Janie Beyer

After reading this book we were challenged with the question of whether Hawthorne condones or condemns the actions of adultery between Dimmesdale and Hester. I honestly believe that he condones it due to the way he portrays her actions. Throughout the entire book Hester is a well put together woman. Even through all the torture she receives. Even in the beginning when she is in front of everyone for the first time wearing the scarlet letter. With everyone’s eyes glued to her “never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like…than as she issued from the prison” (the market-place). I think this is a loud statement by the author to show that even when humanity marks her as a horrible sinner she’s still human. She messed up once and now has to bear her mistake on her breast and in Pearl forever. I think that the author shows Hester as this strong person for a reason. To show that the mistake she made does not make her any less human than anyone else. At the end when Dimmesdale and Hester are in the forest they both feel a huge relief when they decide to tell the world about Dimmesdale. And once again Hester is shown as a magnificent woman. At once “her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back” (a flood of sunshine). Hester’s strength and beauty in my opinion truly shows that the author does not condemn her actions. Otherwise he would have shown her as a broken awful girl.