... cares for the poor and brings them food and clothing. By the end of the novel the "a" changed meanings from adultery to able. The shame attached to her scarlet letter is long gone. Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester is portrayed as an intelligent, capable, but not necessarily extraordinary woman. It is the extraordinary circumstances shaping her that make her such an important figure. Dimmesdale ... , Dimmesdale has an unusually active conscience. The fact that Hester takes all of the blame for their shared sin goads his conscience, and his resultant mental anguish and physical weaknes...

• Word Count: 968
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... is a women living in seventeenth-century New England. She is convicted of committing adultery. At the beginning of the novel, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter, A, on her dress as a sign of her guilt. She steadfastly refuses to reveal the identity of her adulterous partner. However, her husband eventually realizes who ... who is portrayed as the one to blame for his "fall." In the novel, the public confession of her lover, Dimmesdale, the "sinful" priest seems to absolve him of his sins by making such a public confession. The same is not true for Hester. She is doomed at the end...

• Word Count: 1505
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate