Hester's Change In Her Society

Hester seems to view herself and her society as something that should not have to be accepted and can be changed from darkness and secrecy to a more open and accepting environment. Hester kept replaying “the same dark question often rose into her mind, with reference to the whole race of womanhood. Was existence worth accepting, even too the happiest among them?” (144). The reason that this question keeps popping into her mind is that she is realizing that the way women are treated and looked at in her society is not “just the way it has to be” and is unfair. She is realizing that she can change life for women in her society if she would just fight for it. When Hester refers to “the happiest among them,” she is saying that even the women with

most privileged and happy lives are still treated unfairly compared to men and their rights. What Hester is thinking of doing is what the Puritans were trying to avoid; she is reestablishing herself into their society and is attempting to change their daily lives.
Hester’s change in thinking has proved that the scarlet letter has not fulfilled what the puritans were trying to accomplish because she is doing what the puritans have been trying to avoid; Hester is trying to change the ways of society instead of backing away in the shadows like they wanted her too.

She sees the flaws in the society and knows that the only way to change their ways is to have their “whole system of society is to be torn down, and built up anew” (144). Hester wants to change not only her life, but the communities’ as well. Out of nowhere, all of a sudden, she had a need to make a change. It's almost as if she had an epiphany, like a “fearful doubt strove to possess her soul,... go herself to such futurity as Eternal Justice should provide” took complete control of her (144). Hester believes that for some reason, it is her responsibility to change the lives of women in her society, like its her fight to fight. She has these feeling inside of her that is saying “after everything that I have been through with this society and its standards and strict beliefs, I need to make this change because I am the symbol of the rights and needs of women” and she is. Hester Prynne is the symbol of what happens to women in this society and she is going to be the one who changes that; she is going to become a new symbol of women and her society and change the meaning of the scarlet letter from shame and sin to bravery and women's

rights.