It represents
her courage
, her passion for life and her indignation at being forced to wear it. Hester will not surrender her life to the judgement of the town. She wears the letter, as she is required, but by making it colorful, she is being defiant towards those who have so condemned her.
Why did Hester decorate the scarlet letter?
She wears a scarlet letter A on her gown as a symbol of the sin she has committed which is adultery. She has decorated the letter with gold threads around it showing
us
that she is not going to let this incident bring her down. Hester does suffer emotionally and cries often in her cottage.
Does Hester become more beautiful?
Her beautiful hair is hidden under her cap, her beauty and warmth are gone, buried under the burden of the elaborate scarlet letter on her bosom. When she removes the letter and takes off her cap in Chapter 13, she once again becomes the radiant beauty of seven years earlier.
Why does the scarlet letter glow?
Therefore, as Hester goes back into her cell, the villagers claim that the red,
shiny letter A that Hester had to create for herself as punishment was actually glowing
, as if it was being fired-up from Hades, and onto Hester's chest.
How does Hester change the meaning of the scarlet letter?
After a few years of
torture
from the letter and from Pearl, Hester begins getting overly familiar with her punishment, and it no longer has the affect it once had. Her helpfulness causes people to give the meaning “able” to the letter, rather than “adulteress,” as it is supposed to mean.
Who does Hester not sew for?
While Hester Prynne (the protagonist from Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter)is able to sew “for
the ceremonials of pomp and state
” she was not allowed to “embroider the white veil.” Hester has been charged and sentenced with committing adultery proven by her illegitimate child, Pearl.
Why does Hester repeatedly refuse to stop wearing the letter?
Hester chooses to continue to wear the letter
because she is determined to transform its meaning through her actions and her own self-perception
—she wants to be the one who controls its meaning. … Upon her return from Europe at the novel's end, Hester has gained control over both her personal and her public identities.
Why does Hester hide her hair?
The book describes the scarlet letter to have absorbed all the rebellious and fiery qualities of Hester, leaving a cold and lonely woman, her tenderness “crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more.” At the same time, Hester started “hiding” her beautiful rich hair in a cap, therefore …
Why does Hester not reveal the father?
Hester keeps secret the name of her illegitimate child's father (Reverend Dimmesdale) and the true identity of Roger Chillingworth (her husband). She will not reveal Pearl's
father to protect Reverend Dimmesdale's reputation
, as he is the minister of the church.
How did Hester's sin affect her?
In conclusion one finds that the exposed sin of Hester
caused extreme social isolation
, where only time and effort can get her assimilated back into society. The hidden sin in Roger Chillingworth's life caused him to go mad, and become satanic. Arthur Dimmesdale's hidden sin ended up killing him.
Why does Dimmesdale put his hand on his heart?
What is Dimmesdale's idosyncratic gesture? He puts his hand over his heart
to “cover” up his guilt and pain for not admitting to the sin he committed
. He's trying to hold himself back from not exposing himself.
Why does the sun not shine on Hester?
The sun will not shine on Hester
because of her sin
. There is no hope for Hester. The fact that wherever she walks in the forest the sunlight evades her, representing how her life has no joy or happiness.
What does darkness symbolize in Scarlet Letter?
While the nighttime and darkness represents
hidden secrets and evil
. … After Hester commits adultery she has wrapped herself in darkness. Hester is not evil but sin made her beauty and her light hideaway with guilt.
What is the main message of The Scarlet Letter?
Major theme. The major theme of The Scarlet Letter is
shaming and social stigmatizing
, both Hester's public humiliation and Dimmesdale's private shame and fear of exposure.
What does The Scarlet Letter A symbolize?
While the “A” initially symbolizes
“adultery
,” later various people assign meanings such as “able” or “angel” to the letter, as the community's views of Hester change. For Governor Bellingham's servant, the letter signals Hester's upper-class (“aristocratic” or “authoritarian”) status.
What does The Scarlet Letter teach us?
By teaching The Scarlet Letter, I realized the underlying themes, not the supernatural elements that had enthralled me, are what make the story so powerful.
Sin, forgiveness, and redemption
are timeless ideas. Just like Hester Prynne, young people struggle with the consequences of bad choices.
