Individualism In Scarlet Letter

In the "Scarlet Letter", written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the characters, Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth exhibits a plethora of examples of rugged individualism. Hester Prynne is an "inmate" of a puritan crime, that she committed as an adulteress. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, disappeared and his fate remained to be unknown. Hester Prynne believing he's gone for good, becomes involved with another man and then becomes pregnant with his baby. She now has to raise a child on her own, due to the paternal father not wanting to face his own embarrassment and disappointment to all the townspeople. You would assume that as a single mother, Hester would need an acceptable amount of outside help in order to raise her daughter successfully …show more content…
Instead of fleeing from her town and from her sinful actions, she decided to live in a small, seaside cottage on the outskirts of town. She sees no reason in fleeing, for everyone already knew and therefore she accepted her mistakes and was ready to live her life along with her daughter. She supports herself and her daughter, Pearl, without help from the government. Hester has the magnificent ability as a seamstress and is very well known for her sewing technique. She supports them through her skill, in which she produces beautiful work and sells it to the fine and fashionable women in town. Her work is in very high demand for clothing worn at official ceremonies, all except weddings. Hester does very well off on her own with her daughter Pearl along side her. "It was the art—then, as now, almost the only one within a woman's grasp—of needlework", this shows that she received a very good business as the only one and had a plan for her income for her and Pearl. This was a strong point of rugged individualism for Hester Prynne. On the other hand the government tried very hard to get in the way of Hester's marvelous success. The government leaders and townspeople, including governor Bellingham, felt as if Hester was not able to care of Pearl, and if Pearl indeed was an actual human child, they needed to find a more fit parent than Hester Prynne. They wanted someone else who would raise her without the poor example of her mother. On the other hand, they felt that if Pearl was the "demon child" that most people believed she was, she needed to be taken away from Hester for Hester's own safety, and in order for Hester to live her life sound. For example, in chapter seven, Bellingham states, " Were it not , thickest thou, for thy little one's temporal and eternal welfare that she be taken out of the charge, and clad