Hester Prynne

"It [the scarlet letter] had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself."

- Chapter 2 The Marketplace

Hester Prynne is the main protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. She is the wife of Roger Chillingworth, the love interest of Arthur Dimmesdale, and the mother of Pearl.

After she has an adulterous affair and conceives a child out of wedlock, Hester finds herself shunned for her sinful crime, but would do anything to make what's right about herself and her scarlet letter she was forced to wear.

She is often considered to be among the most important and memorable female protagonists in American literature.

Description
Hester Prynne is a Puritan woman with little-known background and affair with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. She endures a loveless marriage to Roger Chillingworth and was first introduced when she is led out of the local prison with her infant child and standing on the scaffold. Her presence in Boston and crime make her mysterious to the townsfolk and what her purpose is, since they are mostly shaming her of adultery and illegitimacy. Even her child remains a reputation for having a father whose identity is unknown and Hester refusing to say his name, and would rather keep it to herself until the time comes she believes would be right.

She is known to have two different selfs when she wears the scarlet letter. When she wears the letter, she is different from the Puritans, her hair hidden underneath her cap and seen as a shunned figure. But later in the novel, when she briefly takes the letter off and her hair down, she shows off her secret radiance and beauty that no one sees in her. Even in her second self, her daughter Pearl doesn’t recognize her. Her appearance and affair has her caught up in a demented love triangle by two men, for her husband Chillingworth would do anything to protect her and reputation by taking his cruelty out on Dimmesdale, the other man who loves her.

Throughout the novel, Hester seems to take pride in the letter she is punished to wear. She never succumbs being a victim to sin and would accomplish anything by using her strength to transform the way she sees the analysis of her crime and even questions the Puritan system of the way they treat her. The red “A” letter may have stood for “Adultery”, but with Hester’s trials and goals, the letter subsequently changes its meaning from “Able” to “Angel”. She even sees her daughter as more of a blessing than a punishment, for she would help her mother live life without giving up, and stays loyal to God to have her by her side. By the end of the novel, she has become a survivor and successfully proved everyone wrong of what her letter can do to her in a good way.

Early Years/Affair Crime
Hester was born in England but lived in poverty in her youth alongside her parents. Sometime in her adult life, she married a scholar named Roger Prynne who was much older and haggard than she was. The couple lived in Amsterdam, and after the Bay Colony was established in Boston, Massachusetts, she was sent ahead as an emigrant by her husband. She didn't know what became of him, but she tried to make herself a living in her new home.

She may had also met the town minister Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and the two of them start a relationship. She became pregnant with Dimmesdale's child and after the authorities found out about her affair, she was imprisoned at the local jail and was even given a red "A" patch to wear on her breast as a symbol of her sin. While in prison, she gave birth to a girl named Pearl and 3 months later, she was led out of her cell and towards the town scaffold with her baby for her public shaming.

Hester clutches her baby to her chest as a way to hide her chest, which contains the “A” patch, as she smiled defiantly while looking at the crowd. Two women in the crowd comment about her symbol, while a younger woman quiets them. The town beadle orders the townsfolk to step aside and beckons Hester to walk to the platform.

The crowd open a path and with the beadle leading, Hester walks ahead with the townsfolk following her. A group of schoolboys ran ahead to catch a glimpse of Pearl and the scarlet letter. She restrains herself as she climbs up the steps and stands on the scaffold, where she is sentenced to stand on for some time.

The crowd gazes at her and the scarlet letter while the governor and his advisers, a judge, a general, and the town’s ministers are present. The townsfolk looked so sombre, Hester wishes they would yell or laugh at her instead. At other times, she felt like crying out and jumping off the platform or go insane. She was pulled away from reality as she recalls scenes and memories from her childhood; such as seeing the house in England where she grew up, her parents’ faces, and her own younger face lighting up in a mirror. But in that mirror, Hester sees a hideous face of an aged scholar and remembers he had a deformed shoulder. Next, Hester sees a continental city where she started a new life with the scholar part of her life. Her mind is then turned back to where she is, with her baby in her arms surrounded by the townsfolk and the scarlet letter on her breast. She clutched the baby so tightly that she began to cry, touched the symbol, and realized that Pearl and the scarlet letter are all reality.

