Hester Prynne Changes

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The character Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter is a key example of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s common change of individuals in his books. These changes involve the qualities of her feminine emotions, reputation among the townspeople and her physical appearance. In the novel, it is mentioned how Hester’s character develops and changes several times which provides the reader with better understanding of the impact of the scarlet letter and that other characters have on her. Hester Prynne lives in a Puritan town that strives on perfection, when Hester committed adultery the town of Salem was deeply disappointed and angry. Hester responded to their actions by changing the meaning of the scarlet letter. The Puritans were extremely…show more content…
The scaffold makes Hester feel more ashamed and more guilt for her crime but also somewhat redeemed. She uses the Puritan ways to strengthen herself emotionally. The people in her society used and judged her, which made Hester a stronger person. Hester was an outcast, which made her more independent because she was banned from a lot of the things in her town. It made her have a difficult time trusting people because she had no one to rely on but herself. It was a tough time for Hester, wearing the scarlet letter “A” resembled adultery, which Hester was not proud of therefore she, strived to become a better person and change the scarlet letter meaning. Hester showed the town that she could do well and she was indeed trying to change her ways. Her daughter Pearl made this even more important; it meant a lot to Hester that she set a good example for Pearl. Hester deeply loved Pearl and did not want to lose Pearl’s respect. Hester sewed to make money to support herself and Pearl. In the book Hester changes her mind about her sin she see’s her sin as not sinful but she does regret committing it. She worked hard to give clothes and food to the poor to make the townspeople think the scarlet letter stands for able rather then adultery. Her actions of helping the poor causes the towns people to start to think the “A” stands for angel instead of adultery. Hester begins to believe that the adultery was not evil but beautiful therefore she should not feel guilt any more, but for the sake of womanhood she is still regretful that she did it. She feels regretful because she thinks that if she did not commit adultery she could have brought more to the world. At the end she finally showed her inward feelings and denied the Puritan ways, she went threw many obstacles to do
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