Identity In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Identity is classified as the conception, qualities, beliefs, and expressions that make the individuality of a human being. In Massachusetts during the seventeenth century, Hester Prynne is a Puritan woman who is charged with adultery in a hypocritical and judgmental town. After spending her entire pregnancy imprisoned in the local jail, Hester emerges from the prison door with a three month old baby in her hands, and stands on the scaffold to be judged. Therefore, because of her crime of adultery, she must wear a bright crimson ‘A’ on her chest and learn from her sins. Hester refuses to reveal the father of the child, and is shunned from the small society. In the novel“The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester`s identity

At any point Hester could have removed the letter from her chest, even after the townspeople forgave her for her sins. She continues to wear it because it has become a part of her identity, and in her own mind, wearing it has become her chastity. Hester said, “It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge.Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport” (Hawthorne, 153). The reader can clearly see that even with the choice of leaving or taking off the scarlet letter, she choses to leave it on out of guilt and the letter's symbolism. Hester`s religion as well as her own viewpoints, makes her believe she is guilty because of certain moralities broken out of adultery. Furthermore, the Puritan society that Hester lives in fuels the fire of her guilt, when she is considered an outcast and shunned from others in the

Even with the hateful comments and the negative attitude towards her daughter and herself, Hester believes that she can raise Pearl right, and to be a good mother even with the scarlet letter on her bosom. Hester`s confidence in herself, not giving up, and to keep pushing forward when times are tough keep her from drowning in despair, self-pity, guilt, and depression. For example, Hester defends her rights of motherhood to keep Pearl, and to have the confidence to speak such a way to the ministers and Governor Bellingham. Hester says, “God gave her into my keeping, repeated Hester Prynne, raising her voice almost to a shriek. I will not give her up! —And here, by sudden impulse, she turned to the young clergyman, Mr. Dimmesdale, at whom, up to this moment, she had seemed hardly so much as once to direct her eyes” (Hawthorne, 103). The quote explains how even with the scarlet letter on her chest, Hester has her own identity and will defend Pearl for anything. Hester`s true identity and the way society views her are entirely different, because she is described as a sinful hussy who does not know how to raise a child, when in reality, Hester would give her own life for