The Scarlet Letter: An In Depth View of an Opinionated Reader?s Opinion

The scarlet letter began as one woman’s punishment and later spread to several people’s ruin. The scarlet letter set off a course of events one right after another that brought nothing but heartache, death, and suffering. The wearer of the scarlet letter, Hester Prynne, loved a man, Arthur Dimmesdale. The love between these two people resulted in a tale that will forever be considered a classic in American litatutre. The book is an in depth view of the consequences of secret loves and ultimate sins. The scarlet letter began as a lesson, but after its deeds were done served as a legend.

Throughout my reading of The Scarlet Letter I have developed a few opinions.

One of those opinions is that this entire ordeal could have been avoided with the use of common sense. If Hester and Dimmesdale had stopped and thought it out carefully there would not be a baby in the equation. If there was no child, than Hester and Dimmesdale could have loved each other in secret, and maybe then their plan to run away might have been successful.

Now, Hester may have been successful in her lack of common sense, but she wore the letter “A” proudly, as is shown in the following quotation from the novel: “... The point which drew all eyes and, as it were, transfigured the wearer-so that both men and women, who had been familiarly aquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time--was the Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself (61).” I believe that although it caused her much pain and suffering it could also be a token of her love for Dimmesdale. She wears the letter as a consequence from loving Dimmesdale. She might have made the letter so lovely as to vibrate positive feelings from it, however, which may or may not have been a good thing.

See, if Hester had just accepted her sin and not boasted about as if the letter had no effect on her, or as if she hadn’t done anything wrong, she may have been more accepted by the people of the town. She might even have saved herself from unnecessary pain and suffering, whether or not she really believed the act she pulled for the town.