Hester is one of the main characters of the novel, and she makes a large change after the puritan community shuns her for committing adultery. Before her adultery, she had a defiant character and her own mother often had to help her control her personality. Even as she is coming out of the prison, Hawthorne describes her rejection of the town beadle by saying, “she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free-will” (36). This action signifies that she is more imagination minded rather than reason, as she is unwilling to work with a member of the puritan community. Her imagination is also shown in the scarlet letter itself, Hester made it extravagant and
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At the start of the novel, Dimmesdale is a very reason-based character. He is a serious character who is loved by the Puritan community; however, he is not as reason based as he is expected to be. He is the father of Pearl, and his relation to Pearl shows that at one point he was controlled by a more imaginative mind. The affair with Hester reveals that he has romanticism inside of him as it was a choice made on instinct, an important value to romantics. Despite this action of imagination, he still shows his reasonable mind by punishing himself for his actions with Hester. In order to purify himself, he tortured himself. Hawthorne says, “In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet … there was a bloody scourge. … It was his custom … to fast … until his knees trembled beneath him” (99). He whipped himself, fasted, and held vigils to pay for his sin that he committed. His actions were the opposite of Romantic values, as he was harming himself for a sin he made spontaneously. He continued to punish himself for what he did for over seven years, working his body to exhaustion. There is a time when he becomes imaginative once again, and it is after his meeting with Hester. After their meeting in the forest, Hawthorne describes the ministers actions, “he leaped across the plashy places, thrust himself through the clinging underbrush, climbed the ascent, plunged into the
At the start of the novel, Dimmesdale is a very reason-based character. He is a serious character who is loved by the Puritan community; however, he is not as reason based as he is expected to be. He is the father of Pearl, and his relation to Pearl shows that at one point he was controlled by a more imaginative mind. The affair with Hester reveals that he has romanticism inside of him as it was a choice made on instinct, an important value to romantics. Despite this action of imagination, he still shows his reasonable mind by punishing himself for his actions with Hester. In order to purify himself, he tortured himself. Hawthorne says, “In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet … there was a bloody scourge. … It was his custom … to fast … until his knees trembled beneath him” (99). He whipped himself, fasted, and held vigils to pay for his sin that he committed. His actions were the opposite of Romantic values, as he was harming himself for a sin he made spontaneously. He continued to punish himself for what he did for over seven years, working his body to exhaustion. There is a time when he becomes imaginative once again, and it is after his meeting with Hester. After their meeting in the forest, Hawthorne describes the ministers actions, “he leaped across the plashy places, thrust himself through the clinging underbrush, climbed the ascent, plunged into the