Hester Prynne Analysis

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Who is Hester Prynne? In the book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many characters undergo changes throughout the novel. Whether it is a good one or a bad one, there is a change of some sort. Hester Prynne, for example, is an excellent example of a character that experienced a drastic change. Hester Prynne changed in a positive way because at first she was ashamed of her sin, she then begins to want to change herself and how others view her, and finally she fully accepts herself for what she did and wants to start over in life, to have a new beginning. In the beginning of the story, Hester is introduced to the reader and is described as a foul sinner and should be sentenced to death. Instead she is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest which signifies her as an adulterer. The torture and mockery she has to put up with makes her feel ashamed for what she has done. When she is in the courtroom and someone asks who she is, another individual responds, “You must be a stranger in this region, friend, else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne and her evil doings,” (pg. 56: Bantam Classic). Everyone in town only sees her as an evil doer. She also has to put up with people’s torture as they harass her, trying to get her into telling who the father of her child is. The Reverend Mr. Wilson said, “Speak out the name! That and thy repentance may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy breast,” (pg. 64: Bantam Classic). Even though they allow her to repent for her sins by confessing, she refuses to admit who her child’s father is. As the story progresses, Hester begins to see if she can begin to change her life for the better. She begins to realize that this sin that she carries with her doesn’t have to hold her back from progressing in life, but it is hard at first. “All the light and the graceful foliage of her character had been withered
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