Scarlet Letter-Hester
Hester Prynne, goes through many changes throughout the novel. When we first see Hester she is standing before the community on the scaffold. Although she is being punished Hester holds her head up high and proud. Hester is beautiful and graceful. She appears as if nothing wrong, as if she we chosen to appear before the people, rather then it being a punishment. She stands boldly before the crowd being questioned by Dimmesdale, but refuses to answer his inquires. She also appears somewhat defiant not only to the Puritan values which she
Hester is constantly reminded of her shame through the demeaning looks she receives. It appears that Hester has learned her lesson and changed her ways. This letter has become a part of her, it keeps Hester strong. She admits that Pearl is her torture. The shame that was attached to the letter is now gone. Ironically the letter is supposed to teach Hester not to sin, yet she often lies to Pearl. She turns inward to herself because of her isolation. She lives by her own rules and doesn't care what others think of her, and in a society so adherent to the rules this makes her an outcast. She wears the letter A more as an adornment than as a burden, for it is beautifully stitched in scarlet and gold threads. She goes through the beginning of her changes after she is released from prison and is living in the cottage. Her beauty from days long ago, seems to be restored with this act. She appears to have lost her "spark" about her. fails to yield to but in the intricacy and lavishness of her clothes. Hester has become a protofeminist mother like figure to the women of the community.
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