The Scarlet Letter: Another View of Hester

Friday, 17 May 2013

Another View of Hester

"It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates."

Though much of our literary analysis has suggested a darker tone, I think this quote from chapter 13 sums up the positive perception of man and his weaknesses. It suggests that, yes, we have flaws, sometimes tragic, but in most cases, we learn from our mistakes and make amends with those we've harmed.

By this chapter, Hester's sin is 7+ years old. At what point is she in her character development? Discuss in your comments how you think she has changed and how the town's views of her have changed and why. Is this a common character pattern in stories? (Star Wars???😉) Provide specific details from the text and beyond to demonstrate your understanding of Hawthorne's choices and messages and generate discussion with your classmates. What do we learn about sinners and criminals and the idea of rehabilitation? (Make one comment on this post, and at least two comments on your classmates' comments - review rubric)

99 comments:

Anonymous30 March 2021 at 16:00

The “A” has long been a familiar sight, so no one really cares about it anymore, because it’s nothing new. “She was quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man, whenever benefits were to be conferred.” Hester got involved in society, meaning she helped the poor and the sick like no one else did. Because she was so helpful many changed their perception of the “A” to “able” recognizing her strength. Society became more kind to Hester for her generosity. “their sour faces relaxed into something that might eventually become a kind expression.” They have all forgiven Hester for her weakness. The scarlet letter became a symbol of her good deeds, but it had consequences for her character. All the gracious aspects have been “burned away”. She hid her hair under a cap all the time. She showed no passion. Hester grew so cold probably because she had no connection to society, no friends or socialization, therefore she only dealt with herself, and that gets rid of emotions. Isolation is therefore the worst thing that affects health. Hester was deep in thoughts all the time, and being in your head too often and too long actually makes you confused and lowers self-esteem, and this results in a loss of charisma and pride, maybe even identity. This can be seen in Hester.

This is a common protagonist-character pattern, especially when looking at it side by side with Othello. At the beginning, he was this disciplined and respected high-status man, with a kind and loving wife. In the middle of the story, just like Hester, he went from this glorious and happy guy to a more bitter, not-loving person. Hester and Othello started off well, then something tragic happened to them that changed their whole character, in the one case it was anger and jealousy, in the other isolation and humiliation.

What can we learn from Hester’s example? First of all, the punishment was too severe. Adultery is just the business of the perpetrator and victim; all the others can focus on their own stuff. Besides that, humiliating her in front of the public, as if taking her the title of “being human”, is not fair. Secondly, society needs to be forgiving, instead of letting her wear that “A” all her life. If she repents of her act, then it’s dealt with. The fact that she got involved in society, which improved her reputation, is the idea of rehabilitation. Instead of making her sit in prison her whole life or killing her, it is a good idea to get her back into the normal life, since A: she profits society with her work and the money she earns from it, and B: it’s nice winning back a person who reintegrates, because often, it’s not their evil heart causing the actions, but an external factor we can’t blame them for that got them off the right path.

"It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates." Most humans are good. Even if they’re indoctrinated to hate, like in this case the people of Boston, they probably still had a good heart, even though their mind wasn’t alright, due to indoctrination. This relates more to manipulation and the gullibility of the people, not love or hatred. This is especially true when it comes to followers of certain religions. Still, the majority of humans is good, only that the few evil ones are in power, so it might be perceived wrong for this reason.
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Alex31 March 2021 at 16:05
One of the first scenes from The Scarlet Letter is the public humiliation of Hester Prynne in the middle of the marketplace. From this we can see that she was shunned from the community in her social status and how others treat her. Wearing the red “A” for 7 years made her stick out like a sore-thumb, and even as people turn the meaning to “able” she thinks she still deserves her punishment. Although she has transformed into a new person, it’s said, “the links that united her to the rest of humankind – links of flowers, or silk, or gold, or whatever the material – had all been broken.” She still isn’t connected with those around her, not completely reintegrated into society as she has lost all social connections and confidence she once had, living in her own isolated life.
From this, the importance of proper rehabilitation and treating people with respect within their process of reintegration can be seen. Looking towards the changes being made in the Canadian justice system, the use of proper rehabilitation processes/programs can be used showing off the great flaws in the Puritans punishment. The John Howard Society of Canada which focusses on the reformation in the criminal justice area stressed the importance of the RNR (Risk, Needs, Responsivity) Model. The overall idea of this model is that the treatment and rehabilitation of prisoners should be thought through and be delivered in a respectful, humane, and ethical way. They push the idea that punishment should not be used to change behaviour, but instead use things such as cognitive behavioural therapy which has shown good results in many psychology areas.
Recently there have been many innovative rehabilitation programs which have shown to reduce the amount of people who reoffend. One of these is providing healing lodge that open a community for many people and a space for personal healing. Another program is WOOF, a volunteer-based program which provides opportunity and therapy through dogs. This provides prisoners a chance to take care of puppies which stay and are trained by prisoners for roughly 12 weeks before they are adopted. This gives many opportunities for prisoners to reduce reoffending and to easily moving back to normal society.
Looking at Hester’s experiences and how she was unable to do this, I think it’s very obvious in how the Puritans idea of humiliation and punishment is full of flaws. In this setting, situations were looked at mostly the same rather than individually. We can see in the quote “as a first step, the whole system of society is to be torn down, and built anew,” it’s very clear that the idea of reformation isn’t new, and was present even in the 1640’s. The concept and approval of focusing on rehabilitation is still new, many people still believing that punishment is the only way to run a jail. From this, it’s interesting to think about how things may have gone with punishments for adultery and the practice of witchcraft if the Puritans had been more focused on rehabilitating and getting Hester to right her wrong in a less severe way as seen today.
Taking the lesson that Hawthorne wrote about and the dangers of isolating someone from their community is not only a reflection of the times Hester was in, but can also serve as a warning for keeping things the same, and the changes that need to be made in our own systems. Although things in Canada are getting better, the focus on punishment is still there. I think this TedTalk (https://youtu.be/inv89j3VYVc) on the dangers of resorting to punishment for those who are put into the criminal justice system is very important to better visualize and understand this concept. It shows how important it is to take each situation as it’s own from the very start and using harm reduction alongside rehabilitation as the basis for how offenders are treated.

