Hester Prynne's Individualism in The Scarlet Letter

Abstract or Introduction

"The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance, on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. She was lady-like, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity."

Hester Prynne, the woman described above and one of the main characters ofNathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” is the typical romanticindividualist. Individualism is a major topic in romanticism. In the eras before, theindividual was always inferior to and less important than society and the heroes triedto save society. But in romanticism the individual is equal to or even more importantthan society. The heroes are also rebellious, they defy society instead of saving it.So the typical romantic individualist rejects the authority of God and of the state andaffirms the sole authority of nature. Hester fits into that category, because bycommitting adultery she broke the laws of God and man and sought natural passionsand true love. This paper, which is to show the quality of Hester’s individualism isdivided into three parts, each dealing with one aspect of her life. The first partconcerns her relationship with other people in the community, her “outer life”. Herrelationship to Pearl is the theme of the second part and the third one deals with Hester’s “inner life”, her life with regard to the spiritual world and her ownimagination.