Hester Prynne and Abigail Williams
Hester Prynne and Abigail Williams The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about a young women named Hester Prynne who is forced to bear a scarlet A on her breast for commiting the sin of adultury. For violating the strict puritian religion, she is isolated from society, with the product of her sin, her daughter Pearl. She is greatly critizised and humiliated by the townspeople. Hester did not commit the sin alone, but her lover is at fault as well. He remains silent until guilt takes over him and makes him confess right before his death. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a play based on The Salem Witch Trials of Boston Massachussetts. A group of girls, led by Abigail Williams, are accused of witchery, and do all they can to distract the adults attention from them. Through their lies, many inocent people are killed unjustly. Abigail 's main reason for lying is because she wants John Proctor 's wife dead. When Abigail worked for them, they had a secret affair and now Abigail wants him all to herself. Although these two works of literature evedentilly share many differences, they are alike in the conflict, time period, and most importantly, the character 's identities and certain personality traits. Hester Prynne is portrayed as a quiet, shy and conserved young woman. She does not share her personal thoughts and feelings with others, and keeps most of her personal life to herself. Hester recognizes her sin and the scarlet A as part of her new way of life although the town 's critisisms still scared Herster. She has also been known to do good deeds even when she is released from prison and goes and lives in the outskirts of Boston. She ties to cover up her lonelyness by participating in charity work but she only gets insults from the people she tries to help and ctitisism from the poor people she makes clothing for. Hester also feared society and thought that it was something to be avoided. She disliked it because of the judgements and torment
Bibliography: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Fine Creative Media, Inc., 2003 Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: the Penguin Group, 1995.