While on the scaffold, Hester recognizes her husband half-dressed in Native American clothing standing among the Puritans, who had secretly arrived in Boston with his surname changed to Chillingworth. She clutches Pearl so tightly that she continues to cry, but Hester doesn't seem to hear her. They lock eyes on each other and he gestures her to be quiet with his finger to his lips. Hester continues to stare at Chillingworth as she becomes lost in thought, believing she is glad to encounter him in front of the townsfolk. In her thoughts, she barely hears the voice of the minister John Wilson calling to her. He tells ner that he had tried to persuade Dimmesdale to confront her of her sin and he would have the best judgement on Hester's refusal of her lover's identity; but he refuses to force Hester to reveal the truth in front of the crowd, and the shame is in her confession instead of her sin. He makes Dimmesdale decide on whoever should deal with Hester.

There is a murmur at the balcony attached to the meeting house where the dignitaries stand. Governor Bellingham reminds Dimmesdale of his responsibility of Hester and he therefore needs to encourage Hester to repent and confess her crime. Wilsom also reminds Dimmesdale of his duty for Hester and urges him to let her confess. Leaning over the balcony and gazing towards Hester, he delivers an impassionate speech on why she must confess. Everyone was moved by his speech and think it will make Hester reveal the truth. But Hester shakes her head, and Wilson haeshly chastises her that her confession could have the scarlet letter removed from her chest. Hester again refuses while gazing at Dimmesdale. Someone from the crowd demands her to speak, and Hester refuses again, claiming her daughter deserves a heavenly father instead of an earthly one. Dimmesdale murmurs on how she will not speak.

Wilson begins to deliver a fiery sermon of sin for an hour, but always referred it to the letter. Hester stands on the platform wearily after everything she endured that morning. After the sermon concludes, Pearl continues to cry and Hester is taken back to her cell, cell.

with the townsfolk thinking the scarlet letteder cast a red glow inside the dark prison.

While in her cell, Pearl cries uncontrollably, and the jailer went to find a doctor. Chillingworth, posing as a physician, arrives and gives medical treatment to Hester and Pearl. She was afraid her husband is poisoning her, but takes the sedative given to her. Hester talks with him for a bit and again refuses to reveal her lover's name to him. He makes her swear an oath that she will not reveal his identity to anyone. She is suspicious that she is causing her own doom by keeping her husband's identity a secret but she does it for his sake.

Life as an Outcast
A few months later, Hester was released from prison. She was given the choice to leave Boston, but chose not to. She moved into an abandoned cottage in the outskirts of town and supports herself as a seamstress. Her needlework is in constant demand for the Puritans, such as christening gowns, burial robes and officials' robes; except for bride gowns, since they considered it inappropriate to wear a wedding dress made from an adulterer like Hester. Despite her success, Hester continues to be shunned by Governor Bellingham and the townsfolk.

3 years went by. Hester is alienated and lonely, with her young daughter Pearl as her only companion. Seeing that Pearl is a source reminder of her sin, she is determined to keep the meaning of the scarlet letter a secret from her. In addition, Pearl is condemned by the Puritans and doesn't fit in with the other children in their community. After she hears rumours that the officials are planning to take Pearl away from her, Hester goes to the governor’s house for some answers, as well as deliver a pair of ornate gloves she had made for him. She takes Pearl with her.

They enter the governor’s house, which is a stuffy, dark building filled with family portraits and a suit of armour Bellingham wore during his battle with the Native Americans. As they walk down the hall, Pearl points out the shining armour and Hester is horrified to see that the letter dominates the reflection and her appearance, as if she is hidden behind it. She gazes into a mirror while feeling Pearl’s distance and thinks her daughter could be possessed by demons, since the authorities believe the young girl is too dangerous to be raised by a more sinful mother like Hester. The governor enters as Pearl begs for a rose outside.

Bellingham is accompanied by Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Wilson. The men tease Pearl until they notice Hester is there. The governor asks why Hester should keep Pearl, and she says she is willing to teach her daughter a lesson she learns from the letter and will not lose custody of her. Wilson questions Pearl of who made her and is shocked of the child’s blasphemy. The governor agrees that Hester is not a suitable parent and she protests that her daughter is her pain and happiness, and she will die before she gives her up. She begs Dimmesdale to defend her and the minister argues that Pearl was sent to Hester by God as a punishment but would prevent her from further sinning. He manages to convince the Governor to let Hester keep Pearl.

