Hester Prynne's Repression

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Hester Prynne's Repression Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, is the story of a young woman, who is an obvious member of the Puritan society. We see in the beginning, that after committing adultery with a minister, Hester unintentionally bores a child into this small, oppressive Puritan society in the mid 1600's. In the beginning, Hester Prynne, is repressed by her community when she is forced to wear the letter “A” relating her commitment of adultery with Minister Dimmadale, but soon after her acceptance of the sin; she embraces the letter, and changes the meaning of her scarlet letter “A” for Adultery to an "A" for Able, and becomes an active member in the oppressive Puritan society. Although many say that Hester was repressed by her community, she stayed stong and became a rather social member of society eventhough her sin was looked down upon by many of the members of her community. Hester became a great aid to the community, by often socializing in her job of needlework. She blossomed in a way that contradicted the status she had been given in the beginning of the novel. We see the irony in this novel, as Hester's scarlet letter begins to gain respect rather than its first intent of dishonor. In the woods, Dimmesdale says to Hester, "Happy are you, Hester, to wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!" This quote shows how finally after all this time, Hester has finally come to reality in that you can always pick out the good in every bad happening. Dimmsdale shows that he is too "disgraced" in the revelation of his sin, and is rather proud of Hester's "turn around". In the end all readers should see that Hester was in fact successfully repressed, but perservere, and you can always turn your own life around; as Hester
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