In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, we meet some very interesting and detailed characters, including the main protagonist, Hester Prynne. Hester undergoes many changes throughout the novel, both emotional and physical. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay From the beginning of the book, we don't know much about Hester's life, except that she was married to a man named Roger Chillingworth, who had actually sent Hester alone for two years into the Massachusetts while he was finishing up his business, and she has a three-month-old baby. The book begins with Hester known as a criminal. No one expects her to show such tact until she gets out of prison. As Hawthorne says, “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance, on a grand scale. » (Hawthorne 46), we can deduce that Hester is a very beautiful woman. It shines with such magnificence that the sunlight illuminates it. Although Hawthorne repeatedly uses sunlight as a symbol of goodness, Hester is seen by society as the opposite. She is forced to carry the letter “A” on her for having committed the crime of adultery. However, by the end of the book we notice how Hester seems to have lost her elegance, and it feels like she has too. Hawthorne notes: "As if there were a withering spell in the sad letter, her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood disappeared like a waning sun, and a gray shadow seemed to fall upon her." ” (Hawthorne 174), and we see once again how sunlight is introduced into the text. Instead of Hester attracting the light of the sun, the light now hides from her. Hester notices this, as does her daughter, Pearl, who is then seven years old. Pearl even said to Hester: “'Mother,' said little Pearl, 'the sun does not love you. He runs away and hides because he's afraid of something on your chest. Now see! There she is, playing, far away.'” At the beginning of the book, the light shines toward Hester, because she has no secrets. Everyone knows she is the adulterous woman. However, later in the novel, she hides from her daughter what the A stands for, and she also hides who Pearl's father is. Because of these unspoken secrets, the sun is now fading for Hester. The "A" on Hester's chest could symbolize sin and would usually cause a lot of humiliation. As Hawthorne confirms, "wisely believing that one sign of her shame would only serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a look that did not wouldn't be shameful. , looked at its inhabitants and neighbors. (Hawthorne 46), Hester refuses to let go to the point of embarrassment and let her peers make fun of her. Hester's strong-willed personality does not change much throughout the story. It represents many things other than the A itself. She speaks up and silences the Governor and Dimmesdale when they demand that Pearl be taken away from her. Works Cited Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2010). The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Infobase publication. Davis, R. (2009). The Scarlet Letter: A Reading. Twayne Publishers. Hawthorne, N. (1850). The scarlet letter. Ticknor, Reed and Fields. Kesterson, D.B. (ed.). (2012). The Scarlet Letter Handbook. Wiley. Kopley, R. and Barnes, EW (eds.). (2008). The Cambridge Companion by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Cambridge University Press. Leavis, Q.D. (1962). The scarlet letter and the great tradition. Chatto and Windus. Martin, T. (ed.). (2017). The Scarlet Letter: An Authoritative Text, Background, Reviews. WW Norton &.