Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

In The scarlet Letter, the main character , Hester Prynne, is viewed as a disappointment to women because of the mistake she made of adultery. Because of the patriarchal laws and morals that at that time were established, Hester had a very difficult time living after being ashamed in front of the whole town. She then became alienated, but she found ways to overcome the harsh criticism and rejection that she felt. She became a winner by standing up to those patriarchal laws by becoming independent, and by asking for forgiveness for hiding the truth of her husband. While living with Patriarchal laws Hester was able to stand up to these laws by being able to be independent and raise her child Pearl by herself. She started to gain her own money, for “she possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her infant and herself” (74). She was able to provide food and shelter to herself and infant by working and earning her own money without the support of a man. This showed her being independent because in a …show more content…
As she said, “forgive me! In all thing else, I have striven to be true!” (169). She was able to ask forgiveness as she confessed “ that old man! - The physician !-He whom they call Roger Chillingworth- he was my husband!” (169). Hester, being already alienated, criticized and ashamed, asked for forgiveness which is an act that many people could not have done. She was a winner at asking forgiveness because she overcame the embarrassment that she had because she had kept that secret while she knew the intentions of Dimmesdale toward Chillingworth were. As Dimmesdale became obsessive at finding if Chillingworth was Pearl’s father that instead of doing his job as a doctor, he just became obsessive over