Scarlet Letter
Holly Hunt
English III H P.3
October 16, 2012
Mr. Dicus
The Scarlet Letter
Regret as a verb is defined as “to feel sorry about something previously done that now appears wrong.” Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses characterizations to illustrate Hester Prynne’s journey of overcoming her regret, adultery, on which this whole book is written. The puritan people intended to shame Hester when she is branded a sinner with the use of a scarlet colored “A”, but Hester learns to embrace the “A” and transforms the meaning of her punishment into something positive. Hester starts out as a young woman with a new baby as evidence of her adulterous affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, minister of Boston. Her husband had sent her to New England two years before and was supposedly lost at sea. After being sent to jail, Hester is now feeling extreme remorse for her actions. After a few nights Hester receives a package, upon opening it she unwraps her new identity. Reaching for it Hester explains her feelings about this package: “[. . .] I happened to place it upon my breast [. . .] It seemed to me then, that I experienced a sensation not all together physical, yet almost so, as of burning heat; and as if the letter were not of red cloth, but of red-hot iron [. . .]” (Hawthorne 31). This red-hot iron is symbolic of the cruelty and exile she is about to endure. Dr. Stephanie Carrez, a professor in France, believes, “the signification of the letter is conveyed through this sensation, since the letter Hester bears in fact replaces the letter that should have been branded on her breast” (Stephanie Carrez). While Hester’s reaction to the letter is revealed in her cell, the towns’ opinion is revealed outside the jail, when one woman exclaims:
This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there no law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank
English III H P.3
October 16, 2012
Mr. Dicus
The Scarlet Letter
Regret as a verb is defined as “to feel sorry about something previously done that now appears wrong.” Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses characterizations to illustrate Hester Prynne’s journey of overcoming her regret, adultery, on which this whole book is written. The puritan people intended to shame Hester when she is branded a sinner with the use of a scarlet colored “A”, but Hester learns to embrace the “A” and transforms the meaning of her punishment into something positive. Hester starts out as a young woman with a new baby as evidence of her adulterous affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, minister of Boston. Her husband had sent her to New England two years before and was supposedly lost at sea. After being sent to jail, Hester is now feeling extreme remorse for her actions. After a few nights Hester receives a package, upon opening it she unwraps her new identity. Reaching for it Hester explains her feelings about this package: “[. . .] I happened to place it upon my breast [. . .] It seemed to me then, that I experienced a sensation not all together physical, yet almost so, as of burning heat; and as if the letter were not of red cloth, but of red-hot iron [. . .]” (Hawthorne 31). This red-hot iron is symbolic of the cruelty and exile she is about to endure. Dr. Stephanie Carrez, a professor in France, believes, “the signification of the letter is conveyed through this sensation, since the letter Hester bears in fact replaces the letter that should have been branded on her breast” (Stephanie Carrez). While Hester’s reaction to the letter is revealed in her cell, the towns’ opinion is revealed outside the jail, when one woman exclaims:
This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there no law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank