The Scarlet Letter Blog 4

“’I have thought of death,’ said she, -- ‘have wished for it, -- would even have prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything.’” This shows the amount of affliction was placed on Hester after her trial. She was the disgrace of the whole town and because of that she was shunned. Hester spent her life alone from that day onward. Hester had her daughter Pearl’s company but that was all. Pearl, Hester’s daughter, would face much affliction because she was the result of Hester’s poor decision. Hester was afraid for her daughter because she knew that Pearl would be made fun of and rejected. Hester wanted nothing more than to be with her daughter for the rest of her life, but Hester also knew that she could not expect her daughter to stay with her forever. As much as Hester needed her daughters love, she loved her daughter and wanted the very best for her. As you can see by the quote above, Hester’s life was very depressing. I don’t think that this is the kind of life that Hester wanted for her daughter, or anyone else. The affliction that Hester received from her decision to have sex with a man that was not her husband, even though she had not heard from her husband in over 2 years, was very hard on her. Everyone in the community looked down upon her as being among the lowest. She was the symbol of a bad woman in her community and time period.