Who Is Hester Prynne Truly Repentant In The Scarlet Letter
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Sin is a powerful tool that leads people astray, but the consequences of it can corrupt an individual if he is not truly repentant. In the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne was publically denounced because of her sin, yet her outlook during the procession was incomprehensible. She was also convicted to wear the letter “A” representing “Adultery” by the magistrates, in which she did; however, she embellished its appearance with majestic colors such as red and gold as if promoting its very existence in her attire. After she was released, Hester remained in the town, an admirable deed because of her strength to accept her reality, but her personal reason for that act was to punish herself in order to earn her way back to heaven.…show more content… Hester became hysterical of this indication; therefore, she appealed to Dimmesdale, the pastor, of the town and also the hidden father of Pearl, to advocate for her. “She could recognize her wild, desperate, defiant mood, the flightiness of her temper, and even some of the very cloud-shapes of gloom and despondency that had brooded in her heart” (p.102). According to Hawthorne, Hester recognized her own anger and defiantness against rules penetrating through Pearl. The recognition complicated Hester’s job to discipline Pearl with rules and to acquaint Pearl with God because of her own furiousness against these factors. Hester also displayed her anger through the embellishments of the letter that she was to wear in shame. However, through disregarding the magistrates’ order to teach Pearl properly and decorating her letter in style, she was passively rebelling rather than directly rebelling against the magistrates and ultimately,…show more content… She did not trust God for her eternity but rather she focused on her own deeds such as “…..making coarse garments for the poor, denying herself any self-pleasure, and bestowing her superfluous means in charity” (93). When Hester crossed paths with Roger Chillingworth, her ex-husband, she compared her wrongdoing to his transgression against her, “Yes, I hate him!…… He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him.”(204) and did not realize the pride that she inadvertently displayed and harbored. Because of seclusion from society, Hester’s ability of judgment was underdeveloped; therefore, she measured everything by her own moral standards. Hawthorne also strongly revealed Hester’s depth of pride during the death of Dimmesdale, “Shall we not spend our immoral life together? Surely, Surely, we have ransomed one another, with all this woe!…” (298). Just as previously stated, Hester’s pride caused her to remain dependent on her own works and sufferings to enter heaven’s