Hester Prynne Greed In Scarlet Letter

People all over the world continuously commit sins some are bigger than others and some do more damage. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman, Hester Prynne, is publicly shamed and force to wear a scarlet A upon her bosom for committing adultery. Throughout the book, Hester and her daughter, Pearl, try to adapt to life as an outsider. The two are continuously judged for Hester’s sin, and humiliated, however, they overcome this judgment and are seen in a different way. Hester and Pearl have been publicly shamed, Pearl has been considered an elfish devil like child, and after all the humiliation they were able to turn their lives around.
Right from the beginning of the story Hester and her daughter were a disgrace.

As Hester walks out through the prisons doors holding Pearl in her arms, the self-righteous townspeople look upon them with judgment and spite while whispering bits of criticism between one another: “ ‘The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch—that is a truth,’ added a third autumnal matron. ‘At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. … so walk the streets as brave as ever’ ” (Hawthorne 78). The townspeople think that Hester’s punishment of public shame is too merciful. Some of the women suggest that the letter A she wears should be branded on her forehead, while others suggest that she should be executed for the sin that was committed. Instead of being executed Hester and Pearl forced to stand on top of the scaffold for three hours each day in the middle of the town for everyone to watch: “In Hester Prynne’s instance, however, as not infrequently in other cases, her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform, but without undergoing that gripe about the neck and confinement of the head, the proneness to which was the most devilish characteristic of this ugly engine” (Hawthorne 85). Every day for a period of time Hester and her daughter had to stand out in the middle town, in the spotlight of the eyes of the people. Enduring the harsh stabbing looks given each day. Due to Hester’s sin, her and Pearl forced to live out the rest of their lives as outsiders.
Even though Hester was the one to commit the sin, Pearl to is an outcast of the town due to being the product of a sin. Hester wishes that only if the children of the town would not judge Pearl and they could accept her into society and then, “What a happiness would it have been could Hester Prynne have heard her clear, bird-like voice mingling with the uproar of other childish voices, and have distinguished and unravelled her own darling’s tones, amid all the entangled outcry of a group of sportive children” (Hawthorne 139-140). Hester hopes that one day she will hear voices of children and be able to distinctly notice Pearl’s voice out of the sea of children. Though she knows this could never be for their purely christian parents would have them see her as a walking A, an emblem, and an imp of evil. Most people feared little Pearl for she was unpredictable and responded to most things in violence and laughter: “Pearl would frown, and clench her little fist, and harden her small features into a stern, unsympathizing look of discontent. Not seldom, she would laugh anew, and louder than before, like a thing incapable and unintelligent of human sorrow. Or...she would be convulsed with a rage of grief, and sob out her love for her mother in broken words, and seem intent on proving that she had a heart, by breaking it” (Hawthorne 138-139). Pearl was this unpredictable child that acted out to the response of her mother’s moods. She would talk out of term, result to violence or, inexplicable laughter. There was no explanation nor answer to why she acted in this way. Readers can infer that she continuously acted out because that was the way the town saw her. Since she was this product of a sin, and no one thought that child made from the devil could have good in them. Therefore the readers wonder if Pearl will ever escape the town’s perception of herself.
Hester and Pearl are finally free from the sin that has tied them down in society for seven years.

The two of them, after Dimmesdale dies, continue with their plans to go back to England where they hope for a better life. Once in England, the two are able to change their lives around for the better. Pearl is even found to have a family of her own: “Mr. Surveyor Pue, who made investigations a century later, … Pearl was not only alive, but married, and happy, and mindful of her mother; and that she would most joyfully have entertained that sad and lonely mother at her fireside” ( Hawthorne 392). Pearl was able to overcome her old life and create a new one, a better one, one that was just for her. Even though her mother was no longer around she tried her best to kept in touch with her. She also kept her and her mother’s experience in mind never to let herself go back to that life. After spending many years in England, Hester finally returns to New England. When she returns she is full of sorrow and regret; however, she continues to wear her A on upon her chest as a reminder of her pain. With returning to the land of sin, people came to Hester, mostly women, with problems of their own. They hope by talking to someone who has been through so much will help them, or give them insight on what life is like to be on the outside: “And, as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble. Women, more especially,—in the continually recurring trials of wounded, wasted, wronged, misplaced, or erring and sinful passion,—or with the dreary burden of a heart unyielded, because unvalued and unsought,—came to Hester’s cottage, demanding why they were so wretched, and what the remedy! Hester comforted and counseled them, as best she might” (Hawthorne 392-393). Even though Hester was miserable and thought that no

one could be have felt as horrible as she did or been through what she had been through she dedicated the rest of her life to helping others with their own problems. She tried her best comfort and counsel them while assuring them that in its own time the truth is revealed. In the end, Hester and Pearl were able to turn their lives around for the better. Pearl now has a family of her own and even though Hester lives by herself she is able to pass down wisdom and help young women in trouble.
Hester and Pearl are continuously judged for the sin Hester committed and degraded in public; nonetheless, they overcome the town’s perception of them and create this new image and life for themselves. After being publicly shamed and shunned for the most of one’s life most people are not able to come back from that. One cannot detect the problem and change their reputation for the better. For most, a single mistake is the end and it will be for those who do not turn it around.