Character Analysis of Hester Prynne

HESTER PRYNNE

Created by: Emily Sapp, Noelle Lenoir, and Dakota La Ravia

Period 2

Background

Rev. Dimmesdale and Hester have an affair

She is branded with scarlet A on her dress

Proves to be a charitable woman in time

Role of Hester

"Now thou art my

mother indeed! And I

am thy little Pearl!"

(174).

She is an outcast who becomes a hero for women

"Women...came to Hester's

cottage, demanding why they

were so wretched, and what

the remedy! Hester comforted

and counselled them, as best

she might" (215).

She is despised

and becomes

accepted

"...the scarlet letter ceased to be a

stigma which attracted the world's scorn

and bitterness, and became a type of

something to be sorrowed over, and

looked upon with awe, yet with

reverenc too" (215).

Hester's

Motivation

Hester's movitavtion

is her daughter

Pearl

Hester loves Pearl so much, she pleas to

keep her

"I can teach my little

Pearl what I have learned

from this [her scarlet letter]!" (Hawthorne 92).

Hester would sell

herslef to the

Devil for Pearl, or

even die for her

"Had they taken her from

me, I would willingly have

gone with thee into the

forest, and signed my

name in the Black Man's

book too, and that with

mine own blood!" (Hawthorne 97).

What are some of Hester's internal conflicts?

Internal Conflicts

Struggles with the pressure to reveal Dimmesdale as her lover

"'Never!' replied Hester, looking not at Mr. Wilson, but into the deep and troubled eyes of the younger clergyman. 'It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would I that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!'" (Hawthorne 62).

Struggles with keeping the secret of Chillingsworth's true identity

"Hester could not but ask herself, whether there had not originally been a defect of truth, courage, and loyalty, on her own part, in allowing the minister to be thrown into a position where so much evil was to be foreboded..." (Hawthorne 155).

Struggles with her love for Pearl and the reminder of her sin

"'God gave me the child!' cried she. 'He gave her, in requital of all things else, which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness!- she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter...'" (Hawthorne 104).

Struggles with the admittance of Chillingsworth as her husband and Dimmesdale as Pearl's father

External Conflicts

The townspeople

"'I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy... I shall see him tremble... Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!'" (Hawthorne 70).

Priests who try to take Pearl away

"It had reached her ears, that there was a design on the part of some... to deprive her of her child. On the supposition that Pearl... was of deomn origin... If the child... were really capable of moral and religious growth... [it would be wiser to transfer a] better guardianship than Hester Prynne's."

What does Hester symbolize?

Symbolism

Passion

"It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!" (Hawthorne 74).

Sin

The whole point of Hester being forced to wear the letter was to humiliate her and inform anyone who encountered her that she was a sinner

Guilt

"The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread" (Hawthorne 190).

Hawthorne, Jr., Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New

York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Print.

Hester and Chillingsworth. Digital image. Lit2Go. Educational Technology Clearinghouse, 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

Hester at Her Needle. Digital image. Hawthorne in Salem. Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, 2010. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

Hester in the Marketplace. Digital image. UHSAPlit. Tangient LLC, 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

Hester Prynne. Digital image. Imbd.com. Turner Network Television, 1990. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

The Scarlet Letter. Digital image. Glogster. Glogster, Inc., 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

She is a sinner who

learns to become

a mother

Dies with a certain respect from town

Survives by skill of stitching

She gives birth to Pearl

Hester's disgrace is publicized

She is ostracized and forced to live elsewhere

Works Cited

Who is Hester Prynne?

What role does Hester play in the Scarlet Letter?

The Scarlet Letter

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

How does Hester contribute to the theme of the Scarlet Letter?

Theme

What motivates Hester?

Ability to change

Inward guilt

What are some of Hester's external conflicts?

Sin

Chillingsworth