In the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne writes his main character, Hester Prynne, loosely based on the real life Puritan dissenter, Anne Hutchinson. However, although Hutchinson is the main inspiration for Prynne, Hawthorne also wrote his own personality into that of Hester Prynne, making her a sort of cross between the characters of Hawthorne and Hutchinson. When she first appears in the novel, Hester Prynne is being taken from the jailhouse to a raised scaffolding in the town square to start her punishment for committing adultery. Before her public humiliation begins, the governor and the clergy interrogate her to get the name of the man of whom she committed adultery. However, Hester, against the demands and appeals
…show more content…
However, Prynne isn’t a remade fictional version of Hutchinson as much as a character that’s loosely based on and shares a few characteristics with her. Hester Prynne and Anne Hutchinson are both seen as dissenters in their community and as problems to be taken care of. They both oppose, in one way or another, the religious shackles that have been put upon them based upon their sex. They are both treated as outcasts and are deemed dangerous to the structure and survival of the community. Prynne and Hutchinson have some similar characteristics, but they also have some differences that set them apart from each other. This is most notable in the way that they respond to their respective “crimes.” Hutchinson is loud and confrontational with her opposition to the crimes that she is accused of committing. Several times she calls for proof of the charges laid against her, though she is set in a loop of explanations and arguing to determine of which law she is in violation. In the end her brash attitude and confrontational demeanor are her downfall. In a final speech to the court, which she most likely intended to put down their arguments and cause them to yield, Hutchinson declares the words that she speaks and the doctrine she teaches to be given to her from God. According to the transcript of her court hearing, she claims that she receives them “[b]y the voice of his own spirit to [her] soul” (“Anne
However, Prynne isn’t a remade fictional version of Hutchinson as much as a character that’s loosely based on and shares a few characteristics with her. Hester Prynne and Anne Hutchinson are both seen as dissenters in their community and as problems to be taken care of. They both oppose, in one way or another, the religious shackles that have been put upon them based upon their sex. They are both treated as outcasts and are deemed dangerous to the structure and survival of the community. Prynne and Hutchinson have some similar characteristics, but they also have some differences that set them apart from each other. This is most notable in the way that they respond to their respective “crimes.” Hutchinson is loud and confrontational with her opposition to the crimes that she is accused of committing. Several times she calls for proof of the charges laid against her, though she is set in a loop of explanations and arguing to determine of which law she is in violation. In the end her brash attitude and confrontational demeanor are her downfall. In a final speech to the court, which she most likely intended to put down their arguments and cause them to yield, Hutchinson declares the words that she speaks and the doctrine she teaches to be given to her from God. According to the transcript of her court hearing, she claims that she receives them “[b]y the voice of his own spirit to [her] soul” (“Anne