Powell 1 Samuel Powell Mrs.
Minton LNG 331 15 November 2012 Insert Title Here Nathaniel Hawthorne based his book The Scarlet Letter on the puritan era and off of their beliefs. The main character, Hester Prynne, moves to an area outside of Boston without her husband, who said he would meet her there. Hester eventually grows tired of waiting and has an affair by which she gets pregnant. Because she was still legally married, this was a crime based on puritan law. She serves time in jail and when she is let free, she has to wear a scarlet A on her chest as punishment for her sin. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is remorseful of her scarlet letter, which signifies her sin and suggests the amoral act resulting in her daughter, Pearl. Toward the middle of the novel however Hester starts to think of the stigma as a learning experience by which she can teach her daughter. At the end of the novel, Hester shows no regret of the scarlet letter and is fully behind her choice and her daughter. In the beginning of the novel, Hester feels as if the scarlet letter defines her, and she is remorseful of her act. Hester is very aware of what other people think and knows others judge her at first glance when they see the scarlet A. Another peculiar torture was felt in the gaze of a new eye (80). She believes that people dont accept her and that they shun her because of her mistake. Hester understands that she will have to live with her sin in a very public way, she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. Yes! -
Powell 2 these were her realities - all else had vanished (54)! There was no escaping the punishment that was bestowed upon her. Man had marked this womans sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human had sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful like herself (83). Hester slowly begins to accept her fate with time. Hester tries to use what had happened for something good. During her meeting with Governor Bellingham, Hester states I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this (103)! She continues this badge hath taught it daily teaches me it is teaching me at this moment lessons whereof my child may be the wiser and better, albeit they can profit nothing to myself (104). Hester sees this as an opportunity to teach her daughter so that she can learn from her mothers mistakes. Furthermore, Hester Prynne was able to reach out and help others in spite of, or perhaps because of, her iniquity. Her benevolence was so ardent that many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter A by its original signification. They said it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a womans strength (155). Eventually Hester comes to the realization that the scarlet A has been an important and even necessary part of her life. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread (197). The scarlet letter set her free (197) and gave her insight into to life that she would not have otherwise received. When given the opportunity to discard the symbol of her shame she undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves (199). Hester begins to understand the true power of the letter. Towards the end of her life, Hester continues to wear the letter even though no court makes her do so the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the worlds scorn and bitterness,
Powell 3 and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too. And as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities and besought her counsel, as a one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble (260). Hesters experience with the scarlet letter made her wise and helpful to others who experience similar troubles.
