The Relationship Between the Scarlet Letter and Prying Hester The scarlet “A” embroidered onto Prying Hester bosom had much to do with the changing of her identity. “The letter “A” was so artistically done with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that Is had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuous regulations of the 51).
Many articles posted on the internet says that this novel is a kook with much symbolism. Pearl is known as the symbol of evil. She shows evil by represent God’s punishment of Hester sin, symbolizing the guilt. Pearl Is “the scarlet letter In another form; the scarlet letter endowed with 95). Hester life became one of no Joy, the child could not be obedient to rules. Hester remarks,”Oh Father in heaven-if thou art still my father-what is this being which I have brought into the world,”(Hawthorne 89). The letter that Hester wears becomes a powerful symbol of her identity and she has many reasons why she refuses to stop wearing it.
The meaning of the letter changes with time . The letter symbolizes her sat and her past decisions. The letter originally meant “Adulterer” and by the end of the novel people of her society wanted to change the meaning to”Able. ” The reason Hester refuses to stop wearing the letter Is because It would prove to have successfully restricted her is she were to become a different person in its absence. She also chooses to wear it because she is determined to transform its meaning through her actions and she wants to control the meaning.
The scarlet letter acts as her passport into regions no other women dared not tread leading her to study about her society and herself more boldly than anyone In New England. Hester does not leave or remove the letter because she says that would be an acknowledgment of collects power over her and show that she Is weak. It Is said Is said that she would be admitting that the letter is a mark of shame and something that she is trying to escape. The letter represent her past sin is a part of who she is and to pretend it never happened would be denying herself. Men and women who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prying, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time-was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and Illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself”(Hawthorne 52). Native Americans there that noticed the letter thought it meant someone of importance. The society tried to change the meaning of the letter to “Able” but she resists the interpretation.
By the end of the novel she has gained control over her personal and public identities. Hester made herself into a symbol of feminine repression and she many people of Hester society, critics, and I recognize the scarlet “A” embroidered on her bosom. In this essay I made it known what the relationship between the scarlet letter and Hester identity was, why she repeatedly refused to stop wearing the letter, and what the difference between the identity she creates for herself and the identity society assigns to her was.
