Hester's COttage
Response to #1
Hester’s Cottage
Throughout the entireity of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is ostracized and forced to live on the outskirts of society, both by the geographical position of her cottage and the way the community treats her as a person. In spite of this ill treatment, Hester never fully lets it beat her. Even though she wears the scarlet letter on her chest, she does not let the letter define her. Hester is a incredibly strong character living in a time when women were seen as second class citizens. She intimidates the other women living around her and even some of the men in the novel. She intimidates them through her strength and perseverance. At the onset of the novel, the Puritan magistrate does everything he can to make Hester become something other, and for a while, he succeeds. However, when Hester returns to the town many years later, she is seen as a beacon of feminine strength, hope, and wisdom
Hester was never defined by the labels society put on her. Both in a literal and figurative sense, she persevered being seen as a demon and as something fundamentally other. Not only did she persevere, she became accepted in the community and praised for some of her skills. Through all of her punishment and attempts to sully her, Hester’s attitude never changed, “Hester's nature showed itself warm and rich; a well-spring of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the largest” (Hawthorne). Because of this tenderness and openness, the women of Salem see Hester as a strong woman. Normally these qualities don’t indicate strength, but the women have seen what Hester went through and admire her for her dedication and perseverance.
Her cottage is an important symbol to consider. She lived on the outskirts of society. This was put in place by the magistrate and was intended to break her down, but it did exactly the opposite. She was able to create her own sphere of life outside of the Puritan rigor that enveloped
Hester’s Cottage
Throughout the entireity of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is ostracized and forced to live on the outskirts of society, both by the geographical position of her cottage and the way the community treats her as a person. In spite of this ill treatment, Hester never fully lets it beat her. Even though she wears the scarlet letter on her chest, she does not let the letter define her. Hester is a incredibly strong character living in a time when women were seen as second class citizens. She intimidates the other women living around her and even some of the men in the novel. She intimidates them through her strength and perseverance. At the onset of the novel, the Puritan magistrate does everything he can to make Hester become something other, and for a while, he succeeds. However, when Hester returns to the town many years later, she is seen as a beacon of feminine strength, hope, and wisdom
Hester was never defined by the labels society put on her. Both in a literal and figurative sense, she persevered being seen as a demon and as something fundamentally other. Not only did she persevere, she became accepted in the community and praised for some of her skills. Through all of her punishment and attempts to sully her, Hester’s attitude never changed, “Hester's nature showed itself warm and rich; a well-spring of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the largest” (Hawthorne). Because of this tenderness and openness, the women of Salem see Hester as a strong woman. Normally these qualities don’t indicate strength, but the women have seen what Hester went through and admire her for her dedication and perseverance.
Her cottage is an important symbol to consider. She lived on the outskirts of society. This was put in place by the magistrate and was intended to break her down, but it did exactly the opposite. She was able to create her own sphere of life outside of the Puritan rigor that enveloped