Sources Used:
https://johnhoward.ca/blog/rehabilitation-can-work/
https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/002/003/002003-2002-en.shtml
https://www.cbc.ca/keepingcanadasafe/blog/from-puppies-to-farming-an-in-depth-look-at-innovative-prisoner-rehab-progr
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Natalia31 March 2021 at 16:24
We first met Hester Prynne as a transgressor rotting in prison for her sin, introducing us to the worst part of her off the bat. The town, for the most part, regarded her as a sinful woman who deserved all public humiliation. As the story progresses, we get to know Hester better, despite her stone-like attributes, her kindness for others truly shines through, in the beginning we first witness her kindness as she refuses to share who the father of the child is as well as her spouse, she takes on the entirety of the humiliation and shame of the town simply to protect others and their reputations. Furthermore, we see her selflessness as she takes on sewing for those in the town, she only accepts as much money and she needs to live despite being able to make a higher profit. She was there consistently for the town through every hardship, and never asked for any pity regarding her punishment. Due to this, the town’s admiration and respect for Hester grew, many had forgiven her in private for her sin. The town no longer looked at the scarlet letter as a symbol of sin, evil, and impurity, but more as a symbol of generosity, warmth, and selflessness. The townsfolk were almost proud of Hester Prynne, as indicated in the line “Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?” they would say to strangers. “It is our Hester,—the town’s own Hester,—who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!”
Hester had faced her time; she had experienced enough humiliation and recognized her wrongdoings. By acknowledging her mistakes, led her to being able to grow into a warm ray of light in place of a stone-cold statue.
This character development is extremely common in books and movies, a prime example of this is Darth Vader. Starting out as Anakin Skywalker, a young jedi that craved validation and power. After training for a long period of time, and joining the Jedi Council, he felt he deserved to be promoted to Jedi Master. Despite his confidence, Anakin was deemed too young and immature to be a Jedi Master. This caused Anakin to join Chancellor Palpatine on the Dark Side, by choosing the Dark Side, it led to Anakin fighting, and losing (his legs included), to his former master Obi Wan Kenobi. Chancellor Palpatine then comes to his rescue and rebuilds Anakin into Darth Vader.
We see Darth Vader in the original trilogy as an ominous, an evil oppressor. In Return of the Jedi, when Vader and his son Luke Skywalker are face to face, Luke surrenders to his father to try and convince him he can still leave the Dark Side. After surrendering, Luke is brought by Vader to the second Death Star to meet the Emperor, this leads to Vader and Luke duelling again. Once Luke overpowers Vader, the Emperor entreats Luke to kill Vader and take his place, Luke refuses to do so and therefore the Emperor tortures Luke with Force Lightning. With the last bit of good in him, Anakin takes over Vader and saves his son by killing the Emperor but being wounded by the Force Lightning in the process. Vader asks Luke to remove his helmet and says how there was still enough Anakin and good in him after all right before dying in his son’s arms. Overall, despite all the wrongdoings and evil in Darth Vader’s heart, there was still enough good left in him to redeem himself.
Through these stories, we can learn that sinners and criminals can most definitely be rehabilitated. Even when given the opportunity to step away and solely look after themselves, Hester, and Darth Vader both choose to do what is best for others. As the quote says, “…where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates.” The same can be said for those around Hester and Vader, the town learned to love Hester despite her sinful actions, and Luke forgave his father at the end of it all, proving once again how the human spirit is never born evil.

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Dominik31 March 2021 at 19:47
At this point in time, Hester has drastically changed in many ways. These changes include physical and character changes but most importantly the way others perceive her has dramatically differed. To be specific, she has grown up. With this I mean she has learnt her lesson from a past mistake and has moved past it to become a better person not just for herself but also for young Pearl and also the whole rest of the community. She does this by coming to terms with the truth and instead of arguing, she chooses to quietly go on with her business as a seamstress proving her worth to the whole community after effectively being spit out by its folk. By doing so she raises the ceiling for what was originally thought of and expected of her by the other townspeople and gives her a whole new chance at life which is only possible thanks to an internal reset button being subconsciously pressed to evoke her true self. In doing so she manages to change everyone’s perception of her as they simply forget or become numb to the past which is entirely thanks to her own hard work and dedication.
But why? Well like with most people may they be fictional of real, they tend to grow and adapt as a result of their past experiences and possibly even trauma. This kind of character is called a dynamic character and is the type of character you see on your TV screens every day. These characters have the ability to grow internally which allows themselves a second bite of the cherry and a shot at redemption. These characters, like Hester all share the common ability to change as a result of their past over time and can range from Anakin Skywalker personas to people like Scrooge and even Shrek.
This development can also be compared very well with us students when considering how much we’ve changed in a similar time span to Hester. Although this may be a strange comparison, one must consider the facts on display. Firstly, like Hester’s written story begins with her being someone that everyone in the community did not respect and looked down on her for her sinful actions. The same can be said for us as we entered VCI, where each of us was a complete nobody to the staff and older established students of the school community. Then, like us Hester has to learn from her mistakes and prove to everyone else that she is indeed a valuable member of society and should be given respect like everyone else. This effort that she puts in then eventually moves her up the ranks into a position of class and respect that would have never been imaginable at the beginning of her arduous journey. Equally, for the class of 2021, we also had to encounter many challenges and mishaps on our way but we would learn from it to grow as young adults and push ourselves into a position of respect that only comes with time, and as they always say: “Time heals most wounds.”
From this, it is evident that all people, given time can turn things around regardless of their crime, may it be adultery or simply being a niner. All this considered, it is no surprise that Hester managed to turn her life around. The real surprise here is that we are going to be full independent people in a mere couple of months which seems absolutely impossible considering where we were just four years ago.

