Character dilemmas in The Scarlet Letter and thematic development

Scarlet Letter

HESTER PRYNNE: THE INDIVIDUAL vs. SOCIETY

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's American classic the Scarlet Letter, the main character Hester Prynne is a very strong and emotionally unstable young woman who finds herself caught up in the harsh ideals of Puritan society which looks down on women who stray from being pure and sinless to committing acts of adultery. As an individual, Hester Prynne lives in a society with very strict rules related to how to act in public and how to be a good mother and an upright member of society.

But since Hester has other things on her mind besides acting properly in a society burdened by strict religious devotion, she becomes the target of the men in power where she lives who upon discovering that she had committed adultery forces her to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress, a symbol of adultery and sin against God and all Puritan ideals. In essence, Hester Prynne is a non-conformist, a person who goes against the rules of society in such a way as to mark them as undesirables and social outcasts. But because of her own inner strengths as a woman of character, Hester goes against all of the principles of Puritan society and ends up spoiled and ruined by bigotry and prejudice.