Hester Prynne Char Sketch

Hester Prynne

Throughout the book, Hester Prynne’s experiences a lot from the Puritan society. One of these experiences is the scarlet letter “A” they forced her to wear. The scarlet letter change her in several ways; including her confidence, her appearance, her view of the Puritans, and how she feels about the letter “A”. Hester was considered an outcast in society because of what she did. Hester began a whole new life for herself and as a result was changed immensely.

In the beginning of the book Hester is a very confident woman, but eventually she loses her confidence and allows the Puritans to terrorize her. When Hester is being led out of the jail by the town beadle “she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” This is a very bold move by Hester especially under such tremendous circumstances. While Hester displayed confidence here, later in the book she loses this and begins to just take the pain that the Puritans cause her. The people of the town “were accustomed to distill drops of bitterness into her heart” but “Hester had schooled herself long and well; she never responded to these attacks, save by a flush of crimson that rose irrepressibly over the pale cheek.” Hester emerged from the jail with strength but was forced to change, and hide this strength to get along the best she could and continue to support herself and her daughter. She was able to adapt and this benefited her for the time being, but later would be a punishment.

Living outside of the Puritan society allowed Hester to change the way she saw the Puritan people of the town. Hester lived on the outskirts of town and was no longer a participant of the actual community, because of this she was able to see people from a different perspective. “The scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts.”

Hester’s appearance began to change because of living away from the Puritan society and the constantly being identified by the scarlet letter. Hester was once a “young woman with a figure of perfect elegance and dark abundant