The Righteous Hester Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter

The Strong and Righteous Hester of The cherry-red garner What lies be posterior us and what lies before us atomic number 18 small matters compared to what lies inside us, stated Oliver Wendell Holmes. This lastly proves to be especially true for Hester Prynne, the main fibre in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, a fair young maiden whose conserve had disappeared two years prior to the opening of the novel, has an affair with the pastor of her prude church, resulting in the birth of her child Pearl. Because of this act of adultery, Hester Prynne is branded by the flushed letter A, which she is forced to forever wear upon her attire. The plot thickens as Hesters former(prenominal) husband returns to New England and becomes fixated upon the idea of revenge towards Hesters anonymous partner in sin. At the same time, the feeble pastor slowly begins to waste out towards the gloomy gates of death. However, as those around her grow ever weaker or morally decayed , Hester grows ever stronger. Hester grows so strong and morally righteous that it appears that she is real favored by Hawthorne despite her sin. The qualities which cause Hester to be favored are her traits of helpfulness towards others, her intense maternal love towards Pearl, and her defiance and pride exhibit towards those who attempt to impose their values upon her. Even as those she assisted were unrelenting towards her, Hester remained generous and helpful towards others. For example, after becoming recognized as a talented seamstress and gradually beginning to earn fairly queen-sized sums of money, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less wretched than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them.... ... compared with a soulfulnesss true nature. For Hester Prynne, though she had sinned in her past, she came across as strong and admirable because she was a benevolent person on the inside. She sought purity and truth to compensate for her unalterable past. Therefore, her wrongdoings were eventually overlooked in enlightenment of her better qualities. A coward can hind in the shadows of reputations and prejudgments, but only a hero can pommel these and manage to step into the daylight. Works Cited and Consulted Canby, Henry S. (1996). A Skeptic clashing with His Time and His Past. Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 55- 63). San Diego Greenhaven. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York St. Martins, 1991. Scharnhorst, Gary. The Critical Response to Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter. New York Greenwood, 1992.