A Profile in Courage

“You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jelly beans,” said Ronald Regan. Okay, so Hester Prynne does not eat jellybeans in The Scarlet Letter, but her character is a dominating force throughout the novel. Hester Prynne, a compassionate maternal figure in The Scarlet Letter, portrays dauntless determination by conquering enormous emotional strife throughout the course of her life. Hester becomes a heroine in her perseverance, her independence from her community, and her acceptance of and optimism towards her mistakes.
“One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered,” said Michael J. Fox. Hester was not willing to relinquish her pride and life after being publicly ridiculed and scorned on the scaffold for the crime of adultery. Prynne could have left her town and her past mistakes and tainted reputation, but she decided to stay and lived in a hut by herself just outside the ...