The Scarlet Lever: Hester's Civil Disobedience

In Michael Pringle’s essay, “The Scarlet Lever: Hester’s Civil Disobedience”, Pringle argues that in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester uses the scarlet “A” to empower her individual self against the Puritan magistrates. Using Henry David Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government”, Pringle elaborates on the significance of the scarlet letter, and prove it to be a symbol of Hester’s defiance within her community. After reading the article, it is confirmed that Hester’s embroidered “A” allows her to see Boston’s oppressive authority and gives her a foundation to resist this domineering power. With this resistance, she carves out her place in society and plays a role that defies what the magistrates had planned. In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester’s scarlet “A” originally revealed the absolute power of the Boston dignitaries. They were the moral and legal authority of the Puritans, and their decree was the irrefutable law of the community. With this total control, the magistrates defined the scarlet “A” to represent adultery, publicly labeling Hester as an adulteress. “[T]hat SCARLET LETTER . . . had the effect of a spell, taking her out of …show more content…
Rather than an embodiment of sin and its consequences, Hester becomes a symbol of strength. Because of her resistance, she is able to move on from her sin and help others with their own transgressions. As Hawthorne describes, “Such helpfulness was found in her – so much power to do, and power to sympathize – that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (171). Hester’s strong defiance redefined the scarlet letter for herself as well as the Puritan community. The citizens no longer looked at her with contempt, but rather as a symbol of strength and a comforter within their strict and grim