Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

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hester is strong female but not feminist novel According to the Merriam Webster website, the definition of feminism is the belief that men and woman should have equal rights and opportunities. In the novel Hester is portrayed as someone who stands up and admits her own sin, a sin that no puritan, especially female, should ever commit, adultery. She is admired for her bravery and honesty as a woman, and can be portrayed as a strong female character. Dimmesdale on the other hand, is too weak to confess throughout all the novel, yet he is the one who gets what he desired in life, his salvation at the end of his life. The scarlet does portray Hester as strong female character, but the novel is not a feminist novel, because of the fact that it is written by a male. …show more content…
Even though the A upon her chest was meant to symbolise the shame of her adultery, even the citizens are stated to have “ [not] interpret the letter A by its original significance. They said that it meant Abel, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 91). The same citizens who brought shame upon Hester, and looked down down upon her turns out to have been literally and symbolically actually looked up to her upon the scaffold, and now look up to her as the strong independent puritan woman they have never seen

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne has committed adultery, and her subsequent bearing of an illegitimate child has cast her beyond the pale of polite society. It is difficult for us, in the late twentieth century, to comprehend exactly what this means. She is permitted to remain in Salem, and to work among the townspeople and interact with them. But she is never to be allowed to forget for a minute the enormity of her sin. To reinforce this, she is obligated to wear on her…

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, protagonist Hester Prynne is exiled from society when she is forced to dawn a scarlet “A” upon her chest. This is punishment for Hester’s adulterous union with Arthur Dimmesdale, followed by the birth of their illegitimate child. Although, written one hundred and fifty years ago Hawthorne’s novel contains concepts and insights still relevant to today’s readers. Hawthorne’s themes of sin, judgment, feminism, and redemption have made The Scarlet Letter…

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