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Sumaiya1 April 2021 at 08:30
Though Hester Prynne’s acts of adultery were deemed inexcusable at the time, Hawthorne successfully proved that there are specific circumstances in which a flaw or sin can be disregarded through the apparent positive evolution of one’s character. This was, of course, the case of Hester herself. When Hester was first introduced to the audience, she was labeled as a transgressor who had a child out of adultery. She faced horrible amounts of public humiliation and was to wear a scarlet-coloured A on her chest at all times so she could be identified as the adulterer she was. By the time Pearl is older than seven years old, Hester’s sin has almost been completely forgotten by those who were not directly involved. In this time Hester has changed completely and has had dramatic character growth. She has continued in her passion of helping others. She sewed for many people in the town and didn’t demand a high credibility or income despite deserving so. Hester proved herself to be strong as she remained humble while helping charity, once she has realized that everyone has committed a sin in one way or another but don’t deserve to be condemned based on the justification. “It is our Hester, —the town’s own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!” This quote stated by one of the townsfolk goes on to confirm the fact that Hester was able to outweigh the judgement she faced referring to her as evil. At this point of the story, I would define Hester to be a survivor, not only of the cruel judgement of Puritan society, but as well as for her honesty and bravery of which she used to tell Dimmesdale the truth and for her defiance of convention.
Hester’s character development is a common character pattern in many stories that aim to prove the same lesson. These types of characters often feel isolated from society because the people around them judge them for either a mistake they have made or a pre-conveyed notion about them that has been falsely spread. However, these characters are able to persevere and change the narrative for themselves by improving themselves and going against society’s negative tendency of clinging onto someone’s past. Ironically, in the end of a given story, it is often these characters who are admired the most by the audience. For example, in the Bible, there can be found a passage that refers to a woman, similar to Hester, who has committed adultery and is to be stoned to death by society. In John. 8, of the New Testament, Jesus says “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Thereafter, no stone is casted. This can be interpreted in a way that Hester has justified continuing to help those in need; No one is perfect and just because someone has committed a sin, does not mean they do not deserve the chance to grow beyond the reputation it leads to.
Hawthorne uses Hester’s character to portray the theme of sin and adultery and ultimately prove to the audience of the message that society can shun anyone of any class or inner moral for something they deem to be wrong. It can be argued that Hawthorne wanted sin to be viewed as a positive thing, that can lead to real change in others. When Hester didn’t let her sin define her, she was able to change her life for the better. Hester manifested this by listening to her inner judgement rather those of society’s. I believe like Hester and like the bible passage, this was the target goal Hawthorne wanted the audience to swallow. I believe that this is a message that can be applied to just about anyone and even gave me an insight on any stereotypes or judgements I may be letting define/ stop me from living life with an open heart, as Hester has done. In my opinion, this YouTube video goes in depth of this topic and further concludes the disadvantages that listening to society can lead to, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhAPxNX9Ups.
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Anastasiia1 April 2021 at 08:34
Hester is first introduced to us as a sinner who lived in a prison and was constantly exposed to public humiliation. She was forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom as a symbol of her crime, adultery. Every day, she had to spend hours standing in blazing sunlight with her newly born child, for all people to see her badge of shame. After being released from prison, she settled in a small house in the woods. During her isolation, Hester was living her life honestly and sinlessly: “Then, also, the blameless purity of her life during all these years in which she had been set apart to infamy, was reckoned largely in her favor”. The hostility that people showed towards her and the shame she felt caused her a lot of pain, but she did not try to resist or fight it, she simply suffered in silence. She had no hope of ever gaining back their trust and accepted the fact that the only person by her side will be her daughter, Pearl.

While Hester was living in solitude, rejected by her community, she did not reject them. She was using her embroidery skills to help the poor, even though she did not get any gratitude from them at first. She kept doing volunteer work and helping the old and the poor and eventually people started warming up to her. After some time had passed, the people became familiar with her letter “A” and didn’t treat it as badly anymore, soon even forgot all about it. It wasn’t very noticeable anymore. As more time passed, the old meaning of her letter “A” gradually faded away from people’s minds and instead acquired a new meaning – “able”. Hester has finally found her place, caring for the sick people, and treating them with a lot of warmth and kindness. People admired her strength and determination. Even after the people had forgiven her for her sin, Hester still felt guilty and could not forgive herself. She believed she didn’t suffer enough and wanted to keep punishing herself. When the people showed her gratitude, she took it as humility: “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting”, “…she laid her finger on the scarlet letter, and passed on”. After being isolated from her community for so long, she could not imagine being part of it again.

Although at first, the people of Boston despised Hester for her sin, they eventually saw the good in her and forgave her. Similar type of character development can be seen in Loki, a character from Marvel Universe. Throughout the movies “Thor”, “The Avengers”, “Thor: The Dark World”, and “Thor: Ragnarok”, Loki had done a lot of bad things. He tried to take over Asgard, destroy Jotunheim, kill Thor, and do other similar actions with the help of his deception skills. However, in the movie “Avengers: Infinity War”, he redeemed himself by betraying Thanos and attempting to kill him but dying in the process. This shows that even if someone has done a lot of evil, they can still have good in them. Thor never gave up on Loki and always knew he wasn’t pure evil. There is good in everyone, but it might take some time for yourself or other people to see it.
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Anisa1 April 2021 at 09:07
Hester’s act of adultery and giving birth to an illegitimate child resulted in her having to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for the rest of her life as punishment. She’s a public sinner according to the individuals from the village and is basically rejected from the community. Being a victim of a cruel Puritan society made Hester sensitive, the experience of being treated like an outlaw has caused her to grow compassionate towards people and those who are in need of help. Her character development is prominent through her actions, she becomes known for her charitable work, such as making garments and giving money to the poor. She proves to everyone that she has learnt her lesson and is able to acknowledge her past while simultaneously move away from it towards a more positive direction. The community can see how she has grown to be a strong and generous woman and the symbolism of the letter “A” on her chest develops a different meaning, as it was previously worn to indicate the sin of adultery, the people in the community has started to view it on Hester in a more respectful manner, stated in the line, “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power to sympathize,—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.” (Hawthorne, 2008, p. 196).
Hawthorne used the idea of redemption and harsh punishment to flesh out Hester’s character and how she changes throughout the story. After being mercilessly judged by the people around her, Hester owns up to the sin that she did and accepts the treatment she gets even though she’s a good person. This is a common trope for characters, those who have wronged in the past but are looking to make up for what they did. Some good examples are Eldon from Medicine Walk and Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, because we can clearly see how they changed through their actions. Though Eldon was seeking forgiveness for being a bad father, he knew what he did wrong and was able to acknowledge his mistakes. For Zuko, after he was exiled, he spent time with the people in the community he was living in and was able to grow more compassionate towards others and look back at his own selfishness and mistakes.
Through the character development of these characters, we can learn that rehabilitation for sinners and criminals is a better option rather can the current justice system that is heavy on punishment. Incarcerating those who did wrong won’t be of any benefit since most criminals suffer from serious mental illnesses and are in need of help and therapy. Though Hester’s “crime” isn’t serious compared to an actual crime, looking at the way she changed I believe through the correct rehabilitative programs sinners and criminals are also capable of changing themselves for the better.
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Hunter1 April 2021 at 09:35
Hester Prynne had spent a large portion of her life seen as a sinner and sort of evils incarnate. Given horrid verbal abuse and vile looks from her fellow townsfolk she had little reason to care for them. Even though she had little reason to give back to them as she owed them nothing, she turned the symbol of sin into a symbol of holiness. The child she bore gave her a new kind of hope. A reason to become something better. She said herself to Mistress Hibbins “I must tarry at home, and keep watch over my little Pearl. Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!” in Chapter 8. Hester wishes to give back to the world for the lovely gift she considers she was given from god. She wants to repent and do better so Pearl can grow up to be a good person. Hester becomes a very selfless person and gives care to the town. The townsfolk stopped holding onto their hatred for her past and began to only see what she become. They began to even brag about her to passersby strangers saying things such as “That’s our Hester—our own Hester—who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so generous to the troubled!” in Chapter 13. The quote "It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates." Represents the townsfolk well. Humans are inclined to connect more than they are to dissociate. They are ample to forgive a past error in favour of a present kindness. A message the story is trying to give is that rehabilitation and offering more chances allows people to change. Our world has similar methods in jailing for rehabilitation, however both the story and our world’s method of rehabilitation might be ineffective. The punishment for Hester was cruel and unnecessary, especially considering the circumstances with her husband missing, potentially dead. Hester reminds me of an ex-convict named Larry Lawton. He was as jewel thief that was eventually caught and jailed for his crimes. He dedicates his life now to helping others and straying them from the path of crime, like how Hester does service for her fellow townspeople. He also suggests that the current system of rehabilitation is still harsh and unfair. He finds they give too many years in prison for smaller crimes. Taking away 10-15 years of their life, especially the important range of your life from 20-40, does not allow them to fairly enter back into society with a lesson learnt. Hester’s rehabilitation was done poorly, and it took her 7 years to properly change from enacting in adultery which in its own should not even be a legal crime. Rehabilitation of criminals does indeed work, but only if done in the interest of allowing them to adapt and enter society once more.

