an analysis of the heroine of the scarlet letter(浅谈《红字》的女主人公) 英

In Hawthorne’s masterpiece The Scarlet Letter, Hester wore the scarlet letter A, somewhat willingly, for the purpose of confessing her sin, of meditating and of reforming herself. Obviously Hawthorne stands for penitence and penance. Whenever the sinner bravely expiates his sin, he is at ease and he becomes a virtuous person again. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne makes Hester a heroin and survives to a tranquil old age just by expiating her offence. On this point, Mark Van Doren’s comments about Hester, in my interpretation, agree with Hawthorne’s original intention. Doren said that she is “heroic in size and strength…Although she came to be Puritanism’s victim, she never surrendered the integrity of her soul. Neither did she complain of her fate. Her fate was to waste her life, yet we do not feel in the end that her life was wasted. Rather it is known, she is immortal.”

　　Hester Prynne’s experience is unique in the way that her sins are encompassed in the sins of others