Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, no character more perfectly embodies the tension between the individual community than Hester Prynne. Alienated from her community, Hester must raise her child outside the reach of society. Her interactions with others are rare, and she must be practically self-sufficient. Forsaken by her community, Hester is forced to grow as a person in her abilities and her independence. In Puritan communities, punishments for sin are harsh, and Hester knew exactly what the consequences might be when she consented to have her affair. What resulted from her complicity in sin was the worst possible outcome: pregnancy. With her husband away in Europe, it was at once clear to the Puritan community that her child was conceived adulterously. For this reason, Hester is condemned to wear the scarlet A. The A serves a dual purpose as both a constant reminder of her sin and as an emblem of her dissociation with society. Glaringly, her blemish merits scorn from her peers, and nothing Hester can do can remove what she has done. The mark of the A permanently severs her connection to the whole of Puritan …show more content…
The narrator describes Pearl as being impish and fairy-like. In part, these qualities result from Pearl’s upbringing. Raised by a single mother apart from society, Pearl finds herself at a social disadvantage. She is unable to properly socialize with the other children because of her mother’s past and the circumstances of her own birth. The townspeople mock and revile her mother, even speculating that Pearl’s real father is the devil himself. Because the adulterous affair which caused her birth was sinful, Pearl will forever be viewed as the product of sin by Puritans. While one might be able to justify removing Hester from the community, it is difficult to defend the society’s shunning of Pearl. While Pearl is innocent of sin, the townspeople, however unfairly, associate her with the actions of her