Links to sources below
https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/lit/the-scarlet-letter/chapter-13/page_2/
https://youtu.be/AfmbU62ElZQ
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Alex1 April 2021 at 10:00
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Zellis1 April 2021 at 10:54
Throughout thirteen chapters of Nathaniel Hawthorn's "The Scarlet Letter" our protagonist, Hester Prynne goes through quite a large transition during the completion of her character arc. Hester redeemed herself in her own eyes as seen through the meaning of the scarlet letter. instead of being a constant reminder of the sin of adultery Hester committed, the meaning became interpreted as "Able". Hester also becomes a self-ordained sister of mercy, essentially a nun not recognized by the church due to her previous sin. This is a completely different Hester than seen before, for the most part of the book so far Hester has been riddled with shame and burdened to raise the human embodiment of her biggest shame, pearl. Hester, even though she has been treated so badly by the townsfolk and Priests, she still believes that she needs to redeem herself and carry out the remainder of her punishment still fully convinced that she has to be forgiven by the church and Neighbourhood. After the 4+ year time gap between chapters 12-13, she seemed to have a revelation of within and accepted who she is and dedicates herself to good rather than redeeming herself for a past mistake. If Hester had not been through those years of struggle and shame I believe she would have never become the kind and loving sister of mercy that she is by chapter 13. Through her hardships and experiences of shame and hopelessness, she has been forged through fire as an Able and sympathetic person.
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Andy1 April 2021 at 10:58
In this chapter Hesters character is developing very well as she is beginning to grow on the community. Hester is no longer being judged for wearing the A or for her past, the community is now giving her credit for wearing her Shame with pride. Hester and the people have forgiven her for her past sins as she has helped the community with her charity and charm. The community goes from seeing Hester as a no-good sinner who wears the letter A on her bosom, to describing her as “kind to the poor, helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted.” Her recent behaviour causes them to reconsider her punishment, and eventually tell her she can take the letter off but Hester insists insists that the letter is part of her now and she says “ It will make fall from her chest when it is time for it to do so”.

Although Hester wore her A with courage, her past has affected her in ways no one may be able to see. Hester was very alone during her time of being seen as a sinner, Hester therefore must live with herself, the scarlet letter and Pearl. Whenever Hester was being punished for her sins, she wouldn’t show her inner pain but after being reminded of her shame and would face punishment daily as Hawthorne writes in chapter five “Another peculiar torture was felt in the gaze of a new eye. When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter, —and none ever failed to do so, —they branded it afresh into Hester’s soul; so that, oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand.” Hester then changes into a stronger person who tries to forget her past and decides she should help the community to show people who she really is. Do you feel like Hester has done enough for her sins? Think about the the century she lives in and how things were back then.

Rehabilitation is very common for people and there are many times where people aren’t able to come back and redeem themselves however, Hester was able to in chapter 13. Whenever characters change, whether a good or bad change, it helps develop their characters and shows the traits or flaws they possess all throughout the story, like Hester who showed how courageous and caring she is. These traits help her stay strong in her time of being punished. An example of this in the real world is Tiger Woods, who was arrested for a DUI charge. Tigers arrest caused everyone to see him as a reckless criminal and caused his career to come to a halt at the time. Tiger then quickly makes a comeback by being a better man and by continuing to work hard and not listening to everything other say, like Hester who had to show everyone what kind of person she is and getting the people to like her. Similarly, someone who has changed from their past and redeemed themselves throughout the plot is Gru from “Despicable Me”, Gru begins the movie as an evil man who wants to be the greatest villain of all time but then changes into a good man who even fights other villains to protect what he loves which are his daughters. Rehabilitation is something that can help someone turn around their life but it can also cause them to become more of a problem for that person and others close to them. Do you feel like people should be given second chances in life if they have committed a crime like Hester or Tiger?

Link to sources

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/section8/

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/the-scarlet-letter/study-help/famous-quotes-from-the-scarlet-letter

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vanessa ross1 April 2021 at 11:06
The infamous Hester Prynne is known for her extreme character development in “The Scarlet Letter”. Centuries later, her story still impacts and inspires generations. She had overcome some major difficulties for that time period and blossomed into an impressive woman that others in her community went to for guidance. One of the most impactful changes throughout her character development was her feminism. She unintionally becomes a freedom thinker and independent feminist, this abled her completey turn her life around and changed the way the other villagers perceived her.

Hester had always been a very independent freedom thinker that was not afraid to stray from what was socially acceptable for that era. As her storyline progresses, her feminist nature becomes more potent. An example of one of her femistinistic acts was when her daughter Pearl was born and she debated if she really wanted to raise a female in that time when society was extremely sexist and had severe amounts of equality. Another example, the scarlet letter “A” was originally intended as a punishment and stood for “adultery”. The town later agrees that after 7 years that she had learned her lesson and informs her that she is allowed to remove it. Hester then decides to continue wearing the letter “A” but changes it’s meaning to “able”. This is a feminist power move because she changes something that symbolized sin and evil, into something that symbolizes positivity and liberation. The final example was when she helped and gave advice to the other women in the village. Hester develops from being the person that everyone gossiped about to a counselor for the local women. This shows that she is a powerful woman that other women seek enlightenment from. All of her actions throughout the novel are power moves because it is her taking control of her life and not letting society and men dictate her decisions.

Furthermore, another well known feminist is Amy March from the novel “Little Women” that was published around the same time as “The Scarlet Letter”. Both of these characters make progressive decisions that were not typical for their era. Amy makes the decision not to marry the man she loves because she believes that marriage is a contract that only benefits men. This is demonstrated in the quote;
“And as a woman, I have no way to make money, not enough to earn a living and support my family. Even if I had my own money, which I don't, it would belong to my husband the minute we were married. If we had children they would belong to him, not me. They would be his property. So don't sit there and tell me that marriage isn't an economic proposition, because it is.”
This shows how much Amy was ahead of her time she truly was. Similarly, Hester had similar beliefs as Amy, they wanted change in society and truly believed that one day it would happen. Hester explains this in the quotes; “At some brighter period … a new truth would be revealed in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness”. Hester and Amy were extremely progressive and had a big impact towards equality and women’s rights. :)
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Emma Lightle-Blais1 April 2021 at 11:29
One that does not sin, does not exist. Hester Prynne is a stone-cold woman, with a warmth burning within her, and on her chest, in the form of the scarlet letter, A. Hester has been branded with this blazoning A, representing the adultery she performed. The higher-ups give her this A as a token of shame. It also represents the sin and guilt she will have to live with for the rest of her life. Guilt and shame are extremely powerful, and no visible scarlet letter on her chest will amount to the invisible shame and guilt that stirs within her: “Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will always be in her heart.” The Puritans want her to feel the retribution for her sin, but Hester will not let them taint her and the fire that lingers within her.

