Kara Yoest

Mrs. Bouch

Honors English 11

7 January 2018

The Scarlett Letter Essay

Sin is inevitable throughout life, and its effects are portrayed throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne's,

The Scarlett Letter. Throughout the story, Hester has to deal with the struggles of her revealed sin and

constant reminder of the hardships that her sin has caused her. Even though Hester feels guilt from the

sin, she is able to make a life for herself and her daughter, and able to turn her life around. Hester's ability

to turn her life around despite her sin shows that even the worst circumstances can have good outcomes.

Overall, the Scarlett letter symbolizes not only the sin, but Hester herself. The Scarlett letter is a

representation of Hester's bravery, sin, and hard work.

The Scarlett letter is a symbol of Hester committing the sin of adultery. As a result of Hester's sin

of adultery, she has been forced to acknowledge her sin to the public by wearing the letter on her chest

every day throughout her life as punishment. Though the letter portrays the sin of adultery, the meaning

of it changes as the story unfolds. Hester grows more self-respect, and people start to respect Hester more

and think the letter means 'able.' Hester says, "I have thought of death... have wished for it—would

even have prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything."(Hawthorne 112)

Hester has grown a lot as a person, and has even wished for death. She now sees her sin as

something to learn from, and that she should live with it and learn from mistakes. Though she

was ridiculed by everyone in town, she now is looked at as a symbol of strength and optimism.
 Hester's bravery is a symbol of the Scarlett letter. Hester wears the scarlet letter on her chest

every day throughout her life. Over this time, she has gotten judged and ridiculed by all of the

townspeople. She becomes braver and changes her mind set about the rude comments she receives. "Her

attire...express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and

picturesque peculiarity" (Hawthorne 51). It begins to become a part of who she is, and she starts to

become more carefree and shameless about wearing it. The townspeople no longer see the letter as a

symbol of sin, but Hester being 'able.'

The Scarlett Letter represents Hester's hard work. Even though everyone ridiculed her, she still

gave back to the community. She didn’t let any of the townspeople's abusive comments get to her

anymore. The townspeople start to view the letter's meaning as 'able' because she is so willing to serve the

community and she is a walking figure of strength. Some of the townspeople even said they " refused to

interpret the scarlet A by its original signification"(Hawthorne 204). This meaning most people

either forgot, or chose to forget that the letter represented a sin. Everyone saw Hester as an 'able'

woman full of courage and strength.

The Scarlett letter is a representation of Hester's bravery, sin, and hard work. Throughout the

story, we see how Hester changes her own mindset and the mindset of others as she becomes braver about

her punishment. The letter began as a symbol of sin, but changed throughout the story to a symbol of

strength. Though Hester feels plenty of guilt from her sin, she is able to show courage and create a life for

herself and her daughter, Pearl.