Hester Prynne vs. Andy Difresne Archetype

1517 Words7 Pages
Travis Tokarek Mr. Faulkner English 11: Period 5 27 September 2012 It’s an Adulterer… It’s A Murderer… They’re One in the Same Hester Prynne is a very strong and tough woman who committed a crime that was very evident to the public. Andy Dufresne is also a cocky man with strong wills and toughness. These were two very different people in two very different time periods who allegedly committed crimes that condemned them for life. Hester’s crime was of obvious guilt because she got pregnant and had a baby named Pearl, the question was; who was the father? Andy’s accusation was a little more wishy-washy because they had no hard evidence that he killed his wife and her lover. Though they are very different with very different crimes, they both fit an archetype called the condemned victim because they both live in a type of jail whether real or metaphorical, both of their crimes deal with life, and they both ended up with their friend/loved one who helped them through the tough times. Hester Prynne was condemned after she committed her crime of adultery and her punishment was to wear a round a Scarlet A on her chest giving the guilt a symbol. This symbol was her jail. A jail of hardships and melancholy that made her stronger and built an unbreakable bond between two people: Hester and Dimmesdale. In Chapter 5 of The Scarlet Letter it compares the” A” and her Prison and how both made everyone point at her and idolize her as the epitome of sin. “Her prison-door was thrown open, and she came forth into the sunshine, which, falling on all alike, seems, to her sick and morbid heart, as I meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast. Perhaps there was a more real torture in her first unattended footsteps from the threshold of prison, than even in the procession and spectacle that have been described, where she was made the common

More about Hester Prynne vs. Andy Difresne Archetype

Open Document