Nowadays, many in the United States would feel it was ridiculous for someone to be publicly tried and punished for committing adultery; that it is a personal matter which people should confront amongst themselves, not with a court. This has not always been the case, however, as shown through The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a story of sin and love in a small Puritan town in the 1600s. Hester Prynne is put to trial for committing adultery, having a child with another man whilst her husband was away for multiple years. As her punishment, she is instructed to wear a large letter ‘A’ upon her bosom until her last breath. In the Scarlet Letter, the letter A Hester bears upon her bosom begins as a representation of Hester’s shame, but ultimately
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On page 139, Hawthorne writes, “Hester Prynne did not now occupy precisely the same position in which we beheld her during the earlier periods of her ignominy...the scarlet letter on her breast, ...had long been a familiar object to the townspeople”. Hester’s life has changed a lot from the beginning of the story when she is first punished. She had become a “familiar object” to the small Puritan village, signifying that she was most likely under much less public scrutiny than she was once under. Most people knew her by then, and she just became another woman who sinned once upon a time that wasn’t worth paying much attention to. Hester also began to feel grateful of the letter on page 174 , when she thinks to herself, “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! ...they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss”. Hester is appreciative of the fact that through the hardships and isolation from society that the scarlet letter caused her to suffer, she became stronger. She learned how harsh society could be, and how quickly people could turn on you, even people you barely knew would judge and scrutinize you. She experienced emotions she may have never dealt with otherwise, like “shame”, “despair”, and “solitude”. The average woman in their Puritan settlement will mostly likely never get to …show more content…
It is recorded that she, “...resumed of her own free will… the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale. Never afterwards did it quit her bosom.” Even after disappearing for many years, the letter was still a part of Hester’s identity, and so she did not fail to continue wearing it, surprising many in the community. On the same page, Hawthorne goes on to write, “But… the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too”. This sums up the idea that the letter’s meaning truly changed throughout the story, from a symbol of shame to one of identity. Hester became someone who was looked at with “reverence”, meaning that she was deeply respected as well as “sorrowed over”. Despite how she started out, people came to respect her for putting up with the letter for so long, and perhaps pitied her loss of the man she truly loved, as well as the life she once knew. In the Scarlet Letter, not only did the symbol change, but Hester changed as
On page 139, Hawthorne writes, “Hester Prynne did not now occupy precisely the same position in which we beheld her during the earlier periods of her ignominy...the scarlet letter on her breast, ...had long been a familiar object to the townspeople”. Hester’s life has changed a lot from the beginning of the story when she is first punished. She had become a “familiar object” to the small Puritan village, signifying that she was most likely under much less public scrutiny than she was once under. Most people knew her by then, and she just became another woman who sinned once upon a time that wasn’t worth paying much attention to. Hester also began to feel grateful of the letter on page 174 , when she thinks to herself, “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! ...they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss”. Hester is appreciative of the fact that through the hardships and isolation from society that the scarlet letter caused her to suffer, she became stronger. She learned how harsh society could be, and how quickly people could turn on you, even people you barely knew would judge and scrutinize you. She experienced emotions she may have never dealt with otherwise, like “shame”, “despair”, and “solitude”. The average woman in their Puritan settlement will mostly likely never get to …show more content…
It is recorded that she, “...resumed of her own free will… the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale. Never afterwards did it quit her bosom.” Even after disappearing for many years, the letter was still a part of Hester’s identity, and so she did not fail to continue wearing it, surprising many in the community. On the same page, Hawthorne goes on to write, “But… the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too”. This sums up the idea that the letter’s meaning truly changed throughout the story, from a symbol of shame to one of identity. Hester became someone who was looked at with “reverence”, meaning that she was deeply respected as well as “sorrowed over”. Despite how she started out, people came to respect her for putting up with the letter for so long, and perhaps pitied her loss of the man she truly loved, as well as the life she once knew. In the Scarlet Letter, not only did the symbol change, but Hester changed as