In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale committed adultery, an unacceptable sin in Puritan times. As a result of their sin, a baby girl is born, whom her mother names Pearl. Of her own free will, Hester faces severe punishment. He must serve many months in prison, stand on the gallows for three hours under public scrutiny, and stick a scarlet letter, "A" on his chest every day as long as he remains in the city of Boston. The letter “A” identified Hester Prynne as an adulteress and an immoral human being. «In this way the young and the pure would be taught to look at it, with the flaming letter on their chest», also «as the figure, the body and the reality of sin» (73). Holding on to sin can lead to alienation and isolation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayOne reason Hester was alienated was her refusal to identify another adulterer. When Hester was released from prison and went to the scaffold, she was asked to reveal the name under which she had committed the sin. Having her heart blinded by love, Hester chooses to stay in town and wear the scarlet letter "A" instead of revealing the other adulterer. She faced society only to protect and be close to the man she still loved. The “impulsive and passionate nature” (54), which seemed pure and natural to Hester, was to be met only with humiliation, without the partner of sin. It seemed that she was paying not only her own consequences, but also those of her lovers. Saying it herself while on the scaffold "I could face his agony as well as my own!" (64). Now, taking on all the blame, he has renounced «all his individuality. Now it would become the "general symbol to which the preacher and the moralist could point, and in which they could vivify and embody their images of woman's fragility and sinful passion" (73). After the sin was revealed, Hester never felt accepted by society again. It seemed to her that "every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact implied, and often expressed, that she was banished" (78) from the city. Hester couldn't walk around town without a child stammering a rude gesture or a stranger looking at her breasts. After the crime of adultery became known to all, Hester's appearance changed completely. Her clothes and the way she wore her hair changed from beautiful and revealing to simple and common. It seemed that Hester tried to blend in as much as possible and go unnoticed with her “ornament, – the scarlet letter, – which she was condemned to wear” (79) displayed quite prominently to everyone throughout the town. Assuming that the Scarlet Letter encounters would have some sort of immunity effect was exactly the opposite of what actually happened. "From the beginning to the end, in short, Hester Prynne always had this terrible agony at feeling a human eye on the token; the stain never became calloused; it seemed, on the contrary, to become more sensitive to the daily torture" (79). Hester and Pearl were placed outside the city in an abandoned cottage far from any habitation. Little children would sneak closer to catch a glimpse of the scarlet letter. After watching her from the window, they "ran away with a contagious fear" (75) as if the scarlet letter burned like fire. Hester's great skill in needlework probably saved her from dying of loneliness because she had "no friend on earth who dared show himself" (75). And although Hester was quite possibly the best dressmaker in Boston, she was incapable of embroidering a bridal valley for any bride. The white valley.
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