoing and feels an unspoken bond between her and her fellow adulterer. He further argues that she is viewed as a sinner in the opinion of Boston because she is the target of constant savage insults and is almost forced into seclusion. Although it may seem as though she wants to stay purely because of her stable income, or that the town views her as an important part of their society, she is still bound to the town by her commitment to her unknown lover and is still subject to incessant abuse by the townsfolk. If she were to leave, Hester would be acknowledging her society’s power over her life. She insists on her right to self-determination by staying in Boston and subjecting herself to non stop cruelty from the town. Hester does not need to escape or lead a fraudulent life to resist the judgment against her. Ultimately, Chapter 5 does more than just give the reader background information, it begins to develop Hester as a strong willed and insightful character for the rest of the

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In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester to create the theme of reputation by presenting her as a woman whose reputation was ruined by an extramarital affair. She endures being forced to stand on a scaffold while holding her newborn babe, while villagers gossip below. "You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend," answered the townsman, looking curiously at the

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On the other hand Hester doesn’t want or try getting attention through her actions. Also she becomes an outcast of the Puritan community and she slowly finds her way back through hard work and showing she cares. Secondly the way the two characters

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Hester Prynne, being the main character of the novel and having the punishment of wearing the scarlet letter A on her bosom, was convicted of adultery after she had conceived a little girl. Hester was originally sent to Boston and was supposed to wait for her husband to finish up affairs in Europe, but instead had an affair with none other than Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the highest figures in the

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In The Scarlet Letter, Hester uses her infamy as a way to change the Puritans’ mindset about those who have sinned. Throughout the novel, the Puritans of Boston treat Hester poorly due to the fact that she is a well-known adulteress. Despite her poor treatment, Hester does not allow the Puritans to control her life; in point of fact, she decides to interact with the Puritans through acts of charity so that she can eliminate the stigma associated with the scarlet letter. Originally, Hester never sinned so that she could go against god’s words. She sinned because she felt lonely, and she longed for someone who would love her and take care of her.

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We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.

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Everyone in the community saw Hester at her weakest point, therefore her character and abilities could only grow from there. The power of the Scarlet Letter has provided Hester with a new found freedom for

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They both left the town and years later Hester went back and it is said that she did, amazingly, get her happy ending, which she did indeed deserve. This story written by Hawthorne is without doubt, a tragically, amazing story. It revolves around love and judgment and embodies the way judgement affects a human being. Even though all the characters that were being constantly tortured by guilt, at the end, got released of it. This story makes you realize that we should keep secrets because it could basically eat alive.

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This shows that Hester does not necessarily need to worry about what the people of Boston think of her or how she needs to redeem herself in order to fit back into the society. When Hawthorne says “The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise, moreover, not through dusky grief, but the ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end!” he is showing how there is no way for Hester to change her society. She should have love and joy, but instead she is faced with guilt, which leads to her downfall. Along with this, Hawthorne demonstrates how the people of Boston are actually the sinners while Hester and Dimmesdale represent the Angel and the Saint of the city.

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Yet, despite the heavy burden she has to bear, she acts more civil than most of the characters do in the entirety of “The Scarlet Letter”. Instead of her guilt and shame tearing her down, she chose to rise above it as seen in this quote; “she [Hester] repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” (50 Hawthorne) No doubt at this time, Hester’s heart is filled with pain and worry. After all, these were people she has known for some time and perhaps has even befriended.

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She receives three punishments from the townspeople, who claim they will free her from her sin. The community orders Hester to go to jail, wear a scarlet letter on her chest, and stand on the town scaffold for hours. Hester wears her scarlet letter proudly on her chest, and endures much suffering because of her public ridicule. Hester is “kept by no restrictive clause of her condemnation within the limits of the Puritan settlement” after she was released from prison, but she chooses to stay (Hawthorne 71). Later, Hester’s child, Pearl, symbolizes the Puritan view of Hester.

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(Hawthorne, pg. 48). This demonstrates that Hester perseveres through her hardship by working hard because she risks her own punishment and more consequences for someone else 's reputation. As she provides for Pearl, she works hard enough that the community gradually accepts her sin. Although she still wears the scarlet letter, they begin to see her differently. She is viewed as a symbol of pride for the community.

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In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester shows signs of being a virtuous woman despite occurrences of sin throughout the novel. Proverbs states that a woman has to meet certain qualifications to be virtuous. Hester works with her hands, gives to the poor and dresses Pearl in scarlet. Although she has sinned and had Pearl out of wedlock, Hester has changed and become a better woman who shows virtue.

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This quote is insightful because Hester hopes that, by remaining in Boston, the process of atonement of her shame and public punishment will be complete, so she can purify herself as a result. By wiping clean the sin from her soul, her choice to remain will bring her a different kind of clarity and goodness. Her refusal to live a life of lies also reveals Hester’s courage in which she not only refuses to acknowledge society’s power over her while also resisting the judgements placed against her. Hester also acknowledge her faults but make do with her best through Pearl. Her sewing was also a way of restraining her willfulness and passion.

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Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.

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