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Hester Prynne is a very strongly portrayed character in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester comes into conflict with the rigid beliefs of traditional Puritan Society in which she lives. She poses a threat to the society through her radical thinking, her loyalty to the ones that she loves, and lastly her unwillingness to conform inwardly to the Puritan lifestyle, although she does conform on the outside for the sake of her only daughter, Pearl. Hester poses a threat to Puritan society in the way that she thinks radically in comparison to the Puritans' traditional severely conservative style of thinking. She does not think "radically" in the sense of what one may first consider of when hearing the word "radical." Hester is not a person who thinks so radically that she must start a "revolution" against a certain aspect of society, but hers is a way of thinking in which she keeps her most "rebellious" thoughts to herself and does not blatantly act on them. One subtle way that Hester expresses her inner thoughts is shown in her design of the scarlet letter.
Upon stepping out of the town prison to be marched to the scaffold for her punishment, Hester is seen wearing the scarlet letter for the first time. The ornate design of the letter is best described by the following quote: .".. in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread... " (44). The magnificent appearance of the letter shocks and even angers some members of the colony.
To a group of "good wives", the letter symbolizes that Hester is showing off her skill at the needle and that she is also attempting to make fun of the punishment by appearing to take pride in wearing such a beautiful symbol. By appearing to take pride in wearing the symbol, Hester is also seen as unrepentant for what she has done, which only serves to further infuriate the good wives. By making the bold and beautifully crafted letter, Hester is expressing her inner thoughts which can be considered radical as the colony's outraged reaction to seeing the letter for the first time demonstrated the shocking difference in Hester's style and the normal plain Puritan clothing. Hester takes this into account her personal feelings when she makes the letter, which seem to say that although she is not proud of what she did, neither will she be ashamed. Another example of Hester's radical thinking is her attitude towards her sin. When she steps out of the jail and begins her walk with the beadle to the scaffold, her look is not one of sorrow and shame as the townspeople expect, but it is the direct opposite.
Hester's appearance can best be described by the following quote: .".. with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, [Hester] looked around at her townspeople and neighbors" (44). Hester's facial appearance defies anything that a devout Puritan (in her place) would be thinking. Her "haughty smile, and glance" suggest that she refuses to let the townspeople's opinions of her get to her and make her look down upon herself for her "sin." Again it is seen that Hester's thinking can be considered radical because she is "ahead of her times", so to speak. She is "ahead of her times" in the way that she will not look down upon herself for this "sin." Although she may feel bad about her "sin", she will not spend the rest of her life dwelling upon it (as most traditional Puritans would). Instead Hester realizes hers was a carefully thought- out act of passion.
A final example of Hester's radical thinking occurs towards the end of the story. The scarlet letter had made Hester such an outcast that she has turned from acting solely on her passion and feelings to acting on her thoughts. Because Hester no longer has her place in the community she has assumed .".. a freedom of speculation... " (143), so much so that Hawthorne writes .".. The world's law was no law for her mind" (143), meaning that Hester is now free to think as she wants. Hester's thoughts are described as ."..
shadowy guests, that would have been seen so much as demons knocking at her door... " (143). By this, Hawthorne is stating that to the Puritans her thoughts would have been considered worse than the sin that she committed. Hester's inner thoughts are seen as a threat to Puritan society because they so starkly contrast with the sternly, conservative thoughts of Puritan society. Her thoughts undermine every "moral" that the Puritans hold sacred. Hester's threat to Puritan society is seen in her extreme loyalty to those that she loves and holds dear to her heart. Her first extreme act of loyalty can be seen in the very first scaffold scene in the book.
