The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the first case of knowledge being gained through a sinful experience. Many years later this same theme is again depicted in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which Hester goes through much persecution as the result of a sinful incident. This persecution leads to her personal growth, gained sympathy, and expanded understanding of others. With these gained lessons however, comes the realization that these ideals are unattainable while living in a state of purity.
Through much persecution, alienation, and discrimination Hester Prynne was forced to grow as a person, despite the fact that her neighbors continued to go on as they were. As early in her persecution as when she is forced to stand on the scaffold, Hester’s growth can be detected. The book describes this demonstration of growth:
…the mother of this child stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress. In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush. and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors.”
This passage displays how Hester realizes early on that she is going to have to be strong since there is no true way to hide what she has done. Then the story goes on to display more strength in Hester, “…after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like, inanitque interpretation of the term, that as she issued from the prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled. to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.” It was not only the way that she help herself, while on that scaffold for all to see, that displayed her personal strength and growth, but also how fantastically she had embroidered the scarlet letter onto the bosom of her dress. “She hath good skill at her needle, that’s certain,” commented one of the puritans. Later in the story the reader comes to find a more prominent display of Hester’s newfound strength when she is asked to reveal her sinful partner and she replies that she will not unveil her partner in this crime. “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman’s heart! She will not speak!”
This is a prime example of Hester’s strength and resilience against the puritans who mock her, admitted by Chillingworth. Although the puritans made compliments of her handy needle work, and were willing to point out her strength in secrecy they still remained small minded ignorant people. leaving the reader with a find display of just how much growth in Hester had occurred through her sinful experience. The coldness of the puritans can be seen in many passages carrying the same tone, such as this, “…she will be living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone…” This just goes to show how the puritans cared little about the person; as much as they cared about the lesson they could use her to teach. Hester, disregarding the cruelty of her neighbors, remained in Boston, as to not allow them to win and push her away with their brutality. Due to her extensive alienation, as she stayed, she was forced to grow even stronger, she used her skills to support herself and her child, “…without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however, incurred no risk of want. She possessed an art that sufficed even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself. It was the art–then, as now, almost the only one within a woman’s grasp–of needlework.” Even displaying herself as a sturdy, self-sufficient, and competent woman couldn’t bring to an end the bigotry. Hester, however, managed to take what she had been through, and turn it into something useful,. while the puritans, not being forced to suffice for themselves, go on living as they have.
Hester gained much sympathy, unlike her puritan neighbors, through this experience. Her empathy for others, gained through this exposure, can be seen early on in her answer to Chillingworth when he calls for her to tell the name of her immoral cohort, “Never! It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” Here Hester shows how she feels for her partner in this offense, knowing what he would bear, consequently she contineus to mask his identity. her dedication to concealing this mystery man can also be seen in her poise upon the podium, “Hester Prynne, meanwhile, kept her place upon the pedestal of shame, with glazed eyes, and an air of weary indifference. She has borne, that morning, all that nature could endure; and as her temperament was not of the order that escapes from too intense suffering by a swoon, her spirit could only shelter itself beneath a stony crust of insensibility, while the faculties of animal life remained entire.” This is a major illustration of how much she had put herself through to continue to keep her partner out of harm’s way and how her character was not a frail one when it came to this task. Since Hester knew what is was like to be with less, and to be alienated, she turned to charity work, to help those with whom she sympathized. She used her craft to help those whom were poor, “Except for that small expenditure in the decoration of her infant, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in the charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not infrequently insulted the hand that fed them.” This clearly shows that even though these people insulted her, they were not as poor off as her, she continued to do charity work for them because she empathized with them, unlike the puritans who had made them outcasts. Thus, the puritans who banished her had made another prime example of Hester’s growth.
The combined gained sympathy and personal growth lead to an expanded understanding of other, which can only be gained through being forced to step outside of society and look in. Hester’s ill treatment causes her to be banished from society, forced to step outside, and to think on her own. As a result of her time on the outside she is able to contemplate what she has known as right and wrong, and thus come up with her own ideals, as can be seen in this passage, “…in her long seclusion from society, to measure her ideas of right and wrong by any standard external to herself…” She is able to realize how ineffective the puritan culture is at punishment, and growth. Hester’s gained knowledge due to her time spent on the outside is described in this excerpt, “But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness…The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude; these had been her teacher, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” This can be considered the concluding excerpt outlining and displaying exactly what lead to Hester’s growth, and sympathy, which combined resulted in expanded understanding of others, all of which were only attained due to her banishment because of sin.
In conclusion, it is easy to spot many points in the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, The Scarlet Letter, where Hester Prynne has changed because of gained knowledge through sin. She, much like Adam and Eve in the Bible, experiences much eye-opening due to her sin. Hester experiences personal growth, gained sympathy, and an expanded understanding of others, which cannot be attained while living in a puritan lifestyle. Through out the story Hester becomes strong through persecution. She is able to sympathize with others since she has been outcast herself. Hester, due to personal growth and sympathy combined, is also able to contemplate principles inside society, and thus expand her understanding of others.
