Theme Of Character Development In The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is a historical fiction story written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, that takes place almost two centuries prior to when it was written. The story focuses on a woman, named Hester Prynne who had a baby with a man she wasn’t married to. In the Puritan Society in which she lives she violated the laws of her religion and was punished under the town’s rules. For her punishment she was forced to wear a Scarlet Letter A on her chest to represent the act of adultery she committed. This event effects her, and the other characters apart of what she did on emotional and physical levels. As a result of what Hester did, and how she was punished, all of the characters involved go through some form of character development. Hawthorne uses the setting of the forest to truly

In the town each individual is bound by the rules of the Puritan Society. This applies to all the major characters of the story including Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Pearl. To all these characters and everyone else in the town, the town they live in represents civilization and human authority. As a part of the way in which the town is run, every action that seemingly goes against the laws of the Puritan Society is chastised for the whole town to see. A clear example of this is the protagonist of the story Hester Prynne, the protagonist of the story, who is sentenced to wear the scarlet letter for the rest of her life. In addition to the scarlet letter, Hester is forced to stand on top of a scaffold where she is publicly ridiculed. In that scene Hawthorne writes “Knowing well her part, [Hester] ascended a flight of wooden steps, and was thus displayed to the surrounding multitude… It was almost intolerable to be borne. Of an impulsive and passionate nature, she had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely, wreaking itself in every variety of insult”(Hawthorne