Hester's Heroinism in The Scarlet Letter

Thinking of books read in most schools across the nation, most of the heroes in the stories are male. Sure, within the last couple of decades women heroes are starting to show up more but the history of writing contains male heroes. The “damsel in distress” who is saved by her “knight in shining armor” seems to have been a theme in most stories. Nathaniel Hawthorne strayed from this redundant theme in his story The Scarlet Letter. There are many different opinions as to what the main story, motive, or point of The Scarlet Letter is. Some believe it is about sin and adultery. Some contest it is about love. Others state Hawthorne was commenting on the laws of the Puritan communities. All of these may be correct. Hawthorne himself may not be able to tell a person the exact point of his story, but that is the beauty of it. The reader can decide for him or herself. I have read The Scarlet Letter a few times and every time I am left feeling empowered by the character of Hester Prynne. She is the hero, or heroine, of this story in more than just a single way.

Before diving into why Hester is a heroine, some discussion is needed on feminism. Hawthorne wrote in a biography

Whitman. London: Oxford University Press, 1941.

Some critics of Hawthorne say that he overdid symbolism. Henry James says, “It is overdone at times, and becomes mechanical” (89). This may be true, but one symbol that is not overdone and is actually under considered is that of Hester as a heroine. The Scarlet Letter was brilliantly written, and without knowing it Hawthorne is still influencing writers to this day. Females are being portrayed as the heroine more and more as each decade passes by. Hawthorne created in Hester a woman who sins, faces her consequences with strength and courage, remains a doer a good, and in the end becomes admired by the people who made her an outcast in the first place. If this is not one of the best comeback stories ever then I do not know what is. Hester’s selflessness is a quality all people, not just women, should emulate. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary on-line defines a heroine as “a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities.” Hester could be included in the definition as an example. The last heroic act one could imagine that Hester did was to save Pearl from the legacy of the scarlet letter and instead left it behind for someone (Hawthorne) to find so that people could know of her story and continue to advocate for bringing the world to a point of equality.

Some critics of Hawthorne say that he overdid symbolism. Henry James says, “It is overdone at times, and becomes mechanical” (89). This may be true, but one symbol that is not overdone and is actually under considered is that of Hester as a heroine. The Scarlet Letter was brilliantly written, and without knowing it Hawthorne is still influencing writers to this day. Females are being portrayed as the heroine more and more as each decade passes by. Hawthorne created in Hester a woman who sins, faces her consequences with strength and courage, remains a doer a good, and in the end becomes admired by the people who made her an outcast in the first place. If this is not one of the best comeback stories ever then I do not know what is. Hester’s selflessness is a quality all people, not just women, should emulate. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary on-line defines a heroine as “a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities.” Hester could be included in the definition as an example. The last heroic act one could imagine that Hester did was to save Pearl from the legacy of the scarlet letter and instead left it behind for someone (Hawthorne) to find so that people could know of her story and continue to advocate for bringing the world to a point of equality.

Hester Prynne proves her heroinism more than once in the tale of The Scarlet Letter and to more than one person. Take Pearl for example. Despite being troublesome and quite a handful, Hester manages to give Pearl what most girls at her time never caught a glimpse of…the freedom to be herself. Without her mother’s unselfish love Pearl may not have lived the life she did. If she had been turned over to the magistrates of the town as suggested in The Scarlet Letter, Pearl’s intellect and imagination may have been suffocated but the Puritan beliefs. Another way Hester is a heroine to Pearl is evident in the scene in the forest where Dimmesdale and Hester meet. While talking with Dimmesdale Hester casts away the scarlet letter and “by another impulse, she took off the formal cap that confined her hair; and down it fell upon her shoulders…[t]here played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood” (Hawthorne, 160). For once during the seven years that the tale takes place Hester embraces her womanhood again, but this is cut short as Pearl cannot handle what she sees. The child “burst into a fit of passion, gesticulating violently, and throwing her small figure into the most extravagant contortions” (Hawthor

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