Hester Prynne Analysis

Hester Prynne’s Battle

The seventeenth century is a time of punishment and death to those who do not conform to Puritan laws. The young, tall, and beautiful Hester Prynne lives in this intolerable culture in Boston, Massachusetts. In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne battles society and revealed sin, and emerges as a capable, respectable woman.
In this novel Hawthorne sees Hester as a victim for several reasons. Hester is a victim to her youth because she lives in an age where she is forced to marry without love. In England, Hester’s family is wealthy, but they lose their money, so her parents arrange for her to marry a scholar, Roger Chillingsworth. Hester is forced to marry this man so she will survive. She does not commit to him on her own accord. Chillingsworth marries the young and passionate Hester knowing she did not return his love. Roger admits she is unsuitab...