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The story opens with Hester Prynne standing silently on the scaffold in the middle of a town square in 18 th century Boston. Hester, holding her small child in her arms, is publicly on trial for adultery. The town people, especially the women, are not happy that Hester has been sentenced only to wear a scarlet letter and to stand on a public platform for a few hours of public humiliation. However, the judge has decided to be merciful to her because, over all, she has been a good citizen up to this point. Even after hours of questioning by the authorities, Hester still will not reveal the name of the man who committed adultery with her.
The father of her child, Arthur Dimmesdale, a respected minister, feels horrible to see her in this situation, but stands by in the crowd and says nothing. Eventually, he even joins in asking her to reveal the father's name. In a way he hopes she will confess and relieve him of his guilt. Suddenly, Hester recognizes her husband in the crowd surrounding the scaffold. When he realizes that she is on trial for committing adultery he promises himself that he will find the father and make sure that he is also punished. Two years before her trial, Hester arrived in a Boston harbor from Amsterdam, and she is married to an icy scholar, going by the alias Chillingworth, who is much older than she is.
He had sent her alone to New England with plans to follow behind much later even though they were newly married at the time. Since then, two years have gone by and he has not even written her a letter. Hester believed that he must have gone down in a shipwreck. Later, when Chillingworth is allowed into her jail cell as a physician, he pressures her to give up the father's name and she refuses to give in to him. In response, she is ordered never to tell anyone who Chillingworth really is and she promises him that she will not.
The next day, she is released from the prison, and she and her baby daughter, Pearl, are moved to a small, isolated cottage in the woods just outside of town. She manages to make the money that she needs to survive by sewing clothes for the people from town. Against puritan tradition, she also sews brightly colored, extravagant looking dresses for Pearl. The dresses serve to reflect Pearl's energetic and disobedient personality. Because of these clothes, and because of Pearl's wild behavior some of the town authorities decide to interview Hester and the child to see if Hester is really fit to be a mother.
The governor and the head minister are about to take Pearl away and place Pearl with a new parent when Rev. Dimmesdale suddenly intervenes. He tells them that Hester's daughter was given to her by God to be her only comfort and to serve as a reminder of the sin that she committed. Because of the love and respect that the town gives to Dimmesdale, Pearl is finally allowed to stay with Hester. Dimmesdale, still angry with himself for lying to the town people and for leaving Hester so long without a husband, is constantly sick and nervous and continually clutches his heart. Chillingworth, who pretends to want to help him, realizes that the reverend's sickness is not medical and decides that it must come from some deep sense of guilt.
He comes to the conclusion that Dimmesdale must be Pearl's father and slowly begins to plan his revenge. He begins by moving into the same house as Dimmesdale, pretending that the minister's condition has deteriorated to the point that in-home care is needed. Somehow, in a way that the book does not explain, Dimmesdale psychologically tortures the minister through his sly comments and constant presence. His methods are so subtle that even though Dimmesdale feels constantly pressured by him he doesn't really know why and he assumes his condition must be making him paranoid. One day, while Dimmesdale is sleeping, Chillingworth opens his shirt and finds a strange wound on his chest above his heart. Some time later, Dimmesdale, who can't sleep, goes out for a walk in the middle of the night and climbs up the steps of the scaffold.
Hester and pearl just happen to walk past. Without explaining why, he calls them up onto the scaffold, and the three of them stand together openly in the darkness. As they stand there together, a meteor forms a gigantic red letter "A" in the sky. By the light of the meteor, Dimmesdale notices that Chillingworth has been watching the entire thing. Hester goes to Chillingworth and begs him to leave Dimmesdale alone, but instead he only gives her permission to finally tell Dimmesdale who he really is. The next day, Hester waits for Dimmesdale in the forest where he usually walks.
She tells him that the doctor is really her husband and that to escape him they should leave Boston and start a new life together somewhere new. At first, Dimmesdale, who secretly still wants to confess, says no to the plan but eventually tells Hester to go ahead and make the arrangements. They plan to leave the day after Election Day, a very important holiday for the puritans. On Election Day, everyone in town comes together to see the large parade that honors the newly elected governor. Dimmesdale has a very important place in this parade and is expected to speak publicly afterwards. After the parade, he gives his best sermon ever, while Hester and pearl stand waiting in the crowd.
Hester is then informed that an extra passenger, Roger Chillingworth, will accompany them to Boston on the ship. After the sermon, the parade starts over again. This time Dimmesdale walks like a zombie and almost collapses in the middle of the parade. Seeing Hester and pearl standing near the scaffold, he climbs onto it, with them by his side, and confesses his sin to the crowd.
He bears the bleeding "A" shaped wound on his chest and collapses onto the platform. He asks his daughter for a kiss and then dies in Hester's arms. A year later, Chillingworth also dies and leaves his entire fortune to Pearl. Hester and Pearl spend some time in Europe, Pearl gets married and has a child of her own, and eventually Hester goes back to Boston to live out her last few years.
She eventually dies there and is buried next to Dimmesdale's grave. They share one tombstone marked with a scarlet letter A. Minor Characters John Wilson The oldest, most important minister in Boston. He also is based on an actual person, an English minister who came to Boston around 1630.
At one point, he delivers a scathing sermon on the sin of adultery. He also is present during every scaffold scene, and he represents the Church in the novel. Governor Bellingham The governor of the colony, He is based on an actual person who served several terms as governor of Boston. He is harsh in his dealing with Hester and is present during every scaffold scene. He represents the government in the novel. Mistress Hobbies The disliked and rebellious sister of Governor Bellingham, she represents everything that her brother stands against.
She, like him, is based on an actual figure from history, who was executed for witchcraft. She represents the evil that Hester is ashamed of, and magically finds out about all of Hester's sins, bringing them up to her every time she can. Eventually she even invites Hester to join in her witchcraft. The Captain The commander of the ship that will take Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl away. His only function is to help escalate the tension at the end of the novel by informing Hester that Chillingworth has also booked a ticket on his ship. The Sexton The sexton of Dimmesdale's church.
Being an average citizen, like most of the townspeople he just cannot believe that the minister could be guilty of anything, especially adultery. When he sees the scarlet letter appear in the sky above the minister, he somehow knows that it represents Dimmesdale, but he's sure that it must stand for "Angel." Major Characters Hester Prynne Hester is the main character of the novel. She is a young, strong, principled, and beautiful woman. Everything about her is oppressed by the Puritan lifestyle. She clearly represents the author's vision of vibrant, unbridled womanhood set against a back drop of grim, shadowy puritans. Hester's character is never meant to be easy to define.
She is a real, living, growing, changing women in a world of falseness and asexuality, and she cannot simply be labeled as the cold-hearted sinner the puritans make her out to be. Hester is neither a sinner nor a saint, but a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, and in love with the wrong man, living in an unforgiving society that she can never relate to. Its obvious that no matter what choices Hester makes for herself, she will be forced to give up something huge...
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Research essay sample on Hester And Pearl Hester Prynne
