The Scarlet Letter Blog 1

     At this point in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter the novel, I am well into the plot, and have even noticed a few ideas that I thought may serve as themes throughout the novel. The first theme is loneliness  and was the one that was first obvious to me. Hester Prynne was shunned from society after committing adultery, and still faces the challenges that come with this now. Even going out into public, she is never approached and people don't associate themselves with her. Everything she does is only for herself and her infant child, and this contributes to her awareness of the fact that she has no real companionship with anyone. Hawthorne describes Hester as "without a friend on earth who dared to show himself"(Hawthorne 61). Now whether or not Hester has any desire to change this in the future is unknown. The other theme present is a theme of guilt and shame. Not only does she struggle to face her crime, but she wants nothing more than to get rid of the guilt she carries because of it. One of the reasons she chose not to move to a new city is that she thought that the extra hurt that it would cause would be a better chance of being forgiven by God. Also, she can sew very well, and she chooses to use this talent and make clothes for the less fortunate. I will be interested to see how both of these themes are developed as the novel continues.