Hester feels the heat whenever she is branded with the A, clutching her child aggressively, as this newfound, everlasting shame clutches onto her. Hester, however, will not let this wash of shame drown her. Instead, she does what seems inexplicable, and stays in the same town that labelled her a sinner, when she could have left. She does this partly due to Dimmesdale (the father of her child) being in the town but more so because Hester accepts what she has done, refusing to run away from the situation that has arisen. You see, Hester is no mere coward and seems to be the only one who knows and accepts that: “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

Hester faces the guilt of her sin every day, fighting the sin with her weapon of choice; good deeds. She begins sewing clothes to donate to the poor, never letting up through the town’s continuous rejection. Hester can’t control how the town acts, but she can control how she acts. Hester begins to see she is not alone in her sinning: “She felt or fancied, then, that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts.” Hester sees she is blessed with the scarlet letter and the newfound ability that is brought with it: to see other’s true hearts and sins. Also, she is blessed with a beautiful yet tricky daughter, and the opportunity to prove she is worthy of a good, real life. She continues to grow as a woman, and with all the harsh judgment she has received due to her past mistakes, she does not want other women to go through the same harsh judgment she has. Hester acts as a beacon of guidance for those around her to ensure they will not face the tribulations she has. This is a true token of her astounding growth as a character, and this growth is still seen to this day in modern people and characters.
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Emma Lightle-Blais1 April 2021 at 11:32
Sources:
https://www.shmoop.com/quotes/every-saint-has-a-past.html
https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/let-him-who-is-without-sin-cast-the-first-stone/
https://www.npr.org/2014/04/07/300246095/if-jesus-never-called-himself-god-how-did-he-become-one
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/quotes/theme/guilt/
link to clean version of song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOG0tNx0CP0
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Julie1 April 2021 at 12:31
The Scarlet Letter highlights many different aspects of human nature, including the nature to love. While it can be easy to hate, humans at their core are meant to love, which we can see through the quote, “It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates.” At this point in the book, seven years after her sin, Hester has lost a lot of herself, even losing the ability to love which as seen from the quote, is human nature. About Hester, the narrator says, “Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman.” Hester never had anyone to help her or guide her, so she basically lost one of the most important human traits. This struggle she has to be able feel emotions for others also shows how flawed the way Puritans punished people was, because the way they did it made it difficult for her to move on and live a normal life. She became almost too independent and detached from others. How was she meant to learn anything from her punishment if it just took away the person she used to be?

Hester is currently allowed to take off her scarlet letter but chooses not to as she still believes she has to atone for her sin. The town has now somewhat forgiven her, but she has not forgiven herself. So, while it is true that it is human nature to love others, self-love and forgiveness is something that many people can struggle with. Forgiving yourself is extremely important to be able to move on, but it is also one of the most difficult types of forgiveness since you must face your own guilt face to face. The person who ended up the most harmed because of Hester’s sin was herself. She had tried to make amends for her sins but had forgotten to make amends within herself. She hurt herself the most and still blamed herself for everything that happened to her. She clearly was not ready to remove the letter, as it was still a part of her. She has been alone for so long, yet she had not been able to forgive herself and take off the letter. Hawthorne chose to have Hester keep the letter for longer because it showed how she had grown to better understand her sin, but also to prove that she had not yet been capable of self-forgiveness. He wanted to accentuate how connected she was to her punishment and her sin.

In this way, Hester is comparable to Octavia for the 100. She had done many bad things and struggled to forgive herself, which affected her tremendously. She blamed herself for a long time because of the things she had done and kept a lot of this inside of her. Hester also did this, by trying to shield Pearl from her sins. Both of these characters attempted to make amends for their actions and took responsibility for them, but after all of this was done both were left with the same predicament; what to do with themselves? Their answers were very similar in the sense that they both used self-sabotage to try and come back from their sins. Octavia let people hurt her and Hester kept the scarlet letter on. Just like it is human to love, it is also human to feel guilty.
People tend to hold onto their guilt because they feel that they don’t deserve to be happy or to move on. This makes them stay stuck in the past and makes life extremely difficult to live fully and enjoy. The grief that both Hester and Octavia felt made them constantly regretful and cold, and they became somewhat detached from reality. They are valuable examples of how devastating it can be to not forgive yourself and keep everything trapped inside.
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Callum Nixon1 April 2021 at 13:19
In the beginning of the story Hester was doomed to endure her mark of the Scarlet “A”. Something bright, something that marked her and condemned her to the outcasts of society. Some people make mistakes that cause them to be pushed away from the normalcies and what is considered standard, others are born and doomed to always be on the outskirts. Hester Prynne was pushed to the outside, and some characters such as Shrek were born on the outside. Either way, the thing that makes them similar is that they both had to work to be accepted in the end by everyone around them.

Hawthorne was preaching forgiveness throughout his novel, though writing about thoroughly unforgiving characters. In the beginning though she owned her shame as a very powerful woman, she still lived in it and hated the mark on her garment that told the world of her wrongdoings. She was seen as a monster, something that you shouldn’t be ashamed to be. Away in her cabin stitching clothing for the rich, the poor, and for Pearl. The cabin on the outskirts of town in very similar to Shrek’s swamp. Secluded, and wanting to be unburdened by the society that hates them so. Shrek’s green skin is the mark that segregates him and makes him a monster, similar to the scarlet letter.

I think Pearl had a very strong impact on the development of Hester. She felt as though had nothing to fight for in this life, no future, just an eternal spiral of shame and societal ridicule. But Pearl keeps her grounded, makes her fight to make a difference and change what that letter means to her. She is an adulterer, but Hester is a prime example of a character with tremendous backbone. She knows that everyone sees that “A” as definitive of who she is, but she knows that in her 7 years since the conviction and the birth of her “sinful” offspring that she’s much more than simply an “adulteress” she feels as though she is “able” to do far more. Her kind and caring side has grown a lot with Pearl growing up, from the mother that squeezed and was unable to tend to a wailing infant, to someone who’s an excellent mother, charitable and aides dying patients in their final days.

