Hester's Isolation and Alienation in The Scarlet Letter.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale .
have committed adultery, an unacceptable sin during the Puritan times. As a result of their sin, a .
child is born, whom the mother names Pearl. Out of her own free will Hester has to face major .
punishments. She has to serve many months in prison, stand on the scaffold for three.
hours under public scrutiny, and attach a scarlet letter, "A" on her chest every day as long as she .
remained in the town of Boston. The letter "A" was to show Hester Prynne as an adulteress .
and as an immoral human being. Her refusal to let go of this sin led to her alienation and .
isolation. This is shown in the story through her experience on the scaffold, her complete change .
of appearance, and her total removal from public eye by living in the cottage, and here it is .
explained to the reader.
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One reason Hester was alienated was her objection to revealing the other adulterer. When .
Hester is released from prison and put on the scaffold, she was asked to reveal the name of .
whom she committed the sin with. Having a heart blinded by love Hester choose to stay in the .
town and wear the scarlet letter "A" instead of revealing the other adulterer. She faced society .
only to protect and be close to the man she still loved. The "impulsive and passionate nature" .
(10), which to Hester seemed pure and natural had to be faced under humiliation alone, without .
the partner of sin. It seemed as though she was paying not only her own consequence, but that of .
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her lovers as well. Saying so herself while standing on the scaffold "I might face his agony as .
well as mine!" (21). Now taking on all blame she has given up "all her individuality. Now she .
would become the "general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which .
they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion" (32).
