Melvin Martinez
Mrs. Racer
Prompt B
Persuasive Essay on The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is a strong and powerful women in The Scarlet Letter; who follows her own path, in spite of what Puritan society expects of her. Hester still manages to make a successful life for herself and her daughter even though she is banished from the town for committing the sinful act of adultery. Hester going out in society with the “A” shows her strength because it’s something that not everyone would do if they were on this situation. One of the reason why Hester is strong is because when she was told to “speak; and give your child a father!” (77) She didn’t give a name and she just took all of the blame. Hester not giving a name meant that she had to raise Pearl, her daughter by herself with no help, this also meant that Hester had to take all the responsibility and shame onto herself. Hester could have chosen to tell who the father of pearl is and she would have had someone to share her pain and punishment, but Hester decides to bear all of the consequences of the sin, this shows her strength and how powerful she is. Hester started showing how strong she is since the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, which is when we first meet her on the scaffold that she stands alone with her child not showing how shameful she is, she just stays calm the whole time. This also shows her strength because any other person wouldn’t be able to resist this public humiliation. Hester displays a sense of irony on the scaffold that everyone sees. The irony is the needlework done on the scarlet letter. The letter “A” Hester has made it of gold-thread, and the letter is decorative, “She hath good skill at her needle, that’s certain” (61), this shows how brave Hester is to walk out of
