The Perception Of Hester In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

An essential biological understanding of biology asserts that form follows function. The theme of focus is perception. Hester is the main character of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Her actions result in her public identification as an adulterer. As the novel progresses, her doings reveal character traits that are highly valued-yet, Hester remains branded by the red letter “A” stitched on the breast of her gown. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes literary devices to portray the perceived form that shapes Hester’s identity. Hawthorne’s use of setting and painful similes establishes the initial perspective the society has on Hester and how it influences her internally. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is “acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon,” (50) as she walks shamefully to a scaffold where she is frowned upon by the society. The use of a dark setting implies that Hester is enclosed by nothing but pessimistic thoughts and views from the society that eventually start to deluge her mind. Ultimately, these aspects from the community try to convince Hester that she is what is said of her. The perception that society has of Hester begins to definitely take a toll on her when she “underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street
Hawthorne describes how Hester began to be a counselor for people who were going through a sin sentence, or have committed a sin and has “comforted and counseled them as best she might” (pg. 249). The fact that people from the community go to Hester for advice proves that her actions are what made her someone who is not mainly seen as just the woman who committed a sin, but someone who is intelligent and confident enough for others to look up