Hester Prynne Punishment Quotes

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne adulteress Hester Prynne must wear the scarlet ‘’A’’ to mark her shame. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is filled with gilt, while her husband, Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. Even though Hester ends the story as a heroine,she plays a victim throughout via extreme societal judgement. After all, she is forced to wear the scarlet ‘’A’’ Hester wears it on her chest with her head held high on the scaffold. As she walks through the streets she feels as if other were judging her alone. Hester is only to have brief respite, however, the town is demanding that she wears the Scarlet “A”. With the scarlet letter and her hair back in place, “her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed, like fading sunshine; and a grey shadow seemed to fall across her” (156). While her punishment changes her physical appearance, it has a far more profound effect on her character. You meet Hester on the scaffold with Pearl in her arms, beginning her punishment. On …show more content…
This defiance becomes stronger and will carry her through later interviews with both chillingsworth and Governor Billingham. Her determination and lonely stand is repeated again when she confronts Governor Billingham over this issue of Pearl’s guardianship. When the governor determines to take pearl away from her, Hester says, “God gave me the child! He gave her in all requital of all things else, which he had taken from me….. Ye shall not take her! I shall die first!” (84). When pressed further with assurance of Pearls good care, Hester defiantly pleads with him, “God gave her into my keeping. I will not give her up!” (84) Here Hester turns to Dimmesdale for help, the one time in the novel where she does not stand