Scarlet Letter Paper: Effects of the Love Triangle on Hester
The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a tragic novel about the lives of those living in Puritan Boston in the late 17th century, especially the character Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne is a young, Puritan woman who has committed adultery and now will spend the rest of her life paying for her sin. The scarlet letter she must wear on her chest, the pain of raising a daughter by herself, and bearing the sin for Reverend Dimmesdale are all things she must face with help from no one. Hester Prynne truly was a remarkable woman who held her head high during tough times, and accepted her sin with little guilt. The early chapters of the novel suggest that prior to her marriage to Chillingworth, Hester was a strong-willed and reckless young woman. In one point she remembers that her parents were "loving guides" who frequently had to control her reckless behavior. Also Hester was unusually attractive for a Puritan woman. She was not the short, stubby plain Puritan-girl but in fact she was tall, slender, with beautiful dark hair. One cannot help to wonder why she married Chillingworth since she did not love him, but the fact that she had an affair shows that she once had a passionate nature. When the denizens of Boston discover
She constantly asks her mother questions about the letter, as well as questions about her relationship with Reverend Dimmesdale. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Even her daughter Pearl is forced to suffer the comments and mistreatment from the younger children who in fact do not understand why they are stigmatizing her. How evil can a child be toward her mother? In a way, Pearl is basically refusing to allow her mother to be happy, and she is saying that she doesn't want to share her mother with anybody else. At first it seems as if the sun refuses to shine on any part of Hester no matter where she is. " Having sacrificed herself for her child and her one-time lover, Hester became a "legend" and comes to stand for something much more. "The scarlet letter ceased to become 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, and yet with reverence, too. Lastly there is the fact that Hester has to bear the sin for the Reverend throughout the entire novel do to his selfish nature. He beats himself in penance and goes through long periods of starvation. In the scene in the forest where Hester rips off her letter 'A' and gains a sense of new-life, Pearl refuses to talk to her mother until she puts the letter back on her chest. After his death, she realizes that she in fact didn't really love Dimmesdale in the first place.
Common topics in this essay:
Chillingworth Hester,
Election Day,
Dimmesdale Hester,
Lastly Hester,
Pearl Motherthe,
Hester Prynne,
Europe Dimmesdale,
Prynne Puritan,
Despair Solitude,
Hester Pearl,
scarlet letter,
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reverend dimmesdale,
letter chest,
puritan woman,
help hester,
sin reverend,
letter 'a',
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