As the mother and daughter leave the house, Mistress Hibbins pokes her head out of the window and invites Hester to a witches’ gathering in the woods with the Black Man. Hester refuses for she must care for Pearl, but would have gone willingly if her daughter was taken away from her. Sometime later, Hester is seen in the local graveyard by Dimmesdale and Chillingworth in their house. Pearl was placing burrs on the letter and fears the Black Man would come for her and Hester.

Hester and Dimmesdale
On the night of the first Boston Governor Winthrop's death, Hester and her daughter were present at the governor's deathbed for her to measure the body and prepare a burial robe. She and Pearl were leaving when they spot Dimmesdale standing on the same scaffold she had stood on a few years earlier. He invites the mother and daughter to join him, and when they climb up the steps, they all hold hands while a meteor passes in the sky with a bright "A" shape.

As they stood on the scaffold, Chillingworth appears and coaxes Dimmesdale to come down the steps. Dimmesdale asks who he is as he is afraid of him, but since she must keep her husband's identity a secret, Hester does not tell him who he is. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth went back home together. She is shocked on how frail the minister is, and thinking something has caused him to be weak, she now wants to have the duty to help him.

Seven years have passed since she had Pearl. Hester is now more active and respected in her community, such as bringing food to the poor, nursing the sick, and being more supportive of those in need. She is still shunned by the townsfolk but most of them see the letter being symbolized as “Able” than “Adulterer”. However, Hester finds herself in solitude since the letter had took her passion, and wonders if she is worthy to live. She imagines killing Pearl before committing suicide, as well as thinking on being a woman in her society and Dimmesdale would receive more damage to his health the more she keeps her husband’s identity from him. She decides that she must help him by revealing who Chillingworth is and exposing his vengeful acts on the minister.

She would first ask Chillingworth to stop tormenting Dimmesdale. She spots her husband at the beach one day and leaves Pearl to play on her own while she goes over to talk to him. As she approaches him, he smirks at her by saying he has heard some good intentions about her. He informs her that the officials have been talking about allowing Hester to remove the letter from her chest. She turns down Chillingworth’s kind words by declaring that her letter cannot be removed by the officials themselves and only divine providence can allow it to fall off her chest or be changed when the time is right.

Hester saw that Chillingworth has changed into a deformed, vengeful old man and he recalls his old days as a scholar to the point when he lost his “human heart”. She blames herself for believing her sin has caused his suffering, and talks about Dimmesdale, even saying he should be better off dead than be constantly stalked by the physician for the past 7 years. She reprimands him for his cruelty on Dimmesdale, while he says he had saved the minister’s life, but admits to tormenting and blaming him for making him a monster. She takes some of the blame from Chillingworth’s transformation but pleads him to lighten up and stop his abuse on Dimmesdale. She says to him she is going to reveal his identity to the minister and he allows her to do so, even if it means having her reveal Dimmesdale’s secret.

After Chillingworth leaves, Hester hates him for his evil deeds, despite it considered a sin. She could hardly believed she had agreed to be his wife and even resents him for trying to make her happy. When she rejoins Pearl by the seaside, the girl has arranged an "A" shape on her chest with seaweed. She is asked by her daughter what does her letter mean and why Dimmesdale covers his chest with his hand. Hester, realizing Pearl is still too young to understand the letter's significance, lies to her and says she wears it mainly because of its lovely golden thread. Later that day, during dinner and when putting her to bed, Pearl kept asking her about the letter and did this the next day until Hester snaps and threatens to put her in a dark closet if she wouldn't stop bothering her.

She decides to meet Dimmesdale at a forest path after she finds out he went to visit a Native American settlement and would walk down that route. She would warn him of Chillingworth and telling him his identity. Hester brings Pearl and while she waits for the minister by the brook, Pearl asks her mother to tell her the story of the Black Man and his connection to the letter. Hester asks her where she has learned that story, and she tells her it was the old woman Mistress Hibbins who told her that the Black Man has left his mark on the letter. Hester even said she had met the Black Man once and placed his mark on the letter.

At that moment, Dimmesdale is seen coming down the path. Wanting some time alone, Hester tells Pearl to go play in the woods, and assures her that Dimmesdale is not the Black Man. After the girl scurries away, the minister approaches Hester covering his chest with his hand and appearing weak. The couple hold hands and sit together near the brook, and that their presence in the forest keeps them safe from Chillingworth and from society. They talk, with Dimmesdale asking Hester if she has found peace, which she doesn't answer but asks him the same thing, and the minister responds by confessing about his misery.

