Hester Prynne Choices

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In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, the protagonist of the novel Hester Prynne finds herself making critical decisions. It is said that the choice’s one makes defines our character. The beautiful and spirited Hester Prynne is misled by temptation and commits adultery. The community condemns Hester by forcing her to wear a letter “A” for adulterer, and they publicly shame her. The Puritans frown upon Hester and Pearl, the product of Hester’s sin. The public humiliation and obstacles Hester goes through invigorates her with strength to triumph. On the day Hester is led to the town scaffold, the townspeople, who had no sympathy for her, taunted her with cruel and harsh words. When Hester is questioned about who was Pearl’s…show more content…
She could have fled to Europe or any other place where she could hide under a new identity. “But there is a fatality, a feeling so irresistible and inevitable that it has the force of doom, which almost invariably compels human beings to linger around and haunt, ghost-like, the spot where some great and marked event has given the color to their lifetime.” (Hawthorne 60). Hester haunts the town because it is where her sin took place; it is where her life changed. The bond between Hester and this town could not be broken, her sin rooted her in the soil and she must redeem and repent on these grounds. Hester is contently reminded of her mistake by the “A” on her bosom, Pearl the product of this sin, and the townspeople constantly taunting her. At Church, the sermons are about Hester; she is a living sermon. Despite the negativity and hypocrisy around her, Hester uses it to her advantage and becomes a stronger individual. The choices one makes determines whom we become, because of the predicament Hester was in, it required her to become a woman of dignity and strength. Hester bravery dominates all of her weaknesses, and allows her to flourish into a proficient, independent woman. The outcome of Hester’s choices conveys her
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