by Nathaniel
Hawthorne
(Character of Hester Prynne)
Hester is the principal character of The
Scarlet Letter. She is presented in an ambiguous manner. When the story begins,
she has already sinned. The novel deals with her punishment and with her
transformation from a sinner to a saint of the sister of charity. We remember
Hester alone with Pearl moving in and out of the village on a series of
errands. Her punishment might have made her a witch, a prophetess of the
founder of a new sect but what saved her from such a fate was Pearl’s redeeming
presence. Pearl is the living embodiment of the scarlet letter. But gradually
Hester transformed her punishment into a virtue. She becomes the Ambassador of
Mercy. She triumphs over the evil circumstance by an exercise of her will. Her
art of embroidery helps her to overcome her circumstance. Her punishment also gives
her an insight into the evil in the human breast.
However,
she still shows fear on three occasions. Firstly, when the Puritans give her
rigid stars, when she is standing alone with little Pearl on the scaffold.
Secondly, when Chillingworth visits her in the prison house and obliges her to
promise him to keep his secret. Thirdly, when Dimmesdale becomes enraged in the
forest, she pleads with fear for his forgiveness. Hence, she is not at all
perfect in her heroism.
She
is also able to hide her real self behind her mask of the scarlet letter and
her smiling face. With the secret plans of escape Hester moves through the
crowd with her mask-like face. She is at her best in the forest scene with
Dimmesdale. Her initiative and courage stand out in comparison with the
weak-willed minister who lacks in these very qualities. She is an activist, a
person who transforms her situation while the minister listens to her sermons
to him. Yet, she shows an incomprehensible respect to the minister.
After
a long disappearance after the minister’s death, she returns to the village
having married off Pearl in Europe. She spends her last days as an Angel of
Mercy and she is buried next to the Minister after her death. The ambiguity of
her character is represented by her symbol- a spot of red against a black background.
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