Scarlet Letter

Third Shorter Paper

The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author wants us to sympathize more with Hester's return and conformity. Hester took Pearl and left the village about a year after Dimmesdale died. She took Pearl away with her new inheritance so that she could have a proper childhood and grow up without the stigma of being a bastard child. However, whenever Pearl got to an age where she was fine without her mother, Hester came back to the village. She took back up her scarlet letter and spent the rest of her days wearing and counseling all these sad and upset women. She could have stayed with her daughter who loved her and needed her, but instead she chose to come back to this village where they had all judged her and saw her only by her shame. She spent the rest of her life helping these women, a lot of whom had condemned her to death when she had committed her sin. Still, Hester wants something better for these women than what they have no. She talks to them, comforts them, and encourages them to think about a day when things will be much better for them than they are now. Hawthorne wants us to see what a saint Hester is. Yes, she did commit and sin and yes she was condemned for it, but that did not stop her from living her life in a way that was pleasing to God. She continued to go about her everyday life and raise her child. She also continued to help the other people around town and not treat them as they treated her. She had no reason whatsoever to come back to that town, but she sacrificed her happiness with her daughter to come back to them and help them.