Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter

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Women are generally portrayed as weak, but in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is a strong female character. This was shown through various accomplishments in the novel such as, raising a daughter on her own, wearing the letter “A”, and protecting her lover by not giving out his name. Hester is also a form of feminism for Hawthorne. The definition of feminism can be seen as, a wanting in of equality for the female race. In this novel, Hester represents strength and independence within females. She is very brave and puts up a respective image for women all around. Hester is very responsible in raising her daughter Pearl on her own. She is doubted whether she could handle this. Her response is “God gave her into my keeping,” repeated Hester Prynne, “I will not give her up!” (p.103). Hester names her daughter, Pearl, “as being of great price-purchased with all she had” (p.81). Hester supports herself and Pearl by being an embroider, embroidering clothes for her fellow townspeople, such as the governor. Besides the fact that Hester is an amazing mother, she is still made…show more content…
“The scarlet letter had not done its office” (p.166) instead it made her rebel and become stronger. The letter made her rethink her life and it made her much stronger internally with her actions towards the townspeople and how they hated and critiqued her a lot for her committed sin . There are also small little moments in the novel where Hester comes off a bit as a feminist, Dimmesdale blames Hester after she reveals the identity of his enemy. In return, Hester demands Dimmesdale to “forgive her” (p.133) after he had blamed her for the revealing of his enemy. She did not ask him, she demanded it, which shows what great influence Hawthorne has portrayed of her. Hester did not let the letter stop her from doing her part as a strong woman in society. She “came to have a part to perform in the world”
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