Scarlet Letter Isolation Quotes

“Measured by the prisoner's experience, however, it might reckoned a journey of some length; for, haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon.” (Hawthorne 38) Very early in this novel we can see that one of the main themes is going to be isolation. This quote summed up, basically says that everyone in the town has turned up to shame her, her being Hester Prynne, publicly and that she is surrounded and totally alone, isolated. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of this book has a bad history with the Puritan belief and writes against, and makes fun of it constantly in his works. He does this

Roger Chillingworth is alone in his pursuit of revenge. He is generally seen stooping and collecting herbs in the forest, or at the fires in his laboratory cooking up potions and such. Isolation seems to be the curse that keeps troubling the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. This is not the first time that Hawthorne has used isolation as means for a main theme in character or a story, “...The characters in The Scarlet Letter are reminiscent of a number of Hawthorne’s shorter works. Dimmesdale bears similarities to Young Goodman Brown who, having once glimpsed the darker nature of humankind, must forevermore view humanity as corrupt and hypocritical. There are also resemblances between Dimmesdale and Parson Hooper in “The Minister’s Black Veil,” who continues to perform the duties of his calling with eloquence and compassion but is permanently separated from the company of men by the veil that he wears as a symbol of secret sin. Chillingworth shows resemblances to Ethan Brand, the limeburner who finds the unpardonable sin in his own heart: “The sin of an intellect that triumphed over the sense of brotherhood with man and reverence for God, and sacrificed everything to its mighty claims!”” (Mazzeno) This quote is evidence that it is not farfetched that Hawthorne made this a theme in many of his works because

But this isolation is not without its unseen advantages, in Hester’s case, her isolation is her “badge of shame". The Scarlet letter distances her from others, but it contributes to her moral and mental growth. She “transcends her separation from society by good deeds and the companionship of miserable people". With all of this isolation that Hawthorne creates there is good because in the end she frees herself from her past. She frees herself from her past by redeeming herself by coming back into town many years after her and Pearl fled that dreadful day on the scaffold. She redeems herself by returning to her charitable work and never asks for anything in return. When she dies she goes down as a legend and people totally forget that the A on her chest ever stood for adulter. Personally I think that this was a fitting way for Hester to die because it is a quaint way to spend her live and the fact that she dedicates her life to helping those her persecuted her for all of it is very noble of