How Does Hester Change Throughout The Scarlet Letter

The character of Hester over the course of the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne changes significantly. Hester changes from a young beautiful woman who is shamed by society to a strong individual who learns to endure pain caused by the townspeople. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is recognized as a sinner who has gone against the Puritan ways by committing adultery but over time her life improves. Even though she was scorned for her sin, she never tried to hide herself and in effect became stronger throughout the course of her punishment. Hester’s scandalous nature is evidence of her being a transcendentalist because she is independent and thrives in nature.
Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester switches between a beautiful young women to being repulsive. In the first scaffold, Hester is physically
described as stunning young woman, “she had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam…” (Hawthorne 61-62). When the symbol of shame, the letter A, was put upon her, her beauty disappears as she wears the unbending puritan social and moral structure. As hawthorne writes, “ All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand, and had long ago fallen away…” (194). After seven years of punishment for her sin, her beauty was gone and buried under the burden of the scarlet letter.
The scarlet letter degrades her appearance because when the scarlet letter was removed, “ Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past…”(Hawthorne 243). The punishment changes Hester’s appearance as she bore the letter A, she transform from a stunning women to being repulsive but as she took the letter off, she again becomes the radiant beauty.
By breaking the rules of puritan society she conforms to the transcendentalist nature of being independent.
When Hester was publicly punished for her sin, she was to bear the token of shame, the letter A. Even through her humiliation, she stood high, “he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward; until, on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will” (Hawthorne 61). she act as if nothing is wrong as she has chosen to appear before the people, rather than taking it as punishment. Instead of conforming to the rules and regulation of society she embraces her independent self by breaking the law. As Thoreau writes, “...break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine” (“Civil Disobedience” 192). By breaking societal norms Hester has freed herself. Hester’s rebellion changed her life, but also empowered the townspeople. Hester’s rebellion represents a woman’s strength, and the letter that was meant to be a symbol of adultery teaches her to be
self-reliant.
As Hester was pushed away from society, she found connection with the spirit of nature, enabling her to learn about herself and throughout the process revealing her transcendentalist views. The wood gave her an identity and where she was able to live without the townspeople shaming her, “These had been her teachers - stern and wild ones - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss” (Hawthorne 186). The wilderness is Hester’s freedom and escape from the townspeople who shamed her at every turn. According to transcendentalism nature represents kindness and love. As Thoreau writes, “ Let us spend one day as deliberately as nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails” (where I Lived, and What I Lived For 1859). In the views of a transcendentalist, nature is the tool for learning and helps one explore themselves. By leaving the townspeople and being close to wilderness Hester discovered her true independent self who conforms to transcendentalist view; believing nature is part of the over-soul.