Hester reveals to Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband, which shocks the minister and condemns her, blaming her for his suffering. Not wanting to hear Dimmesdale speaking ill of her, she pulls him to her chest and has his face placed against the letter. She apologizes to him and he eventually forgives her, stating that Chillingworth is a worse sinner than both of them. He is worried of the physician and him exposing his secret, so Hester convinces him he should flee Boston and start a new life in Europe. When he says he is unable to go alone, she tells him he won't need to and she and Pearl would join him to live together as a family.

The couple are delighted at the fact of escaping the country together, and is even called an "angel" by the minister. She unpins the letter and tosses it away at the bank of a stream. While still smiling, she takes off her cap and lets her long, dark hair loose to flow. She regains some of her passion again as she is brightened by the sunlight. They talk about Pearl, and Hester is excited at the fact of Pearl meeting her father for the first time. She calls her daughter, who was playing by the brook. The girl is suspicious and refuses to come to her when she spots her mother isn't wearing the letter. Hester asks her to go pick up the letter and bring it to her, but Pearl refuses. When she puts it back on herself and places her hair back in her cap, the girls accepts her by kissing her and then the letter.

She encourages Pearl to embrace Dimmesdale as well, even though she doesn't tell her she is his child. When her daughter asks if the minister is coming back to town with them, Hester responds that he won't just yet and Dimmesdale kisses her with Pearl washing off the kiss at the brook.

Shortly after her meeting, Hester makes arrangements for their escape. She meets the captain and crew at their ship in the harbour that is to depart for Bristol, England. She secures a place for two adults and a child among the passengers, and they would leave in 4 days right after Dimmesdale delivers his sermon on Election Day.

Dimmesdale's Sin is Revealed
On the day of the new governor's inauguration, Hester and Pearl await the upcoming procession and stand with a group of Natives as well as some sailors from the ship Hester and Dimmesdale would board right after the sermon. When asked by her daughter if the minister would talk to them when they are in and if they would join him like at the brook, Hester replies he won't meet them in public yet. She starts imagining leaving behind her isolation, but her expectations are shattered when the shipmaster comes by and informs her Chillingworth has joined the party on the same ship Hester, Dimmesdale and Pearl would be leaving. She looks through the crowd and sees Chillingworth smiling at her menacingly.

She was about to think what to do now in her unexpected situation when she hears military music. The town officials walk through the marketplace, with Dimmesdale being part of the procession behind the magistrates. He is looking more energetic, but as Hester stares at him, she starts being distressed and doesn't know how it happened. She thought about their meeting in the forest, and since she hardly recognized him, she feared their time together by the brook was just a delusion.

When asked by Pearl if the minister is the same man who kissed her at the brook, Hester tells her to keep quiet and not talk about the day they were by the brook in public. She scolds her daughter when she said she didn't recognize the minister and would run up to him and kiss him. Mistress Hibbins appears and talks with Hester, asking her if she knows Dimmesdale as the same minister she met at the forest path. While Hester doesn't know and won't speak lightly of him, the old woman says she knows both Dimmesdale and Hester are servants to the Black Man. She listens to Dimmesdale’s servants and thought everyone is staring at her letter.

After the sermon, Hester and Pearl were standing in front of the scaffold when Dimmesdale approaches them and asks them to join him on the scaffold. When they climbed on top, he tells her he is dying and wants her to take responsibility for his shame. He then turns to the crowd and confesses his sin by revealing his “A” shaped scar on his bare chest before he collapses. Hester holds his head to her chest while Pearl kisses him. She asks him when they would be together again in the afterlife, he says only God can decide on that. He then bids her farewell and dies in her arms.

Later Years
Following Chillingworth's death and leaving a large fortune to Pearl, Hester and her daughter leave the country and travel overseas, with her story becoming legendary. Years later, Hester suddenly returns to the abandoned cottage where she used to live and wears the letter again. The townsfolk believe Pearl got married with a family of her own when they see Hester embroidering baby garments.

For the rest of her life, Hester continues to be more compassionate and supportive to the Puritans, including counselling miserable women. She never took off the letter again, as it now seen as a symbol of respect. After she dies, Hester is laid to rest in the King’s Chapel churchyard next to Dimmesdale and they both share a headstone that reads “On a field, sable, the letter A, glues”.