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…
After being accused of adultery, Hester Prynne is given a letter A to display on her chest, representing the sinful crime she has done. Hester does not merely put up with the letter but actually accepts it and overpowers all the stigma associated with it. Hester is able to transform herself for the better. She creates a new life for herself different to what society thinks of her.…
Not once did Hester ever refuse her punishment, but she tolerated the humiliation that went along with it. On the day of her public shunning, she stood on the scaffold holding Pearl in her arms with the scarlet letter “A” on her chest without crying or trying to hide. She wore the embroidered “A” for the rest of her life as if the only one who could possibly erase it was God himself. She knew what she did was wrong; she didn’t need anyone to tell her that. She even dressed Pearl in clothes to symbolize a visual image of the scarlet letter so she could repeatedly remind herself of what she had done.…
She becomes an outcast and has to wear the letter ‘A’ on her chest. ”In this manner, Hester Prynne came to have a part to perform in the world. With her native energy of character and rare capacity, it could not entirely cast her off, although it had set a mark upon her more intolerable to a woman's heart than that which branded the brow of Cain.” Luckily, Hester’s sin did not completely isolate her; she was able to adopt because of her…
Hester sinned greatly, and with so much guilt and shame, she cannot help Pearl with her problems until she figures out how to solve her own. In fact, Pearl is the essence of Hester's shame – from her immoral origin to her passionate behavior. Additionally, Pearl tortures Hester. Hester testifies to this herself: Pearl is an agonizing reminder of her wicked passion, and Hester cannot bring herself to discipline Pearl. With all this guilt inside and around Hester and with Pearl’s behavior toward Hester’s weakness, Hester is unable to raise Pearl…
First, Hester's punishment is enough because she feels ashamed that she has to wear the letter "A" on her chest .She feels ashamed that she committed adultery. " As if it meant for no other reason than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast." ( Hawthorne pg. #65 ). Hester believes…
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter has received a variety of reviews over it's existence. Most of these reviews, criticizing the main character Hester Prynne. One critic, Mark Van Doren’s use of literary devices to great effect to describe Prynne. These include praising diction, an enduring tone, and heroic allusion help him illustrate Hester Prynne as as strong, rugged woman. Van Doren’s use of praising diction helps the reader envision the likes of Hester Prynne, a character who develops throughout the length of the novel.…
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…
Her daughter, Pearl, is constantly being picked on by the other children, “ Behold, verily, there is the women of the scarlet letter; and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them” (Hawthorne 88). The worse part being they learned it from their parents. The parents of these children and the adults of the community often refer to Pearl as a devil child “She remembered-betwixt a smile and a shudder-the talk of the neighbouring townspeople; who, seeking vainly elsewhere for the child's paternity, and observing some of her odd attributes, had given out that little Pearl was a demon offspring; such as, ever since old Catholic times, had occasionally been seen on earth, through the agency of their mother’s sin, and to promote some foul and wicked purpose”(Hawthorne 85). Therefore, no one wants to be around Pearl due to the close association with Hester.…
She had to be a victim of judgment for the rest of her life. Hester had to wear the Scarlet Letter, which signified the crime she had committed. Attaching this stigma to Hester restricted her freedom in the new world. Hester Prynne felt that “It [the scarlet letter] had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorn 37.) The scarlet letter restrained her ability to be truly free.…
Hester Prynne’s triumph over her punishment is deemed to be bittersweet; Hester allowed the punishment to tragically alter all the qualities that make her a woman and continued to punish herself even upon death, however;…
The townspeople react to her sin and punishment with cutting remarks such as, “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. Madame Hester would have winced at that, I warrant me” (59-60). Hester had to endure her public shaming and remarks like this which seems like a horrible punishment that one would try to avoid. The scarlet letter was supposed to cause people to remember her sin every time they looked at her. However, after a while the townspeople started to forget the meaning of the letter.…
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the story of Hester Prynne overcoming her sin, shame, and isolation from Puritan society. The novel is prefaced by “the Custom House” which introduces the narrator and tells of how he came to find the scarlet letter. Hester’s story begins with her leaving the Boston jail where she was imprisoned for adultery. She is forced to stand on a scaffold in the middle of town while holding her child Pearl so everyone can see her ignominy. While on the scaffold, Hester is begged by the young Reverend Dimmesdale to tell the town who the child’s father is so he can share her punishment but Hester refuses.…
→ 1. AGREE or DISAGREE: Hawthorne made it clear that, by the end of the book, the Puritans had learned something from Hester’s punishment. Why or why not? I firmly believe that in his novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne developed the idea that the Puritans had not learned something from Hester 's punishment. The first method that Hawthorne employed to build the concept that the Puritans had not learned something from Hester 's punishment was to describe how the Puritans began to readmit Hester in their society.…
1. The sin Hester Prynne commits is adultery, one of the gravest sins a person could commit in the 17th century puritan society of New England. Hester’s immediate punishment is that she has to wear the scarlet letter, and face the social ridicule that comes with it. Hester will never be able to blend in with the society around her, and instead be required to bear the consequences of her sin at all times. Hester, being cut off from mainstream society moves in to a small cottage outside of town.…