The Theme Of Identity In 'The Scarlet Letter' By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In view of others, an individual is defined by their actions but by accepting their consequence, one can overcome their new identity. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is known among her Puritan community by her scarlet letter ‘A’ that lies on her chest as a reminder of her crime. As she is labelled an ‘adulterer,’ and tries to remain her accomplice a mystery, Hester is faced with the challenge of trying to raise her daughter, Pearl, alone in ignominy. The scarlet letter, worn upon Hester’s chest, commences as a symbol of shame and isolation as a result of her punishment, but as the novel progresses, Hester begins to embody the scarlet letter as her own identity.

The outset of the scarlet letter symbol initially represents

The towns people notice that the scarlet letter has already started to do it’s damage for as the ‘spell’ was already cast. The intention of this punishment was to label Hester for what she is, an adulterer, in order to make her crime recognized amongst the community. Her sin, represented by the ‘A’, isolates her from all other plebeians. The ‘sphere’ is merely a bubble created by her sin that detaches her from the rest of society and therefore the scarlet letter is a portrayal of Hester’s isolation. The scarlet letter not only inaugurates as a symbol of isolation but embodies the idea of shame. When the magistrates try to compromise with Hester, agreeing to remove herself from the scarlet letter if she would reveal her accomplice, she responds with, “‘It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony,

After Hester was released from jail, she finds herself conversing with her husband, Roger Chillingworth, to whom she cheated on and,“As he spoke, he laid his long forefinger on the scarlet letter, which forthwith seemed to scorch into Hester’s breast, as if it had been red-hot”(68). As Chillingworth comes in contact with her embroidered patch, he is acknowledging her crime in the same way as the rest of the Puritans. The scarlet letter is described to be ‘red hot’ just like how branding irons for cattle are ‘red hot’. When a farmer brands their cattle, the iron rod is blazing hot thus leaving a scorching mark on the cow thus mirroring Hester being branded with the letter ‘A’. Hester’s new stamp becomes her semblance. After Hester was released from jail, she decides to stay within her Puritan community as a seamstress and describes life while bearing the ‘A’ on her breast, “When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter and none ever failed to do so—they branded it afresh in Hester’s soul;”(79). People’s first impression of Hester is her scarlet letter and as stated, one would never miss the embroidery imprinted on her bosom. It is construed that strangers only see the ‘A’ and don’t recognize Hester for anything other than an adulterer. The scarlet letter is beginning to be stigmatized into