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Critical appresiation of the novel the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne
Scarlet letter hester character analysis
Scarlet letter hester character analysis
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The Scarlet Letter opens with Hester Prynne, a young woman who has committed adultery and is being punished. She is shown to be a proud, confident woman but is quickly forced to mature under the burden of public humiliation. Hester becomes an unhappy and bitter woman, her mind and body hardened by the stress of her punishment and her inability to forgive herself and move on. Throughout the story, she struggles to come to terms with what she has done and only when she finally does, can she return to her former happy, unburdened self and regain her former beauty. At the start of the novel, Hester has just received her sentencing for her crime of adultery.
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.
Hester’s loyalty caused the downfall of her co-conspirator, the collapse of town’s beliefs in the church, and while she never dies due to her fatal flaw, she never comes to terms with it and her devotion causes her happiness to depend upon others. At the heart of the issue, Hester’s life balances upon her devotion to others beyond herself. This trait rises to the surface when Chillingworth makes Hester promise she would never tell anyone that he was her husband: “Breathe not to any human soul that thou didst ever call me husband!” (71).
Scarlett Letter In the Scarlett Letter a book written by Nathaniel Hawthorne the main focus is about an adulteress, who has to wear a red letter A a.k.a the scarlett letter. So that being said the main character is Hester Prynne. Although she did have to wear the scarlett letter, that is not at all who she was; it didn 't define her. Hester Prynne cheated on her husband when he was said to be lost at sea.
Hester Prynne is the heroine of “The scarlet Letter”, and it is possible for us to fully sympathize with her because Through reading the text “The Scarlet Letter” we can find out Hester Prynne had a difficult life and had been suffering very much comparing to other characters because she handles her situation by keeping Dimmesdale a secret even under pressure refusing to let them take her daughter Pearl from her and not hiding from the public after her sin of adultery is revealed and she is punished. Though Hester Prynne does faced her situation better than the other characters it is still she who sufferers the most. The another reason which compel the reader to sympathize on Hester Prynne is because she had to under gone the worse consequences of her sin that she must live with her relationships and interactions with Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, and the way she deal with her sin and the results of it.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner. In the novel, Hawthorne portrays Hester as a strong, resilient woman, though the members of her community
She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but also the physical scarlet letter, a sign of shame, is shown as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece which
Hester is the main character in the book and she is forced to wear the red scarlet letter “A” which stands for her sin of adultery. Hawthorne narrates, “On the breast of her gown in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 59). This quote shows how the scarlet letter is evil and Hester's committing adultery is bad. The townspeople only see Hester as a bad person as she always has to wear the letter A around her bosom. Over time, Hester shows the townspeople that she is a good person by helping the sick, buying bread for the poor, and counseling men and women.
Hester had a baby that was not from her husband, which of course was wrong. She lied by not staying committed to her marriage and husband. Many people say she did wrong for committing a sin. “People say “said another, that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne
In the same way, she never give up because she was full of power and, she has a strong mind, overcoming the bad moments and believing in herself. Hester 's self-reliance and inner strength are further revealed in her defiance of the law and in her iron will during her confrontation with the governor of the colony. She has not fear, she doesn’t care in what others said, Hester focus on her daughter and her new life. Secondly, she had the sufficient value to
Hester represents a romantic future which Owen renounces to fulfill what he considers his destiny. When Owen comes to terms with his death, he is abandoning all hopes of a future with Hester. Furthermore, Hester acts as a sacrificial gift that Owen would have to lose in order to execute his predestined path. “AND THERE’S ALSO HESTER TO CONSIDER,” (340). Owen knew death was foreordained, although he wanted to take pleasure in what time he had left.
Feminism is the philosophy advocating equal political, economic, and social rights for women. The idea of feminism was not at all prevalent during the 1850s when Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was published. In spite of this, Hawthorne wrote one of the most influential feminist novels of his time: The Scarlet Letter. This novel was hailed as an important feminist novel because of the main character: Hester Prynne.
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.
The pursuit of Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter The scarlet letter is the most outstanding representative of American novelist Hawthorne and one of the most prestigious works of authority in American romantic fiction. Since its introduction in 1850, it has caused a great sensation worldwide.
Hester Prynne, the Worst Sinner Three different people, all with different stories but all have something in common; they’re all sinners but the question is who is the biggest sinner? In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many characters are portrayed as sinners like Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth. But overall the biggest sinner in the story was Hester Prynne and there are many reasons for it. Obviously the reason for the scarlet letter, she was an adulteress. Hester caused many problems with people in the town including the most holy man Dimmesdale and a man that should've never been involved, Chillingworth.
