Introduction
The novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, has a protagonist named Hester Prynne who was forced to live in solitude for her act of adultery. The novel is phased in the era of 1960s which is almost two centuries prior to its year of publication and aims at explaining the plight of a woman who was forced to live with the imposed consequences by the members of the Puritan community in the city of Salem, Massachusetts. With respect to the analysis of her character in the novel, there are some stark contradictions affixed to her life because on one side she was disliked and scorned for her heinous act of adultery and on the other hand her consequent lifestyle of modesty and compassion made her a highly likeable character along the course of the novel.
This essay aims at drawing the character sketch of Hester Prynne, the protagonist of the novel, the Scarlet Letter, and aims at analyzing the various aspects of her character and their relevance in the plot of the novel.
The rise and fall of Hester Prynne in the novel’s plot
The novel began with the description of the adorable beauty of Hester Prynne and the strength of her character is stated to be even stronger than that of her beauty. She eventually lands into the dispute when alleged for the crime of adultery and the Puritan community chastised and humiliated her publically. As a punishment, she was asked to wear an ‘A’ shaped scarlet for the rest of her life but she never gave up and continued with the ongoing phase in her life. She was jailed for a time in which she developed a new level of honesty and modesty by virtue of which she openly accepted her affair and embraced the punishment.
She not only sustained the phase by her strength and vanity but also developed the sense of modesty and compassion for others over the course of time. She hid from the rest of the society and focused on upbringing her daughter. She never gave up on her daughter, Pearl, because she considered her to be a gift of the God. She married an older man later and never disclosed the name of her lover even though she was inflicted with torture for not doing so. By the end of the novel, she developed the unique traits of compassion and generosity by which she helped the needy and gradually gained their affection in return.
The coming sections will be focusing on various aspects of Hester Prynne’s character and personality, as evident in the novel.
Hester Prynne: Physical features, nature/preferences, and personality
The novel describes the physical attributes of Hester right from the first scaffold scene as a young woman with very tall figure and elegance in her appearance. The novel describes her hair to be the most enticing aspect of her physical appearance as "dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam (Hawthorne 20)". The complexion is described with very dark and deeply built eyes adding to the overall perception of well-defined beauty. In a nutshell, it can be said that her personality and physical appearance were extremely promising and attractive and these looks actually became the cause of her misfortune later because she got engaged in Adultery.
In terms of her nature, she was definitely blessed with the inner strength and remained almost poised even during the worst time of her life. Her preferences in the life are not explicitly mentioned in the novel but as per the given details of her physical excellence, she must have been obsessed with maintaining her looks and enjoyed the attention of other men around her.
She was imposed with a punitive sentence to wear an A shaped scarlet, so she hid her hair under a cap and eventually her entire beauty and radiance were lost in its grey shadow. She remained mostly silent and in solitude to maintain her own world of regret and retribution and kept up with her moral responsibility of bringing her daughter up. So, although the scarlet suppressed her outer beauty, it actually strengthened her inner strength to bear the vagaries of life and gradually developed into compassion.
Hester Prynne: family history and hobbies
In terms of her family history, Hester’s family is described as “genteel bit poor English family (Hawthorne 58)" which was affirmed to have a considerable lineage. Due to her poverty, she was asked to marry a much older man named Roger who had very little interest in her and she somehow managed to be in her own world. During an excursion, Roger was lost in the sea and she was abandoned to live as a widow with the Puritan community. During this phase, she committed adultery with a man named Arthur Dimmesdale and it ultimately resulted in the birth of her daughter Pearl.
Although no specific hobbies or avocations are mentioned in the earlier course of the novel but it is also evident that she developed a Samaritan sense of compassion and generosity as her favourite activity over the time. She was eventually perceived as the angel of mercy because of her charitable acts and immense propensity to help the needy. Her habit of charity and compassion magnified over the course of time and eventually made her the legendary figure of Boston (King, “The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne”).
Hester Prynne: Uniqueness of strength in her character and the likeable traits
Hester demonstrated an extreme strength of character in various phases of her life where she had almost no choices and forced to comply with the circumstances (Stiehm, “Lessons from the `Scarlet Letter'”). This aspect of uniqueness in terms of the strength of her character is the most likeable trait of her character. She demonstrated this power of her character at the various tragic instances of her life.
Firstly, she showed the firmness of her character by accepting the consequences when she was sentenced to wear the scarlet by the Puritan community. Secondly, she took a stern stance of hiding her beauty under a cap and started living with her real beauty compressed over almost seven years of life. Thirdly, she faced torture and pain but never revealed the name of her lover when confronted by her husband. Finally, the unique strength in her maternal traits was displayed as she accepted the birth and consequent responsibilities of her daughter by considering her life to be a gift of God (King, “The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne”).
My perception and rationale behind the greatest strength and weakness of Hester Prynne’s character
In terms of the strength, the biggest virtue of the Hester’s character lies in her internal strength to take on the various challenges and fate in her life with utmost modesty and honesty. Her emotional caliber to manage with the instance of public shaming and contempt and her decision to bring her daughter up in solitude has drawn me towards this strength in her character (Stiehm, “Lessons from the `Scarlet Letter'”). In terms of the weakness, the desire of seeking an adulterous behavior to gain some solace from a loveless marriage is the biggest weakness of her character. I have chosen this as the biggest weakness because this was the only cause of all her miseries in life.
I cannot relate to these aspects of Hester’s character because I have not experienced such situation in my life but the above-stated observations are evident in the plot of the novel.
Important lessons learned from the life of Hester Prynne and the Bible
Firstly, Hester’s life gives a lesson on developing a sense of honesty to face the consequences of all the wrong deeds done by self. Secondly, Hester’s stand on handling the tenure of punishment and miseries with extreme modesty and solitude give a better way of developing inner strength during the bad phase of life. Finally, the most important lesson learned from Hester’s life is the importance of valuing a life by considering it to be the gift of God (Stiehm, “Lessons from the `Scarlet Letter'”). She considered her daughter Pearl as a gift of God and never drifted from her responsibilities of managing her upbringing.
Hester’s character has actually posed a potential example of the Biblical verse about compassion given in the Holy Bible. “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12)”, which explains why Hester developed a sense of retribution by assuming a two-fold responsibility of developing compassion and charity.
Conclusion
The essay aimed at exploring and analyzing the various aspects of Hester Prynne’s character and sought the significance of their contribution to the plot of the novel. We found that Hester’s character was endowed with immense strength as she sustained various phases of her life where she had almost no choices and forced to comply with the circumstances. She not only accepted her fate for the child but she also developed the unique traits of compassion and generosity and ultimately rendered her life for the service of the poor. Her good deeds paid back as she gained the affection of the people in return.
Summing it up, it can be definitely concluded that the novel used the character of Hester as the protagonist because her character has a holistic scope of learning regarding how to manage the various aspects of life with true honesty, modesty, and compassion.
Works Cited
"The Bible: English Standard Version". Bible Gateway.Web.25 Oct. 2012.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel."The Scarlet Letter". Simon & Schuster Press,New York, USA, 2004. Print.
King, Katrina. "The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne". Break Point.2014. Web.15 Oct, 2016.
Stiehm,Jamie. "Lessons from the Scarlet Letter".1999.The Baltimore Sun.Web.15 Oct, 2016.