What we learn about human nature in criminals and sinners, outcasts and outlaws, is that there is good within all of us, but if we continue to view the bad as truly always bad how are we able to continue to view those who have done wrong as constantly about to do something worse how are we ever going to evolve as a society. Hester had to find something to fight for, Shrek had to see himself as something over than a monster to become a father and a friend. If we constantly view criminals as criminals and don’t give them a chance to be anything else, they won’t try to be. Are we as a people have more work to do in order to rehabilitate in order for people to truly change.
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Zellis1 April 2021 at 13:34
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Ariel Ravary1 April 2021 at 14:50
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Ariel Ravary1 April 2021 at 14:53
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Aaish Adnan1 April 2021 at 16:25
As we continue to read through the novel The Scarlet Letter, we witness the moral and character development of Hester Prynne as she struggles with her identity. Prynne is humiliated and shunned by the townsfolk as her sin of being an adulterer comes to light. She is punished and has to endure public humiliation. She has to wear a red letter “A” on her chest representing an adulterer for the rest of her life. Some people in town feel her punishment is light, and she deserves worse. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.” ( Hawthorne, 45). Day by day, Hester deals with verbal and physical abuse by both adults and children alike, but she endures it for Pearl, her daughter. Her daughter gives her the courage to fight and persevere each day. Hester doesn’t have to stay in the town and endure this abuse, but she does. She feels she should endure her punishment in the town she committed her sin. Slowly, how the townsfolk view her change as she does charity work and helps out people in need. They start to see her more than the letter on her chest, her “A” beginning to stand for able, for her kindness and hard work (her needlework). The people of Boston's view also changes as they believe Hester’s charitable work is due to the punishment she received; she has been humbled.

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Aaish Adnan1 April 2021 at 16:26
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Aaish Adnan1 April 2021 at 16:28
Hawthorne’s novel provides a moral lesson on forgiveness, love, and betrayal through his characters. A character that I think is similar to Hester is Mike Ross from the T.V series Suits. Mike Ross impersonates a Harvard lawyer and starts to work at a famous law firm in New York City. His mentor, Harvey is aware that he is a fraud, but recognizes his raw talent and passion for the law. Mike got away with working as a lawyer for a few years without a degree and falsified documents of his supposed graduation from Harvard Law. Eventually, someone finds out, and he goes to court for trial. He had a chance to rat on his mentor (Harvey) to not go to jail, but he cares for him a lot and decides to take the whole fault. This is similar to Hester, as she refuses to name her lover and implicate him because of her affections for him. Instead of waiting for the jury’s verdict, Mike becomes paranoid. His fear of the future leads him to make a deal, to spend 2 years in prison instead of serving the full 7-10 years sentence. After getting out of jail, he decides he’s going to become a legit lawyer but has trouble passing the bar as the committee doesn’t believe he has changed from his lying ways. Even though he risked his life to get his friend safely out of jail alongside him. Even after becoming an actual lawyer, he is shunned in court for being a fraud. Even though he has served his punishment for his actions. His crime follows him everywhere as Hester’s sin casts a shadow on her. “ My whole life I have wanted to be a lawyer so that I could help people. People who have no one else to fight for them. No one who believes in them. And all I can say is that I promise you, whether these people find me innocent or not, I am gonna spend the rest of my life fighting. You could believe it or not, but I am a lawyer, and I always will be.” (Mike Ross).

Everyone goes through life committing sins, whether small or big. Humans are flawed and easily tempted and let their emotions cloud their judgement. An example was in Othello, “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock. The meat it feeds on.” ( Act 3). Hester is tempted by the affections of a lover and is given an unjustified punishment, as her husband was thought to be dead. Because of the nature of her punishment being so public, she has to endure every word thrown at her by her community, which slowly breaks her will mentally. This also endangers her chance of raising Pearl as she is almost taken away. In this situation, rehabilitation would have been essential for her to deal with the guilt and shame of her sin. It would have helped her mentally recover from the humiliation. In Mike’s case, rehabilitation was a major factor in his being able to become a legit lawyer. It allowed him to heal and learn the consequences of his fraudulent ways. Forgiveness is an essential part of life, which is portrayed through the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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Aaish Adnan1 April 2021 at 16:29
Sources:
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/section8/
https://quizlet.com/181834309/othello-act-3-quotes-flash-cards/
https://suits.fandom.com/wiki/Mike_Ross
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Kaitlin Rainey1 April 2021 at 17:11
In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne was convicted of the ignominious sin of adultery in her strict Puritan community and sentenced to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ as her badge of shame and proof of her sin. Hester then went through a brief period, while standing on the scaffold, where she came to the realization of what her new life will entail. “Could it be true? She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast, that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. Yes!—these were her realities,—all else had vanished!” She felt defeated and that she could never change her mistake and its’ repercussions. Hester starts out as rebellious and statue-like, unsure how to be a mother and unsure how to live with her daily torture. However, upon self reflection Hester turns her torment into an opportunity to live a shameless life once again. This is the beginnings of her character development. “here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost.” She then dedicates the remainder of her life to trying to become pure once more by doing things she feels will help purge her of her sins. Her acts of self redemption take place over the course of seven years by helping the towns people by sewing them clothing, comforting the dying, never taking more money than she needs, and never asking for recognition for her charitable actions. Over time, Hester’s selfless acts changed her personality almost entirely from its original cold and statue like nature. “Hester’s nature showed itself warm and rich; a well-spring of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the largest.” This was a complete change in character for Hester, she became a loving mother, a valued member of her town, and was even named a self-ordained a Sister of Mercy. Hester no longer feels the full shame of her red letter ‘A’ as it is no longer a symbol of sin, it instead turns into a badge of goodness due to Hester’s development. “They had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since…The scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril.” I admire Hester’s strength and perseverance and can’t even imagine what her hardships would have truly felt like. I wonder, had Hester not gone through her arduous experiences, what type of person she would have become?
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Ariel Ravary1 April 2021 at 17:14
Hester from The Scarlet Letter is seen as a sinner at the beginning of the book. All look upon her with disgust and hate, as she had broken one of the community’s rules. She is then forced to wear a scarlet letter A to resemble her sin. As the book goes on, the town seems to develop a more open and caring view towards Hester and Pearl as both grow into valued members of the community. Hester can be seen being praised throughout the community for her skills with her needle. Even when patronized by her fellow neighbours, she does not retaliate which I think is why people view her in a more caring and highly regarded way towards the end. Pearl also played a major part of Hester’s Character development as she gave her a will to become a better person, this can be observed when she refuses Mistress Hibbins offer to join them, as she must take Pearl home. “I must tarry at home and watch over my little pearl.” (Hawthrone, VIII, 145-146).

Hester is a strong and brave character, though she is affected by words, she holds a pride and a strength to never let anyone see it. I think these are very frequently seen qualities in characters. An example of this would be the character Dr. Julia Ogden from the series Murdoch Mysteries. Julia is a strong female lead character that is know to never back down of her beliefs and has often times gotten into trouble because of her beliefs. More then one time in the series, Julia can be scene doing something outrageous for the time period this period is set in, such as wanting that woman have the write to vote or becoming a renowned doctor. We can also see her having a sin of her own, which happens to be an abortion. Most when first learn of this are completely repulsed by the idea, which happens to be punishable by death, but as the series progress, all love her characteristic and even build friendships with her and relationships.

