Scarlet Letter

Eternal Decision

Although Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter takes place in a seventeenth century puritanical New England colony, many of the difficulties and challenges the character faces can still be factors today. Through a series of actions, events unfold that forever shape the lives of the characters in the novel. The main character, Hester Prynne, comes to find out how her life will change forever based on one decision. This is a situation that people today still face. It is evident that one decision in fact can affect your entire life.

Hester's marriage to Roger Chillingworth proves to be an empty one, married for security, not for love, Hester is relieved when she believes Chillingworth is lost at sea. Soon after, her affair with Minister Dimmesdale gives her renewed hope in finding a companion. This decision to start an affair will be the one that forever changes her and those around her.

After the colony learns of the affair, Hester must deal with the public scorn and ignominy that come with adultery. She is alone in this humiliation, though, as Minister Dimmesdale, a respected man of the church, watches her suffer as his life continues normally.

After being forced to wear the scarlet letter for eternity, Hester realizes how her decision to begin an affair is now present in her every day life. The news of her pregnancy with a child out of wedlock further confirms the reality of her mistake and it is now evident that not only her life will be affected, but also the life of her unborn child. "The truth was that the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant brood that ever lived, had got a vague idea of something outlandish, unearthly, or at variance with ordinary fashions, in the mother and child; and therefore scorned them in their hearts, and not unfrequently reviled them with their tongues. (46)" Hester lives with the every day reminder of her sin, as do those around her.

For years to come, Hester continues to be known as the adulteress (112). Her child, Pearl, is also affected. Soon Pearl is branded with her own mark of shame, as a child out of adultery, which is now a constant reminder to both her and Hester of the one decision that has shaped Pearl's life. Both women grow to accept the differences they encounter because of their permanent adornment. Eventually, they move to a cottage in the woods where they live in isolation. Without ever being given a second chance, Hester must accept that not only did her initial decision change and destroy her own life, but it has also changed the life of her own child.

Single decisions have