Joseph Hall once said, “A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.” Even if one fixes his or her reputation, society will still remember the mistakes that led to one’s poor reputation, which suggests that people only concentrate on the negative aspects of others. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne focuses on the theme of reputation, which the aforementioned quote describes. In many parts of his novel, Hawthorne uses indirect characterization to bolster the idea that people tend to focus on the flaws of others even after they have been remedied because of how he depicts Puritan reaction to Hester and her sin.
Before Hester amends her reputation, …show more content…
Thus [Hester] will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone” (60-61). As a result of Chillingworth’s speech, Hawthorne introduces the idea that Hester’s scarlet letter will stay with her forever, implying that society will not be able to wipe her sin from their memories. The children of the Puritans, who “had imbibed from their parents a vague idea of something horrible” (82) in Hester, not only signified that they were obtaining knowledge regarding Hester’s sinful reputation, but also are part of the spreading of the ignominious nature of Hester’s identity. Through the actions of the Puritan children, Hawthorne indirectly characterizes them as ignorant and annoying: “They pursued her at a distance with shrill cries, and the utterance of a word that had no distinct purport to their own minds” (82). Children, like parrots, are known to repeat whatever they hear over a thousand times, especially if it was learned from their parents. Hawthorne utilizes this fact to his advantage to demonstrate that society will never …show more content…
Now that Hester does not “occupy precisely the same position in which we beheld her during the earlier periods of her ignominy” (156), it seems like Hester’s sin was all but forgotten by society, but that is not the case. Through her altruistic acts towards the members of Puritan society, Hester actually amplifies her sin. The thoughts of Puritan society such as the one where “many people refused to interpret the scarlet ‘A’ by its original significance” (158) openly acknowledges that Hester’s sin had, in point of time, existed. When one goes through the mental effort of trying to repress a memory, the opposite happens and that memory tends to be even stronger. During the scene in which Hester removes the scarlet letter from her breast, Hawthorne indirectly characterizes Pearl as rebellious through her speech. When Hester gives Pearl the command to “Bring [the scarlet letter] hither”, Pearl’s reply was “Come thou and take it up!” (207) Indeed, Pearl’s reply can mean that she wants to Hester to pick up the scarlet letter by herself. However, it can also represent how society has not and will not forget Hester’s sin since Pearl is forcing Hester to responsibility for her misdeed. So even if Hester tries to remove all traces of the sin from her physical
Before Hester amends her reputation, …show more content…
Thus [Hester] will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone” (60-61). As a result of Chillingworth’s speech, Hawthorne introduces the idea that Hester’s scarlet letter will stay with her forever, implying that society will not be able to wipe her sin from their memories. The children of the Puritans, who “had imbibed from their parents a vague idea of something horrible” (82) in Hester, not only signified that they were obtaining knowledge regarding Hester’s sinful reputation, but also are part of the spreading of the ignominious nature of Hester’s identity. Through the actions of the Puritan children, Hawthorne indirectly characterizes them as ignorant and annoying: “They pursued her at a distance with shrill cries, and the utterance of a word that had no distinct purport to their own minds” (82). Children, like parrots, are known to repeat whatever they hear over a thousand times, especially if it was learned from their parents. Hawthorne utilizes this fact to his advantage to demonstrate that society will never …show more content…
Now that Hester does not “occupy precisely the same position in which we beheld her during the earlier periods of her ignominy” (156), it seems like Hester’s sin was all but forgotten by society, but that is not the case. Through her altruistic acts towards the members of Puritan society, Hester actually amplifies her sin. The thoughts of Puritan society such as the one where “many people refused to interpret the scarlet ‘A’ by its original significance” (158) openly acknowledges that Hester’s sin had, in point of time, existed. When one goes through the mental effort of trying to repress a memory, the opposite happens and that memory tends to be even stronger. During the scene in which Hester removes the scarlet letter from her breast, Hawthorne indirectly characterizes Pearl as rebellious through her speech. When Hester gives Pearl the command to “Bring [the scarlet letter] hither”, Pearl’s reply was “Come thou and take it up!” (207) Indeed, Pearl’s reply can mean that she wants to Hester to pick up the scarlet letter by herself. However, it can also represent how society has not and will not forget Hester’s sin since Pearl is forcing Hester to responsibility for her misdeed. So even if Hester tries to remove all traces of the sin from her physical