This text has mostly taught us that even the purest of man can sin. It has shown us that maybe criminal and sinners are punished but sometimes they make there own punishments instead. This can be observed when both Hester and Julia receive a punishment. Hester’s punishment for her sins are dealt through laws and religious beliefs, her punishment brings her embarrassment and guilt, but she never gives up her lovers name when interrogated. As for Julia, her punishment is self dealt. Almost no one knows of her sin, but its her own guilt that causes her punishment. Now that she has had her abortion she is left infertile, she will never be able to conceive an other child, and this situation causes constant problem with her husband, William Murdoch. “It is to the credit of human nature, that, expect where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates.” This is an exceptionally controversial quote. Every human being has flaws, they are what make us human. This does not make us all bad people that deserve to be punished, it just gives us a reason to learn from those mistakes.

Sources:
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/the-scarlet-letter/character-analysis/hester-prynne
https://study.com/academy/lesson/hester-prynne-in-the-scarlet-letter-description-traits-character-analysis.html#:~:text=Although%20Hester%20Prynne%20is%20beautiful,chest%2C%20Hester%20does%20not%20break.
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/section4/
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25344/25344-h/25344-h.htm
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Unknown1 April 2021 at 17:53
Hester Prynne has dramatically changed since she was first introduced in the prison where she was publicly humiliated for her sin, adultery. She was a beautiful tall woman who seemed to shock the crowd with her strong character immediately. Society viewed her as a sinner and many believed she deserved a very large punishment; some would even say death. She was forced to wear the letter “A” on her bosom, for as long as it would take to redeem herself. At this point of the story, years have gone by, and Hester has grown not only as an individual, but as a mother as well. She has grown from her mistake and has chose to move forward from it, being an important figure to the community. She has accepted the past and her wrong doing’s and has chose to keep to herself and live a quiet life, where she shall not interfere with others and their motives. She has done nothing but respect the community and endured years of shame and regret which has allowed her to redeem herself towards most of the community and has now gained a different perception of the new person she has become.

In order for Hester to grow as a person, she needed time spent alone to reflect and grow from past experiences. She has understood, accepted and overcome her wrong doing’s and has spent most of her time alone with her daughter Pearl, who has had a major impact on her progression. Hester spent a lot of her time using her embroidery skills. Although people didn’t appreciate it at first, many eventually began to enjoy her imaginative skill. She became known for it, and many people of the town often wore her pieces. Hester continued to aid the town with all that she could, and people eventually began to see her as a new woman.

This kind of character development is often seen in books and movies, a good example of this Wanda Maximoff from The Avengers Age of Ultron. Wanda was originally known as the Scarlet witch, and was working with Ultron who is the antagonist of the movie. At the beginning of the movie, she was hated for going against the Avengers. Unbeknown to her, Ultron was trying to destroy the world and was trying to create a new version of it. After finding this out, she realizes wat she is supporting is wrong and in turn joins forces with the Avengers to take down Ultron. She is viewed as a hero, for defeating the antagonist.

These stories allow for us to understand that everyone has good within and people do change despite the challenges they are faced with. It takes a strong person to not only admit and accept the wrong they’ve done, but to stay in the town with the people who detested her shows us the type of person she really is, independent, strong and proud. Hester showed them she was more than just one awful mistake. It is part of life to make errors, however the way you handle the situation Is what is shown about your character.
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Unknown1 April 2021 at 17:54
Posted By: Hannah
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Unknown1 April 2021 at 18:39
At chapter 13, Hester is at the point in her character development where she becomes an active member in her town, she gets to feel what it’s like to be a real woman in her society. Hester does many things to help around the town with no expectation of anything in return. Hester gives away her spare money to the when in fact they have more than she does, she makes clothes for the poor using her incredible needle work, she assists the dying in their last moments to comfort them. Hester has changed drastically throughout the story, she went from seen as a terrible sinner who wasn’t accepted by her community, to a present member of her community, respected by her community. But Hester does not associate with the others because she thinks that it is part of punishment, that she cannot enjoy anything even though her punishment is over, and she could technically take of the scarlet letter from her bosom. But Hester does not think she has served enough time to make up for her sin.

This type of character development is very common in many story plots where a character is seen as a horrible, evil person, but in the end they are shown to have emotion and feel bad for the horrible things they have done, such as in the movie “The Grinch stole Christmas" where the antagonist, the Grinch, thinks that Christmas is all about the gifts, foods and the decorations. He then steals all these things from the Who’s and was surprised to find that they still smile and sing without all their things. In the end the Grinch learns that Christmas spirit is more than just gifts and decorations and is something that is found within everyone. The Grinch is viewed as a bad guy in the beginning and is disliked by the community but in the end is seen as good guy, as he shows his emotions and ends up dining with one of the Who families. This type of character development is seen as in The Grinch and in The Scarlet Letter, but in many other movies pr books as well.

In The Scarlet Letter which is written around 200 years ago, it is seen that the justice system is drastically different from our modern justice system. In The Scarlet Letter, the justice system as used on Hester uses public humiliation and a small sentence in prison to serve her time for her crime of adultery. Nowadays, adultery is a common crime, it happens all the time, but it is not dealt with the same as it was 200 years ago. In modern society it is known for people to cheat on their significant other and to get away with it. If they are married, they simply get a divorce, and move on with their lives. There is no jail time or forced upon public humiliation. Over 200 years the justice system has changed drastically from what it is today.

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-was-hesters-punishment-609909
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Unknown1 April 2021 at 18:40
published by Naomi
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Logan2 April 2021 at 13:33
When we are first introduced to Hester, it is easy to interpret her actions as being done with little regard to her faith. Though as the story progresses, we learn the reasons why she has sinned which support and justify her actions. The drab environment and the severely judgemental people surrounding her lead herself and Pearl to be exiled from the rest of the community, causing Hester to rely heavily on her daughter for support emotionally. Eventually, this leads to Hester becoming used to the looks from others and allows for her to become more involved with the community. While she is still seen as someone who has sinned and is being punished for it, her actions which benefit the community begin to be recognized to some extent. I think Hester’s patience with others helped her to reconnect with everybody much faster than if she were to have retaliated against the punishments they had put in place.

