Hester's Humiliation in The Scarlet Letter
How much punishment and tourture can one withstand, especially when it's mental punishment instead of physical? Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery which has led her to a life of isolation and ridicule. She is branded and made to wear the scarlet letter A on the chest of her dress for the rest of her life. Her daughter will never get to play with the rest of the children. The scaffold, however, is the biggest burden. She has to stand in front of the crowd and watch them gossip and talk about her before she goes back into the prison. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne shows her humiliation through the setting and her reaction to the crowd.
Several words can be drawn from this section to help show Hester's embarassment. It says that she stood "fully revealed before the crowd" and she clasped the infant. This was part of Hester's punishment. She is made to stand on the scaffold and be ridiculed by the crowd and preachers. There is nowhere to hide because everyone can see her and see her sin and so she is fully revealed. The clasping of the infant can be at first thought of as a mother protecting her child. However, it is then shown how she tries to hide one sin with another token of her sin. Her reaction to the crowd was very suprising as she realized there was no point in hiding from her sin anymore.
Hester showed extreme strength and courage when she takes the child away. A deep impression of her courage is felt when her face was described. The book said she had a "burning blush and ahaughty smile." This can alsoshow her as being rebelliousbecause most perople wouldn't raise their head, much less with a haughty smile. The glance she gave the crowd was what put it over the top. She was being bold and it was like she was saying, "Look you can't punish me anymore I've served my time." Though her crime was very wrong, admiration is felt due to her braveness. Then the people saw her A and how elaborately it was decorated.
Reading the Scarlet Letter reminds me of one of my own experience. When I was a fifth grade elementary student, two of my friends and I agreed to cheat on a geography test. On the day of the test, one of my friends was caught. The teacher found the cheat sheet where it showed the handwriting of the three of us. When he was asked who the other two is, he remained silent. The teacher said that he will be punished, standing in the corner of the classroom for one straight week, and it will be lighter if only he told our name. My friend still did not say a word, so he received the punishment. What he did was similar to what Hester Prynne does. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is portrayed as a woman with remarkable strength of character through direct and indirect characterization.
Hester, the wearer of the scarlet letter, is now facing public humiliation upon the scaffold in front of the whole community. Hester spots a man, a stranger standing in the crowd. Is he really a stranger? The way Hester and the man exchange looks, there's evidently a connection between them. Hawthorne uses figurative language devices to show the emotions the stranger has when he spots Hester. While standing on the scaffold, Hester emulates the sin that she committed and the horror that this stranger is feeling when he shows up. Hester’s life is now converging her new life, advancing the plot through the meeting of her husband upon standing at the podium. This critical event in Hester’s life advances the plot by introducing her husband, as we later learn is Roger chillingworth, creating a new conflicts.
The most obvious subject of punishment that Hester had to cope with is wearing the scarlet letter. "By the point which drew all eyes and, as it were, transfigured the wearer. . . was the scarlet letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom" (51-52). Hester wrought the scarlet letter before she stood on the scaffold. When Pearl asks her why she wears the letter she replies that she wears it for its gold thread. Hester wears the letter for many years, even after the people in the community care anymore, so that she will be fully forgiven for her sin.
No one is perfect. Especially when it comes to parenting. Even Book characters have trouble being good parents. One example of this is Hester Prynne. She is a book character for the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Now, Hester is not the worst mother, but she is not the best either. How can you be the best mother in the world with a heathenish daughter like Pearl? Still, Hester does her best, and that's all anyone should ask for. Hester is a good mother because she looks out for Pearl's future, she knows when to be stern and she is a great role model.
with. Having a heart blinded by love Hester choose to stay in the town and
The events that take place during Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 5 are
free from the laws and regulations made by the king of England. In the new
Act 3, scene 5 is a vital scene in the play, as it shows how the
opinions in Act 1, Scene 2. The aim of this is to build the suspense
One of Hester’s greatest qualities is her unrelenting selflessness. Despite her constant mental anguish due to her sin, the constant stares and rude comments, and the
In the beginning of the written story the author reveals Hester to be a cold-hearted mother. "She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them"(75). In public she is thought of as the perfect mother, but in private she and her children know her true feelings. "Everyone else said of her: 'She is such a good mother. She adores her children.' Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes"(75). Heste...
Hester’s principal qualities of strength and honesty are revealed throughout the novel. Her strength is seen in her actions after her sin is revealed. Foremost, she thinks of her adultery as an act committed out of passion and denies the belief that man’s nature is corrupt
As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.
The "human tenderness" Hester exerts shows how she did not care what the Puritans thought and acted. Her sin is also an example of her independence; Hester acted on her feelings and didn’t allow the Puritan’s views to interfere with her emotions.
Act 5 Scene 3 because the death of the two people is really sad and it