Hester Prynnes Evolution Thoughout the Scarlet Letter
The character Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter first appears as a beautiful and defiant young woman, but as the story progresses Hester matures and becomes devoted and strong. The story is set in the early Puritanical colony of Boston. Hester Prynne is charged with the crime and sin of adultery, bears an illegitimate child, is made to stand on a scaffold to be publicly ostracized, and made to wear a scarlet A on her chest for the rest of her existence. Through this punishment Hester continually gives the impression that she is dispassionate, shameless, and even haughty. However after several years have passed Hester is secluded from the village and ordinary people but becomes an extremely valuable asset to the village and a compassionate aid to people less fortunate than herself. Finally Hester metamorphoses into a strong loving individual who helps others lean to accept their guilt and confess. Hester Prynne evolves through out the novel and is able to face situations and trails in her life that challenge the moral foundations of her society. The young Hester Prynne had committed the act of adultery and received her pu
Hester progresses from being defiant to wise and strong in her life consisting of many trials. Nathaniel Hawthorne gives an excellent example of how people mature and change and how their life experiences affect them. Hester’s experiences made her appear as an arrogant sinner in the face of her condemers, then a humble and able donor to the colony, and finally the daring, wise, and empowered woman who accompanied her fellow sinner to his confession. Hester’s letter also changed in meaning, it was first a sign of an adulteress, then of an able woman, and finally “the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too.” (238-39) The prevailing message of this novel is that people change over time due to their situations, the people around them, and the things they have experienced. nishment with defiance and haughty pride. Hester first appears in the story emerging from her jail cell with her bastard child, at first she clutches the child to conceal the A on her chest but then “In a moment, however, wisely
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Approximate Word count = 785
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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