“The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne makes Hester the most “free” character by showcasing her transformation from ostracizes sinner to an able woman of her letter in order to display the idea that repressed sin destroys the soul while openness and honesty sets a soul free. Hester was not burdened with the internal guilt that consumed her “fellow sinner, Arthur Timescale, because she had to wear her sin openly on her chest, forcing her to confront her sin and the stigma that comes along with it.
By confronting her sin, she was able to accept what he had done and be freed from the guilt that comes with secrecy and represented sin. Her freedom allowed her to be the least internally burdened of the main characters. Roger Chlorinating was a vengeful, obsessive man and was therefore burdened everyday by thoughts of his revenge on Timescale. Pearl was too young to fully understand what was happening and was confined and controlled by society and her mother, and therefore, did not have the most freedom.
Arthur Timescale was suffering from Illness caused by the Internal burden of guilt that he had felt, so he was not the most free character. Hester received shame and punishment from society for her sin, but put very little guilt and sin on her own self, saving her from her guilt and pain other characters felt. Hester was forced to confess her sin to the world, unlike her counterpart Timescale.
She was forced to be truthful and accept the punishment and stigma; “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,?at her, the child of honorable parents,?at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, ?at her, who had once been Innocent, ‘s the figure, the body, the reality of sin” (chapter 5, page 54), This quote demonstrates how the Puritan Community placed all of the blame and burden of the sin of adultery on Hester. She was forced to accept all of the shame that came along with the sin.
She holds the Stigma and bears the burden, while her “fellow sinВ« (Timescale) escapes the public humiliation Puritan Society imposes on sinners. The punishment she was to receive from society would be painful, and, although Hawthorne makes it look like Hester will be the least free character because f her ostracize, he makes Hester an example of how one can move on from their sins and change the meaning of how society views wrong-doing individuals. The fact that she did not have to conceal or hide her true self and true actions allowed her to focus on bettering herself and living a life without an internal guilt following her around.
This demonstrates that punishment can be hard to face at first, how Hester has to wear the A and suffer, but that In the long-run, the guilt that one feels Is far worse than any external punishment given by an authority figure. Hester is freed room the guilt and internal suffering that comes with guilt and secret sin by admitting and wearing her sin proudly on her chest In the form of an “A”. Hester new choice of home after imprisonment a representation of her freedom. She selects an abandoned cottage on the outskirts of town in the forest. The forest, intense pressure, guilt, and shame on people who committed a sin.
Hester would not have flourished in the town. However, in the natural world, she would be free to confess her sins and avoid Judgment and persecution. Throughout the novel, the forest is a place where the characters can go and discuss their secrets freely. Timescale, Pearl, and Hester were able to be reunited as a family in the forest, Inch was separate from society. However, She did not want to leave the town completely, so she chose an area on the outskirts. She choose to stay near the town because she wanted to become better for her sins. She still felt, on some level, guilty although she had been punished and humiliated by the Puritans.
She wanted to make her guilt less and deal with it; “What she compelled herself to believe, – what finally she reasoned upon, as her motive for continuing as a resident of New England, as half a truth, and half a self-delusion. Here, She said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom. Hester Prone, therefore, did not flee” (chapter 5, page 55).
Hester Anted the freedom that nature provided, but she did not want to avoid society completely. She was the only character that choose to live in the forest rather than own, which in itself, represents her freedom. Hester constant exercising of her free will is shown throughout the novel in order to demonstrate how she has control of her life and has free will to make her own decisions. She is the only character that stands up to the Puritan government, either by refusing to name her fellow sinner on the scaffold or by demanding that her daughter stay with her.
Hester’ exercising of her free will demonstrate her confidence and freedom that she posses. She has her own mind, ideas, and opinions and will not be pushed around. Defiance of Puritan government was a radical idea at ere time and definitely required free thinking and free will, “God gave her into my keeping,” repeated Hester Prone, raising her voice almost to a shriek. “l will not give her up! “?And here, by sudden impulse, she turned to the young clergyman, Mr.. Timescale, at whom, up to this moment, she had seemed hardly so much as once to direct her eyes. ” (chapter 8 page 77).
