Scarlet Letter Essay: Hester's Identity
Hesterś Identity Hester Prynne wears the letter as a way to express her sin to the Puritans. Hester had committed adultery with Dimmesdale, the town minister, and was caught. Instead of getting the death penalty, Hester’s punishment was propagated by being forced to wear a scarlet letter on her chest and stand on the scaffold for three hours. She also gives birth to Pearl, who is saw as a wild child to the Puritans. In the novel, ¨The Scarlet Letter¨, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the relationship between the letter and her identity by showing the reader how much the letter means to Hester. He does this through Hester continuing to wear the scarlet letter as a way to become an individual, the Puritans symbolizing the letter to sin and Hester
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Puritanism is a strict, “pristine” religion and the Puritans do not believe in anything that is against their religion. The Puritans were especially against adultery and when Hester committed it, they were very displeased with her. The citizens in the community had an enmity for Hester, because of what she had done. When they found out, they had punished Hester by making her wear the scarlet letter. In chapter two it states, “‘At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. But she,--the naughty baggage,--little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown!”(pg. 49). Here, the reader can see that the men and women in the story do not like what Hester has done. It was a sinful act and it went against their religion. They felt that Hester should have had a worse punishment than what they had given her. But they know that whatever they do to her, Hester is not going to care and will go with it. When Hester came out with the letter looking very elegant, it had angered the citizens because it was supposed to symbol sin and adultery, but Hester made it out to be that she was proud of it by making the letter look like that. This step helped Hester become more of an
Puritanism is a strict, “pristine” religion and the Puritans do not believe in anything that is against their religion. The Puritans were especially against adultery and when Hester committed it, they were very displeased with her. The citizens in the community had an enmity for Hester, because of what she had done. When they found out, they had punished Hester by making her wear the scarlet letter. In chapter two it states, “‘At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. But she,--the naughty baggage,--little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown!”(pg. 49). Here, the reader can see that the men and women in the story do not like what Hester has done. It was a sinful act and it went against their religion. They felt that Hester should have had a worse punishment than what they had given her. But they know that whatever they do to her, Hester is not going to care and will go with it. When Hester came out with the letter looking very elegant, it had angered the citizens because it was supposed to symbol sin and adultery, but Hester made it out to be that she was proud of it by making the letter look like that. This step helped Hester become more of an