The Letter That Changed Lives

Being the most recognizable symbol in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, gives the scarlet letter a responsibility to be far more than the punishment it was intended to be. The letter represents Hester’s hardships in the story and causes many people’s lives to spin out of control. The town’s people even start to make rumors about Hester and treat her meanly because of the letter. As the book goes on, though, the reader learns more about what the scarlet letter really did to Hester.

Over those seven years of pain and suffering, had the scarlet letter really been a punishment after all? The scarlet letter changed Hester’s life in more ways than one, but it is also clear that it changes the perspective of many people towards it and Hester as well, and it also changed Hester’s view on others.

In the beginning of the story, the scarlet letter is a symbol of pain and suffering to Hester.

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The physical pain of the letter makes her feel as if it was “… red hot with infernal fire…,” and the humiliation that comes with it only adds to her guilt (Hawthorne 73). The weight of her guilt soon becomes almost too much for her to bear! “ ‘I have thought of death,’ said she, - ‘have wished for it, - Would even have prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything ”(Hawthorne 62). Hester thinks of herself as the lowest of the low.

She hardly sees herself as a human being, more like an evil creature who has signed its name with the devil. Hester comes to believe that no one has sinned worse than her and does not think herself even worthy of praying.

To make things worse for Hester, the town’s people in the story lose all respect for Hester and begin to hate her! Rumors go around that she is a witch. Crowds form a bubble of isolation around her whenever she walks the streets of the marketplace. They only recognize her for the scarlet letter and nothing else. They even wish she would have had a greater punishment than the scarlet letter itself. Some of the ladies in the town state their opinion saying, “At the very least they should put the brand of hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead” (Hawthorne 44-45). They even go so far as to say, “This woman has brought shame to us all, and aught to die” (Hawthorne 45). The people thought that death was the only punishment a sinner like Hester deserved.

As time goes by, Hester learns more and more from the scarlet letter. By being cast out into the wilderness, Hester gets the chance to form her own ideas about the Puritan laws that put her there. The Puritans, similar to the Pharisees in the Bible, followed only the letter of the law and were punished without mercy, but through her experience as an outsider to this society, Hester was given the opportunity to see through this strict form of ruling. As a result, she was able to help those in need. “The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free” (Hawthorne 165). She was finally free to think for herself. “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread” (Hawthorne 165). Hester took this gift and used it to accomplish great things. She comforted those that needed comfort, cared for those that couldn’t care for themselves, and had a sympathetic love for those who needed it most.

Meanwhile, the town’s people were starting to grow fond of the common sight of Hester walking the streets. She was no longer the target of their hateful stares, and they grew to love her saying, “It is our Hester, - the town’s Hester, - who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted (Hawthorne 134-135).” They began to form a new meaning for the letter aside from its original. “They said it meant Able…,” because of how good of a life Hester had made for herself through her hardships (Hawthorne 134). Even the men who put the letter on Hester in the first place saw it with “the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom” (Hawthorne 135). Hester was seen, not like one that had committed a crime of sin, but as one of the church’s own people! And when Hester was not going out to help others, others were coming to her! In the end, Hester even chose to keep the letter on because of how much it had become a part of her. The letter became who Hester was.

It is important to understand why the scarlet letter is such an essential part of this story aside from being a punishment for Hester’s sin. Had Nathaniel Hawthorne simply left it at that, the whole purpose of the book would be lost! Hester became an entirely different person because of the letter! No matter how much the letter changed her life, Hester made the most of it. She could have been bitter right back to the people that were bitter to her, or she could’ve simply wallowed in her misery, but did she do that? No! She made a life for herself that was even better than the lives of the town’s people! She went from being affected by the letter to affecting others because of it! And while the letter changed her life for good, it changed, not only others’ viewpoints on Hester, but it changed Hester herself. The point Nathaniel Hawthorne was trying to get across with the character of Hester is simply this: Just because someone is in a bad situation does not mean their life is over. It is their choice, just like it was Hester’s, to turn that bad situation into an opportunity to change the world.