Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne

She would invest much of her time in helping others that were less fortunate than she. The people she helped were often ungrateful and would bite the hand that fed them. ” Even though she would beautify the clothes of others, she preferred a sort of dress that looked mundane in it’s blandness. Hester’s selflessness and disposition while doing things for others without expecting something back from them showed her inner strength and mental toughness. She would never interact with those in town. All though she had slowly seen the effects of Chillingworth’s daily doings, it was only when she was mature and strong enough to realize what she had done that she could do the responsible thing by telling Dimsdale the truth. During the early chapters she seemed reckless, impulsive, and passionate which contrasts with the older, maturer, Hester that was more prudent and passionless to the extent of sometimes appearing emotionless. Almost everybody in town utilized her abilities for one thing or another: “Her needlework was seen on the ruff or the Governor; military men wore it on their scarfs, and the minister on his band; it decked the baby’s little cap; it was shut up, to be mildewed and moulder away, in the coffins of the dead. Even at her most crestfallen times she would persevere, just as she did the time governor nearly took Pearl from her.

Hester greatly matured throughout the chapters of the book. No matter what the situation she was neither descending nor condescended to anyone; she was incomparable to others and almost proud of it. Her community service and willingness to take her punishment without resistance may have mitigated severity with which the Bostonians perceived the scarlet letter in relation to her. ” Hester, however, never made anything that would cover the “pure blushes of a bride. When people would try to “accost” her she would look at them, touch the scarlet letter with her forefinger, then continue on her way.