How Does Hester Prynne Change In The Scarlet Letter

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Redgrizzdoe Mrs Heavens Advanced English 10 October 28 2012 Scarlet Letter “The A” In the Scarlet Letter, many people are affected, but nobody is affected more than Hester Prynne. Hester is a woman living in Boston who commits adultery and has a daughter named Pearl. She is forced to put an A on her chest as punishment for her sin. By doing this, she is looked down upon by the town people, she becomes very popular around the town, and her way of life and perspective on things change completely. People begin to look down on Hester when the A is pinned upon her chest. People are disgusted by Hester’s wrong doing and feel the need for harsh punishment. A woman cries out, ‘“This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die”’ (Hawthorne…show more content…
Everyone knows Hester because of the sin she committed and everyone knows her punishment, the letter A on her chest. She of course, does not like all this negative attention because it is affecting her lifestyle and the lifestyle of her child, Pearl. Early in the third chapter a man asks a townsman who Hester is. The townsman replies, “‘You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend, else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne, and her evil doings’” (Hawthorne pg. 57).In the market place, people criticize Hester as she emerges from the prison door and makes her way to the scaffold to be publicly condemned. Women in the crowd make comments of the letter A on her chest. She is sentenced to stand on the scaffold for three hours is forced to wear the A on her chest for the rest of her of life. ‘“A wise sentence!’” says a stranger in the crowd. ‘“Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone’” (Hawthorne pg. 59). After being released form the prison, she allowed to move out of Boston, but instead she moves to an abandoned cabin on a lot of land right on the edge of town to avoid some of the
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