Essay about Scarlet Letter

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Alexander Neil Pegram
Ms. Kannianen
English 11 Honors
11 December 2012 An A for Hester In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester fights through a series of many intense issues, some personal, and some very public. Throughout the book Hester goes through many love/hate moments with her letter, building a unique relationship with it. Soon after Hester gets punished for her sins, the letter becomes an intriguing topic for the small town society she lives in. Her daughter Pearl soon begins a particular wonderment for Hester’s letter, forcing her mother to wear the letter each and every day. The scarlet letter holds special meanings throughout the novel; creating a unique tension with Hester, the people closest to her, and to society as a whole. As soon as Hester receives her Scarlet Letter, her life takes a dramatic turn and changes her forever. She describes and displays many feelings that the Letter has spelled upon her. She no longer is afraid to show love, but she also expresses more hate because it keeps her from some she deeply cares for. She handles the letter with its own special kind of care, as if it was meant for prestige and honor. “The effect of the symbol-or, rather, of the position in respect to society that was indicated by it-on the mind of Hester Prynne was powerful and peculiar” (Hawthorne et al. 139). Hester is pushing each and every day to wear her letter as a symbol of her self-punishment and desire to overcome her sins. Hester’s wearing of the letter sparked uncommon discussion in the early Puritan society around her. The town’s people at first consider her as a stranger or outcast, but as time wears on people get over it and realize she’s just as normal as any other human. “Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since”(Hawthorne et al. 139). The townsfolk have a tremendous amount of jealousy for her having an affair, and being able to wear what the folks say is an attractive looking letter. The townsfolk develop a mysterious wonderment as to why Hester seems relatively unfazed wearing the letter day in day
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