In chapters 13 through 15, I began to get a better understanding of the character Hester. In the earlier chapters, Hawthorne constantly
would over kill his descriptions of the characters, but specifically in these
chapters, Hawthorne developed her more as a character in relation to
Chillingworth. This pulled me in more than any other moment of the novel. Hester
noticed that, “…he wore his age well, and seemed to retain a wiry vigor and
alertness. But the former aspect of and intellectual and studious man, calm and
quiet, which was what she best remembered in him, had altogether vanished, and
been succeeded by an eager, searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded
look” (Hawthorne 153). This moment stood out to me because I took it as though
Hester feels as though she is as far from her husband, Chillingworth, as she
could possibly be. He sends her away, with no contact at all, and is so
surprised by the fact that she had cheated on him. Even though it is a sin, who
could blame her? When the love of her life sends her off and says nothing about
it, she needs some sort of passion to keep herself from turning to a life of
pain and sadness. This feeling of her dislike towards Chillingworth was
completely revealed when she literally said she hates him in chapter 15. The
narrator states, “And it seemed a fouler offence committed by Roger
Chillingworth, than any which had since been done him, that, in that time when
her heart grew no better, he had persuaded her to fancy herself by his side.”
Then Hester says, “‘Yes, I hate him!...He betrayed me! He has done me worse
wrong than I did him”’ (159 Hawthorne). This moment clearly shows how Hester
truly feels. She is being tortured by the fact that she has to wear this ‘A’ on
her chest for trying to make herself as happy as she was with her husband, but
he is getting no punishment for the fact that he deserted her and believed that
he could walk right back into her life. All in all, I think Chillingworth is a
terrible man for sending his wife away like that.
1. What are the effects of the letter on Hester Prynne over this seven year interval?
Over the seven year interval, Hester never decided to argue with the society. This scarlet letter was like a symbol for her calling. She used her seclusion as a way to make others feel better. She found a place for herself and was able to make some people looked past the 'A' on her chest which they thought stood for adulterer and think of it more as 'able.' (146)
3. What value does Hester place upon her life?
"Much of the marble coldness of Hester's impression was to be attributed to th circumstance, that her life had turned, in a great measure, from passion and feeling, to thought" (148). The value Hester places on her life was thought. She knows that since she is excluded from most of her society, to make her daughters life and her own better, she has to use her own thought and judgement to maintain her life.
In the musical Chicago, six women are put into jail for killing their husband. They are put in for standing up to their husbands because of their annoyances for their husbands bad habits. This is similar to Hester because she finally expresses in these chapters how his betrayal overtook how she felt with him before. She is being scolded for having an affair, which in my opinion is because she needed the love that Chillingworth no longer provided, and he is getting no punishment for leaving her in the dust.... good thing Hester does not take out her hatred for Chillingworth by killing him...
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