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Who Is Hester A Sinner In The Scarlet Letter

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Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter writes about a love affair between a Puritan Minister, Arthur Dimmesdale and a married woman, Hester Prynne. This affair results in the birth of their daughter Pearl, who later becomes important in the story. As a result of this forbidden relationship, Hester is condemned to public shame by wearing a Scarlet Letter. Because of the Scarlet Letter, Hester is looked down upon by the community and, at first Dimmesdale doesn’t receive any of the blame. Hawthorne uses his characters to represent transition and change in America in the 1800’s. Hawthorne uses important characters such as Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl to represent different ideals, viewpoints, and eras in America's history. Some of these ideals …show more content…

Hester is seen as is a sinner, and for that sin, she can not be apart of the new era. Since Hester committed a terrible sin, she was looked down upon by the community and sometimes, “she felt an eye-a human eye” looking upon her and making her feel like “she had sinned anew”(59). The people of the community know what she has done, so they judge her. Because of the small Puritan community, not many terrible things happen and when something does, then the people become curious and start searching for gossip. Hester is treated so differently, as if she is an outcast, not part of the new era. When Hester went to the forest to meet Dimmesdale, “she took off the cap… and down it fell upon her shoulders”(139). The forest is a safe place for Hester where she can express herself. When she is around Dimmesdale, she can let her beautiful self out and not hide behind her cap and scarlet letter. Because of this, Pearl does not recognize her mother without her cap or letter on. Hawthorne uses symbolism to show that Hester cannot be apart of the new era, she still has to live her life as an adulter. Throughout the novel, Hester must comply with Puritan dress norms and “was clad in a garment of coarse gray cloth… [which] had the effect of making her fade personally out of sight and outline”(155). When she wears gray clothing it has an effect that makes her distant from others, and almost invisible. This aspect highlighted by Hawthorne conveys the change in America from the old to the new era, by Hester complying to society and expressing her true self through the way she dresses Pearl. As Hester is being pulled in two directions by Puritan ways and the new era, she expresses her new ideas through

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Symbolism And Vivid Imagery In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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He discusses Hester's daughter, Pearl, and how the fall of Hester would also affect Pearl's livelihood. Hawthorne explains, “often impelled Hester to ask, in bitterness of heart, whether it were for ill or good that the poor little creature had been born at all.” Hesters admittance of the fact that she has contemplated whether or not Pearl deserves to be alive signifies Hawthorne's use of a complex tone. Within the statement, he shows how Hester is recognizing that the life she has brought Pearl up in is not ideal. Out of the sorrow in her heart that she has for Pearl, Hester realizes that her daughter may have been better off never being born, as Hester has lost the abilities that she once had to be a loving mother.

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Happiness Examples In Scarlet Letter

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Hester is described as being a part of the light, which juxtaposes previous descriptions of the Puritans who are dark, somber, and extremely separated from the light. After Hester takes off the letter, she is not the only thing that changes. In reflective of Hester’s actions, “...forth burst the sunlight, pouring a flood into the obscure forest”(186). The sunlight is illuminating and overcoming the darker forest. Similarly, Hester overcame her struggles against Puritan oppression.

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Scarlet Letter Pearl Symbolism

1051 Words | 5 Pages

Dimmesdale never admits that he is a father of the child, and is forced to suffer alone in guilt, while Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. Hawthorne is known for his incorporation of symbolism into his writing. One of the most complex and misunderstood symbols is Pearl. She is a unique character. Often known as the product of her

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Hester's 'Moral Ambiguity In The Scarlet Letter'

423 Words | 2 Pages

Terence Martin makes an intriguing point in this discussion of Hester in Chapter 18 when he asserts his claim that “seven years of ignominy have left her a resolute priestess of a private cult”. (Martin) This is an intriguing assertion because it shows the dangers of moral ambiguity. Hester “wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest”, (Hawthorne 399) and like the forest that the Puritans so greatly fear, Hester has made a pact with the Black Man in the forests of moral ambivalence. Perhaps Hawthorne would say that Hester has transcended the moral confines of the archaic and hypocritical Puritans, but clearly Hester’s venture into the moral badlands have bestowed upon her a false moral compass fashioned from “seven years of ignominy” (Martin) and guilt.

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What Does Pearl Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

579 Words | 3 Pages

Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter describes the life of Hester Prynne after she is convicted of adultery, and the ensuing scorn and ostracism she receives from the Puritan society she lives in. If the focus of the novel is Hester’s struggle against a suppressive society, why did Hawthorne include the addition of Hester’s illegitimate daughter, Pearl? The Scarlet Letter is a novel full of symbolism, but none is more significant than Pearl. Throughout the story, Pearl serves as a constant reminder of Hester’s passionate nature, her adulterous act, and Dimmesdale’s inner turmoil.

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How Does Hester Prynne's Transformation

846 Words | 4 Pages

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about the transformation of Puritan woman known as Hester Prynne who changed from being labeled as an adulterer to somewhat of a living legend. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s original husband was supposed to follow her in the new world, he only shows up gesturing to his wife during public shaming. She wore a scarlet letter as a result of a secret affair with Dimmesdale; this relationship made the public distrust her after they found out she was pregnant. Pearl and Arthur Dimmesdale are the only people Hester associates with because they share common traits and are a bit weird in their ways. Her daughter starts out as a symbol, and it is not until she is kissed by Dimmesdale at the scaffold, that

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Who Is Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter

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Within the book The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are three main characters but within those three, there is Hester Prynne. She is the character that has taken concerns upon herself to handle responsibilities for herself and others’ wrongdoing. The Scarlet Letter portrays Hester as a woman who committed adultery. She acted out of sexual nature which resulted in her having a daughter named Pearl.