While Hester feels isolated, she is fortunate enough to have her daughter Pearl to support her and remind her of the things she has done wrong, and the things she is doing to better herself. This is shown well when she cries, “I will not give her up!”, after it is considered that Pearl be taken away from her. Dimmesdale backs her up by saying “[…] it is good for this poor, sinful woman that she hath an infant immortality, a being capable of eternal joy or sorrow, confided to her care[…] to remind her, at every moment, of her fall”. (Hawthorne, 139) I find the circumstances Hester goes through are reminiscent of Khan’s journey in Star Trek. While Hester is alone with Pearl by her side “supporting her”, she begins to improve her ways as a Puritan. Khan is similar in that he is alone when he is aboard the USS Enterprise and strives to reconnect with his crew in the torpedoes surrounding him. Unfortunately, Khan delves deeper into evil (sin) as his journey goes on, harming anyone standing in his path. Whereas Hester (and Pearl) begin to improve themselves up until this point by becoming active members of society.

Both Hawthorne and the authors of Star Trek make the audience feel sympathy for Hester, and Khan, while demonstrating how their punishments are their own faults. In Hester’s case she was not in love with the man she was forced to marry, resulting in her falling in love with another man. While Khan’s case is more dystopian, being exiled for threatening the lives of people around him because of his savage ways and increased strength/intelligence. In Hester’s situation, the reader can see that she loved the man she cheated on her husband with an she is reluctant to expose his identity, which shows how she is insightful when it comes to her thought process. The towns perspective on her also changes as she explains why she committed adultery; her punishment is mad less severe because of this which shows the communities sense of pity/sympathy towards her. As time goes on, she begins to help the less fortunate and produce clothing for others in need. This allows for her to connect with the people around her and show them that their decision to punish her lightly for her sins was a good decision.

From the perspectives of Hester and Khan, it can be observed that depending on the severity of isolation someone is exposed to, the more severe their actions will be against others. Hester was exiled from others, though still had occasional contact with other people around her; while this could be bad (because of the negative stigma surrounding her name), the exposure to others helped her reconnect. In the shoes of Khan, he was exiled with a larger group of people, though was awoken alone, and was considered extremely evil and dangerous. Khan’s exposure to others was different from Hester in that he held a grudge against everybody around him while Hester accepted what she had done wrong. I think that this proves that depending on the person being rehabilitated, their actions and “recovery” may differ greatly if they do not see their punishment as fair.
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Mariam8 April 2021 at 07:01
Wow, this book was something else, I honestly do not know what do think or feel about it. Although, one thing I am sure about is that Hester Prynne is a strong and inspiring woman. She committed a terrible sin in the eyes of the Puritans of that era. A sin so unforgivable that she was sentenced to prison for a lengthy period of time, and she was forced to public humiliation for three hours, but in truth even after she got out of prison, she was still subject to that public humiliation. Not only was she subject to it but so was her innocent little child, who no one wanted anything to do with. She was born an outcast. The sentence that Hester should have actually gotten was to be thrown in jail, have her head shaved, get whipped and to be paraded for everyone to see, possibly to even be executed. I learned from this book that women did not have in that time, they were the ones talking badly about her, and wishing she would get executed, they showed her no mercy. The question remains would they have wanted to be shown mercy if they had been tempted by such a horrific sin. The answer would for sure be yes, but humans in that time thought they were not capable of such wrongdoing, because they were above it all, only the evilest humans had that capability, but in truth, humans were made to get tempted and therefore sin, additionally, go through many tests to see who has a stronger will power and deserve a better afterlife.

She had repented from the get-go, but it took about seven year for her to have proven it to everyone else, when someone repents in my opinion, it should not have to be proven to other, it should be something felt by oneself period. Throughout the seven years it took her to prove herself, she did more community work and she help many people, whether it was by making them clothing, food, caring for the elders on their death bed, the sick when a disease stuck or just simply taking their horrible attitudes, most of those people to which she put their needs before her own mocked her, although she was more in need. She was able to change the meaning of her scarlet letter “A” from standing for “Adultery” to meaning “Able,” because of her charitable deeds. When she was granted permission to remove her scarlet letter she refused, saying that if she were worthy, it would fall away or change its meaning, which she ended up accomplishing but did not remove it because the initial thing it stood for still weighed on her. I do wonder in thing, it is concluded from the text that she has committed adultery because she got pregnant, what I wonder is that if she had not gotten pregnant and she still had a choice just like Dimmesdale, to either confess to the sin or hid it would she have confessed or kept quiet and let it consumes her on the inside.
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Kaylah8 April 2021 at 10:35
Hester is the town’s scapegoat. The people of the town shun her. Hester never revels how she truly feels about her punishment. She wears her A proudly, it is beautifully sewn to her chest. She is proud of her love. She is a criminal in the eyes of the people and of God. Hester committed adultery. When she first re-enters society, she is a walking ghost. She beings to feel shame for her sin. Hester is eventually gifted with the knowledge that everyone is a sinner. She is proud to be different then the Puritan colony. She uses her passion of sewing to give back to the town. She continues to show kindness to the town flocks. Her charitable acts warm the town heart, and she becomes beloved by all. There is even talk about getting her A removed.
Hester’s isolation with her daughter turns her cold. She hides her personality. Shown by her tied up hair, that she only lets down in front of her lover. Before she realises that everyone has secrets and sins, she is lost in her own thought. She began to think that she didn’t need anyone else but Pearl. The best lesson she learns is the power of humility. “When humble, I am teachable. When full of myself, I am full of shit. One cannot graft new ideas on a closed mind.” (Tim Hurly) Hester only gains happens when she forgives the town for resenting her and shows humility.
Rehabilitation is giving someone a second chance at life. It is helping someone by giving them the strength and support they need to get back to being their self’s. My future carrier will be dedicated to the rehabilitation of wildlife, and allowing them a chance to be the wild animal they were meant to be. The town rehabilitates Hester back into society by praising her crafts and admiring her for her kind actions. Hester eventually feels like herself again, after years is darkness. She becomes a nun and her A is a symbol for Able.
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Ashleigh Picard19 April 2021 at 17:10
Hester Prynne, heroine of The Scarlet Letter, is a very strong women. In chapter 13, 7 years have gone by and things have changed. Hester has redeemed respect from the community for her good deeds. She became more active in the society, helping the poor and nursing the ill. She became somewhat of a religious figure putting others before herself and a part of the community. Hester changed others views of her letter A. Instead of the shame it was original there for as a cause of her sin of adulterer, it symbolizes respect, goodness and admiration. Hester truly is a survivor and a strong women as she makes it through complete social shunning, raising pearl on her own, and helping a community that rejected her. In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter Hester’s way of getting through everything was her daughter Pearl, and even though that was her sin, she found the inner strength to fight through it. She defied both the town and local government and became stronger. She was determined to keep and raise her daughter as a great mother when the governor confronted the issue of her guardianship. When Governor Bellingham tried to take Pearl away from her Hester freaked out and showed her determination. "God gave me the child! Ye shall not take her! I will die first! God gave her into my keeping. I will not give her up!" This shows Hester’s determination and how she had some passion in her life, her will to keep fighting. Hester’s thrive to keep being a great mother, helping out the community after everything, keeping it together herself and staying strong shows her unique character and her will power throughout the novel.
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