The main character Hester Prynne experiences a metamorphosis in Research Paper

The main character Hester Prynne experiences a metamorphosis in Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter due to the act of adultery she - Research Paper Example In the case of The Scarlet Letter, the main protagonist of the story, Hester Prynne, is convicted of adultery and is chastised by the Puritan community. As punishment for her crime, she is forced to where a scarlet â€Å"A† on her chest for everyone to see. In the initial part of the novel, the identity of the father is unknown due to the fact that Hester’s husband is overseas in England; therefore he could not be the father. As a result, she refuses to reveal the identity of the true father, but is convicted of adultery. In this aspect, she is branded so that no one will associate with her due to the fact that she broke the Ten Commandments. It has the â€Å"effect of a spell† or a plague in that it causes the inability for her to associate with anyone in the town. Even travelers who come to visit the town soon learn the truth behind her sins. Because of the mark that she wears, it causes her to become isolated from the rest of the community. Therefore, she does not develop the typical relationships and social connections that would normally be experienced in Puritan society. This is due to the fact that religion is the bond, which ties the entire community together and that connection with Hester was severed when she was convicted of adultery. In this case, she creates her own world for both her and her daughter Pearl. In addition, by closing herself off to the rest of society, it protects the identity and questioning of who is the true father of Pearl. As a result, her â€Å"imprisonment† by society is used in terms as more of a social barrier, than as physical imprisonment. The aspect of her being in prison also transcended other bounds. She was not able to be with the man that she really loved. Chillingsworth tormented her about the whereabouts of her lover, and eventually set out on a vendetta to take revenge on that individual. In spite of all animosity and negative feelings toward her, she is able to maintain and create a saf e environment in which both her and Pearl can live in. Because of the animosity that Hester experiences, there are a great deal of effects of both living and emotion that she has to deal with through the course of the novel. The first main effect on Hester is dealing with Pearl. She is an extremely unruly child that Hester has a hard time controlling. Because the child was conceived out of sin and because of the eccentric and misbehavior, many of the townspeople began to regard the child as a child of hell. In this respect, many of the community attempts to take away Pearl from Hester so that she may be saved and raised in a proper Puritan manner, however the minister of the town, Authur Dimmesdale protests saying that the daughter must remain with the mother. Also, Pearl served as a walking reminder of the sin that Hester committed along with complementing the scarlet â€Å"A† on her chest. Hester lived in this political and social prison for a very long time. Not willing to divulge the other adulterer, she was condemned to living a cursed life. The inability of her to form relations with anyone inside the town as well as raise a child by herself gave her a sense of hopelessness. All of Hester’s struggles and misery is derived from the structure of the Puritan religion. They often did not tolerate those who did not worship