The screaming at the men in power of the time definitely shows Hester free will to say what is on her mind. The words she uses like “l will not” show strength and confidence as she speaks. Hester is different room the other puritans in a way that she thinks differently and isn’t afraid to voice her opinion. She has freedom of thought and expresses it. Hester Freedom begins to take shape after seven years when the meaning of her “A” shifts from “adultery’ to “able”, “Hester nature showed itself warm and rich; a Enlisting of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the largest…..
The letter was a symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her, – so much more power to do, and power to sympathize,- that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by it’s original significance. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prone, with a woman’s strength. “(chapter 13 page 1 1 1) of her sin and began to move on. By not hiding her sin, she was able to to change the meaning of the A from adultery to able. This is where we begin to see Hester in a new light, as more of a free character.
By accepting the burden, she was able to let her guilt and shame go, instead of suffering, like Timescale, who had to deal with his guilt, which was trapped inside him and left to fester. This is the point where we begin to see Hester feel less and less shame and guilt for her sin. She becomes the most “free” character at this point because he has been released from the shame and humiliation imposed on her. She has learned from her shame and guilt and used those teachings to becomes a better person.
By not instigating the situation and accepting her punishment, she was able to become the town’s “Sister of Mercy’, helping the poor and anyone who needed it. She allowed the transformation to take place and free her from the guilt that had once burdened her, “Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed into love, unless the change be impeded y a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility. In this matter of Hester Prone, there was neither irritation nor irksomeness. She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage. (chapter 13, page 110). Hawthorne makes Hester a representation of how hatred or shame can change with the gradual transformation of time. Hester process of being freed was not fast, but t did occur. By not being viewed by society as a sinner, Hester was able to becomes freed from the burdens of shame and humiliation that had once been so harsh. In contrast to Hester, we can view the negative effects of internal guilt and secret sin n her counterpart and “fellow sinner”, Arthur Timescale. Timescale, although he is free and adored by society, is trapped by his own guilt and forced to suffer from his wrongdoing.
Unlike Hester case, as time goes on, Damselfly’s suffering becomes worse and worse as time continues on. Timescale only reaches a point of freedom and release when he confesses his sins to the entire town on the Scaffold, ‘The minister stood with a flush of triumph on his face, as one who, in the crisis of acutest pain, had won a victory… ND there as a sweet and gentle smile over his face, as a spirit of sinking into deep repose; nay, now that the burden was removed, it seemed almost as if he would be sportive with the child… A spell was broken. ” (Chapter 23 page 175).
This is showing how the only time Timescale felt free and released was after he let go if his repressed sin. By sharing his sin with the Nor instead of letting it sit and fester, he was set free. The moment he was released from the internal pain of holding a sin, he felt as if he had won a victory. This is a positive feeling, which one can interpret that being honest and letting sin UT is a good thing, a thing that sets one free, Just as Hester was set free by bearing her sin. Hester had been set free long ago by admitting her sin to the world, and therefore, she had been the most free character throughout the whole novel.
Roger Chlorinating also knew that psychological torture keeps a person trapped, “What Choice had you? ” asked Roger Chlorinating. “My finger, pointed at this man, would have hurled him from his pulpit into a dungeon, ?thence, peradventure, to the gallows! ” (Chapter 14 pig 117) demonstrating how Roger Chlorinating preferred to ordure Timescale with internal, psychological pain rather than public shaming or psychological torture provided by guilt is worse than anything that could happen to Timescale if he were to expose to truth.
The truth will set Timescale free, and Chlorinating is afraid of that because he wants Timescale to suffer as much as he possibly can make him. He kept Timescale trapped, but when timescale revealed the truth, he proclaimed “Thou Hast escaped me! ” (chapter 23 page 175), demonstrating how once Timescale revealed the truth, he became free. Hester Prone did not have to suffer the entrapment that guilt place upon a person. She was more free thinking than the majority. As the novel progressed, she was freed from the confines of society’s shame and guilt.
Her choice of home reflected her freedom, as it was in nature, and nature was a place to be free and truthful. Her free Nail allowed her to escape the Puritans who imposed the rules of their society very strictly. She was transformed from a sinner to a “sister of mercy’, and through that process, became more free. Hester Prone, was the most free character in the novel for her free will, transformation of her letter A, choice of home, and freedom from the burden of guilt.
