Identity and Society

1. Speech - "You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend,’ answered the townsman, looking curiously at the questioner and his savage companion, ‘else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne and her evil doings. She hath raised a great scandal, I promise you, in godly Master Dimmesdale’s church." (Hawthorne, 96)

2. Looks - Hester is tall and slim. She has dark brown, glossy, hair. She has fair clear skin and dark brown expressive eyes.

3. Thoughts - " She was ladylike, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace which is now recognized as its indication." (Hawthorne, 82)

4. Effects on Others - According to society she may have a negative effect on Pearl due to their perceived identity of her as a cheater and sinner. On page 172 Governor Bellingham and others don't think she would be a good influence.

5. Actions - On page 80, when we first meet Hester she reacts to the crowd in shame after leaving the prison by holding Pearl over the Scarlet Letter. Society has labeled her as a whore and initially, she takes on that label. She tries to cover it up and realizes it does her no good. Pearl is just as much of a scarlet letter compared to the red fabric itself.

6. Quotes that show theme:

6.1. 1. "In either case there was very much the same solemnity of demeanour on the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made vengeful and awful." (Hawthorne, 76)

6.2. 2. "Of an impulsive and passionate nature, she had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely, wreaking itself in every variety of insult; but there was a quality so much more terrible in the solemn mood of the popular mind, that she longed rather to behold all those rigid countenances contorted with scornful merriment, and herself the object." (Hawthorne, 88)

6.3. 3. " But, out of the whole human family, it would not have been easy to select the same number of wise and virtuous persons, who should he less capable of sitting in judgment on an erring woman’s heart, and disentangling its mesh of good and evil, than the sages of rigid aspect towards whom Hester Prynne now turned her face." (Hawthorne, 100)

7. 3 Outside Quotes

7.1. Print Source 'The Here and Now' - "It's like any strict religious or political system. When your practices are hard to follow, you'd better keep reminding your flock of them." (Brashares, 8)

7.2. Famous Person - "Don't fit in, don't sit still, don't ever try to be less than what you are and when someone tells you you're different, smile and hold your head up high and be proud." (Angelina Jolie)

7.3. "My mom's boyfriend just said 'Sometimes people hate you because of the way other people love you' and that spoke volumes." (iFunny)