Hester demonstrates her loyalty to her lover, Reverend Dimmesdale. Despite a bombardment of questioning, prodding, and intimidation from the crowd, Hester refuses to reveal to Reverend Dimmesdale who her lover is. Hester endures the questioning seemingly steadfast on one goal, to not reveal her lovers name. Her loyalty to her lover in this situation is so extreme that she is willing to directly defy prominent figures of the colony, which puts a great amount of mental anguish and grief upon her shoulders. Hester can admit who her lover is and not have to struggle with her secret alone, but her bravery and loyalty persist, and she keeps her secret. Hester is described by Dimmesdale at the end of his questioning in the following quote: "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart!
She will not speak!" (57). This shows that even Dimmesdale it amazed at her loyalty. The fact that she is so loyal to her lover, that she would be willing to "hurt" herself for him, is a threat to the Puritan society as this proves just how strong-willed she is, which is completely uncharacteristic of a woman of her time. Another example of her loyalty would be that Hester chooses by her own free will to stay in the colony.
She remains in the colony despite the fact that she and her child are outcasts. They are forgotten about (unless the townspeople need Hester to sew something for them). She endures daily comments, people staring and pointing at the letter, rumors and lies about her, and alienation from the community. A quote that demonstrates this is the following: ."..
in a thousand other ways, did [Hester] she feel the innumerable throbs of anguish that had been so cunningly contrived for her by the undying, the ever-active sentence of the Puritan tribunal" (72). This shows Hester's tremendous amount of pride and courage that she has in herself. She is still the proud woman she was at the beginning of the book despite years of torment from the townspeople. Hester's loyalty to her own thoughts and herself show that she will not allow herself to appear weak to the townspeople, instead she appears to remain strong-willed and proud of herself by enduring all the pain.
She is yet again a threat to society because she does not follow the "standard" beliefs but follows her own beliefs and what she holds to be of value. A final way in which Hester is a threat to society is through her "appearance" of conforming on the outside while inwardly remaining true to her own own beliefs. In the beginning of the book Hester's face is described as being abnormally beautiful with deep black eyes, but this is all not as important to her physical description as that of her hair. "She had dark abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam... " (44). Therefore Hester's beauty mainly sets her apart from traditional Puritan women. Also Hester's hair is down and hanging free, which contrasts sharply with that of the other women as they wear their hair hidden under hats.
This makes Hester stand out in the colony. Hester realizes she can no longer wear her hair this way and dress in her elegant style clothing as this will alienate her further from the community and she may risk losing Pearl. Therefore she makes the decision to conform. This decision is based solely on Pearl's well fair. Hester wears her hair corned by a hat and dresses in plain style clothing. It is in this way that she conformed on the outside.
On the inside, however, Hester has not changed at all. She is still very defiant and thinks things that no moral Puritan would ever dream of thinking. Her non-conformity on the inside through Pearl. The way Hester dresses Pearl parallels the way that Hester used to dress before wearing the letter. The following is a quote depicting how Pearl is dressed: "The child's attire... was distinguished by a fanciful, or, we might rather say, a fantastic ingenuity... " (70).
This quote shows just how beautifully little Pearl is dressed by her mother, and how subtle Hester is in showing that she has not conformed and still has a mind of her own. A second example of Hester's refusal to conform inwardly is demonstrated by Hawthorne as he writes "The scarlet letter had not done its office" (145). By this Hawthorne is referring to the fact that Hester has a certain "freedom of thought" that many of the Puritan's will not allow themselves to have because of their beliefs. Hester allows herself to think about things deemed "immoral" by the Puritans without punishing herself for thinking them. Inwardly Hester does not agree with what Puritan society wants her to be, as is seen in the previous example. She values her own beliefs over those of the Puritans.
This is why she does not allow the punishment designed to make her repent for her sin affect her. One can see by Hester's radical thinking (thinking ahead of her time), her extreme loyalty to those she love, and her refusal to conform inwardly that she is a threat to Puritan society. This is simply because through all of these examples shown in this paper, Hester is choosing to follow her own beliefs and morals rather than the "set morals and beliefs" of the Puritan society. It is through her subtle actions and sheer determination to express herself that Hester comes into conflict with Puritan society. Bibliography:
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