FREE ESSAY ON THE SCARLET LETTER

THE SCARLET LETTER

The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was an objective description of the
life of Hester Prynne, an adulteress. The novel does not go into specific details of the
thoughts of the woman except to describe the tragic nature of her character. Tragedy
faces the fact that not everything in life ends happily. Therefore, tragedy raises
questions about morality; what is considered right or wrong, the meaning of human
existence, and the control human beings have over their own actions. Hester is a person
that has lead a very tough life for which she, herself is to blame. In examining the
elements of Hubris, Magnitude, and Nemesis will answer that Hester is indeed a tragic
character.
Throughout the novel she faces humiliation by the other people of Boston, but never loses
her sense of pride. Hester Prynne suffers enormously from the shame of her public
disgrace and from the isolation of her punishment; however, she retains her self-respect
and survives her punishment with dignity, grace, and ever-growing strength of character.
From the moment Hester Prynne is introduced into the plot of The Scarlet Letter in
chapter 2, The Marketplace, the reader realizes how prideful she is. As an adulteress,
she is forced to endure ignominy by her peers and is doomed to have the letter A bound to
her heart. When standing on the scaffold as punishment for her sins, she never truly
falters. She holds a three-month-old infant in her arms and attempts to cover her brand
with the child. However, she realizes that the baby symbolizes her sin just as much as
the letter, and decides it's pointless. Hesters' pride is what keeps her from losing all
that she holds dear; therefore it can be said that her tragic flaw is her excessive
pride. 
Throughout many years of her life, the people of her town considered Hester an outcast.
Her daughter feels these repercussions, Pearl, as well, because she has no friends. They
don't associate with others and some instances occurred when Puritan children would throw
rocks at the two. During this time, Hester refuses to make publicly known the name of her
child's father. To bear the weight of her punishment all alone made her even stronger. A
point of magnitude that led Hester to realize that there is a future for Pearl and
herself in Boston. As her life progressed, Hester became less of an outcast in the public
eye. She was gifted at embroidery and was charitable to those less fortunate than she.
(Although Hester was a talented seamstress, she did not make as much money as she could
have because she was not allowed to sew wedding dresses. This is obviously because she
had committed sins that were supposed to be confined to the sanctity of marriage.) Seven
years after she had stood on the scaffold as a criminal, her letter was thought by the
people to mean able as opposed to adulteress. Some time after that the public changed
their views of her again and she was thought of as angel. Even though she wanted to rid
herself of the letter, she knew she couldn't because she had to bear the consequences of
her actions for the remainder of her life, or at the very least the rest of her life in
the Puritan town. 
In The Scarlet Letter, Hester, for her sins, received a scarlet letter, A which she had
to wear upon her chest. This was the Puritan way of treating her as a criminal, for the
crime of adultery. The Puritan treatment continued, because as Hester would walk through
the streets, she would be looked down upon as if she were some sort of demon from Hell
that committed a terrible crime. This would give her much mental anguish and grief. On
the other hand, God's treatment of Hester for her sin was quite different than just a
physical token: he gave Hester the punishment of a very unique child which she named
Pearl. This punishment handed down from God was a constant mental and physical reminder
to Hester of what she had done wrong, and she could not escape it. In this aspect, Pearl
symbolized God's way of punishing Hester for adultery. The way Hesters' life was ruined
for so long was the ultimate price that Hester paid for Pearl. With Pearl, Hesters' life
was one almost never filled with joy, but instead a constant nagging. Pearl would harass
her mother over the scarlet A which she wore. Pearl would also make her own A to wear,
and sometimes she played games with her mother's, trying to hit it with rocks. When
Hester would go into the town with Pearl, the other children would make fun of her, and
Pearl would yell and throw dirt at them. In this treatment, Hester was in a way being
punished for her wrongdoing. Some may say she was getting what she deserved, but others
hold her punishment as being to harsh and unbearable. Through everything Hester and Pearl
underwent in their lives, they proved that strength and perseverance could overcome any
nemesis if the effort is there. 
In conclusion, Hester Prynne was a strong woman who possessed a great deal of integrity
and strength. Her probity was manifested by the way she projected herself, even when
faced with public disgrace. On the outside, it would seem as though the letter did
nothing to hurt her pride. The reader doesn't know what Hester felt internally, but he
does know that she felt the brand of the letter deep in her heart, as if it had become a
part of her. However, this did not affect how she carried herself. Hester Prynne always
had a sense of pride, dignity, and self-respect that surrounded her being and told all
who encountered her she was filled with probity. In the discussion of the key elements of
Hubris, Magnitude, and Nemesis, the answer of whether Hester Prynne is a tragic hero is a
unanimous yes. She suffered and made it through harsh times and led a life of a hero to
her final days.