This passage from the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the narrator's opinions and attitude toward Hester Prynne and women in general. By analyzing Hawthorne's use on language and rhetorical devices, we can establish that the narrator holds women in high esteem. The reasoning behind the narrator's admiration of women is found within the passage, in which he concludes that women are powerful and strong and deserve to be respected.
             It is evident from the passage that the narrator expresses that women are powerful and strong. The narrator explains that women are strong by using Hester as a model. Hester has been through being branded with the scarlet letter, "All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand, and long ago fallen away..." (40). Although having to live though the torment of this ordeal she still pushed on and lived her life as she deemed fit. The narrator then goes on to say "If she survive the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or – and the outward semblance the same, -- crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more." (30). However with strength Hester does survive and still retains her tenderness through her compassion for the poor and her love for Arthur Dimmesdale.
             The narrator also expounds on the effects of Hester's isolation by the Puritan community. As a result of the seclusion of Hester, Hester changes not only mentally, but also physically. The narrator goes on to describe Hester's rigid change in clothing and diminishing manner, more specifically he writes, "It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and luxuriant hair had been either cut off, or was completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it was ever once gushed into the sunshine."(13). The narrator tries to convey that women are beautiful and it is a shame Hester has to ...