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How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Biblical Allusions In The Scarlet Letter

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However, he also uses these allusions to create a new side to his narrative as evident when he describes Hester’s resilience, and to create a new element in the plot as evident in his description of Dimmesdale’s penance and need for redemption. Therefore, Hawthorne demonstrates an effective use of allusions to craft a religious and detailed narrative for The Scarlet Letter by reviewing on parallels between the Bible and the novel’s main characters. There’s more to The Scarlet Letter than these allusions though, and there are many questions to answer about this book. These questions may never be answered fully, but by reading the novel itself, we might find the right places to start searching for answers and formulate our own opinions on the matter. What’s important from this novel is the realistic warning about what might happens when an individual place themselves too highly among others, a message Hawthorne writes to warn against the fervor of transcendentalism of his time.

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Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist, Hester Prynne, committed adultery in the eyes of the Puritan society that surrounds her. She is convicted and punished through public humiliation, and is forced to wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ on her chest, as a constant reminder of her sin. Her adulterous lover, the beloved Reverend Dimmesdale, remains unknown to the townsfolk for the duration of the novel, leaving Hester’s isolation and loneliness to intensify. Throughout the novel, each character struggles with questions of identity in terms of self and public perception. Thus, Hawthorne uses symbolism and allegory in naming and identifying the characters to provide an insight into each character's personality to the reader enhancing the story.

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Hester's Adulteress In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Although the Puritans brand her as an “adulteress” through the scarlet letter, Hester resolutely integrates her sin into her life to prove that society has no influence over her, extolling the idea of rebellion and foreshadowing events in the novel. In a form of a metaphor, Hawthorne explains how Hester’s ignominy and sin were the “roots which she had struck into the soil”, causing her to permanently stay near the place of her great tragedy and not run away from her mistakes (Hawthorne 74). After Hester is publicly humiliated and required by the people of Boston to take on a badge of shame, her unwillingness to leave the harsh society may seem perplexing. She is not physically confined, and escaping New England would permit her to get rid of the letter and resume a

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Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

1405 Words | 6 Pages

It would have been impossible to guess that this bright and sunny apparition owed its existence to the shape of gloomy gray; or that a fancy, at once so gorgeous and so delicate as must have been requisite to contrive the child’s apparel, was the same that had achieved a task perhaps more difficult, in imparting so distinct a peculiarity to Hester’s simple robe. The dress, so proper was it to little Pearl, seemed an effluence, or inevitable development and outward manifestation of her character, no more to be separated from her than the many-hued brilliancy from a butterfly’s wing, or the painted glory from the leaf of a bright flower. As with these, so with the child; her garb was all of one idea with her nature (238). Pearl is decked out in this beautiful dress that describes her personality while Hester is just in a simple robe. Hester did this because she wanted Pearl to have a special dress that was perfect for her.

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Hester Prynne's Isolation In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

980 Words | 4 Pages

This sin is seen as an act of rebellion against the society that she lives in and she is quickly punished for stepping out of line. The first part of Hester’s punishment is being forced to stand upon the scaffold in the center of town with her infant daughter, giving the townsfolk an opportunity to critique her and gossip. At this moment, Hawthorne compares her to “...the image of Divine Maternity…something which should remind him, indeed, but only by contrast, of that sacred image of sinless motherhood, whose infant was to redeem the world. Here, there was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life, working such effect, that the world was only the darker for this woman’s beauty, and the more lost for the infant that she had borne” (Hawthorne 55). This comparison to the Virgin Mary is a sort of foreshadowing of Hester’s future, as she is turned away and shunned just like Mary is before the birth of christ.

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Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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“...that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself “ (Hawthorne 62). Using this letter to distinguish Hester as an adulterer for all to see, the colony sets her up to live a shameful and isolated life, never forgetting her sinful offense. The severity of the deed in the eyes of the Puritans is reflected by their harsh objection, which they voice while gossiping among themselves. A lady of the town even exclaims, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die...let the magistrates who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray” (60).

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Pearl, Hester and Dimmesdale best describe themselves when they are in the forest. As Pearl is in the forest, she notices that Nature is blocking her from getting to her mother because of the choice she has made. For Hester, she notices that nature is present and loves her when the scarlet letter is not present. Dimmesdale finds himself best when he is alone because he does not want others to explore and discover what he has been doing to himself. Throughout the story, Hawthorne used clues to let the reader know that Dimmesdale is torturing himself and performing many dangerous acts to punish himself because he sees what Hester is going through.

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Hester Prynne: A Romantic Hero

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist, Hester Prynne is a Romantic Hero. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester Prynne’s struggle in Colonial America after she is condemned by the Puritan society. She is sent to America by her husband, but he never returns, and Hester later conceives a child with the local minister. She is convicted with the crime of adultery, but refuses to identify the father, she is then forced to wear the Scarlet Letter. The novel captures her experience as she struggles to survive the guilt, sin, and revenge.

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