THE SCARLET LETTER

MAIN CHARACTERS
IN THE NOVEL

Andrea Santos Moreno

MAIN CHARACTERS SCHEME
 HESTER PRYNNE
• Hester Prynne is the main protagonist and heroine of The Scarlet Letter. She is
considered one of the most important and memorable female protagonists in
American literature.
• As a young woman, she married an elderly learned man, Roger, who sent her ahead to
America. While waiting for him, she had an affair with a Puritan minister, whose name
was Dimmesdale. This passion ends with the conception and later birth of her child,
Pearl.
• Since Hester has not her husband with her, she is imprisoned, sentenced for the crime
of adultery. According to puritan rules, she is forced to wear a prominent scarlet
letter “A” on her body for the rest of her life as a punishment for her adultery.
• Hester Prynne is shown as a brave, strong and humble woman. She never lost her
head or gave up. She will not be ashamed that the townspeople are talking about her
and, she is proud to stand strong in the most difficult times.
• She will always do whatever it takes to protect Pearl and her lover's identity; since
she knows that if she reveals who he is, it will ruin his reputation forever because he is
a man in a higher social status than she is.
• Some adjectives that may describe her: passionate, protective, beautiful, feminine,
loving, youthful, strong, proud, stubborn, motherly, intelligent…
 HESTER PRYNNE
• What is most remarkable about Hester is her strength of character. While Hawthorne does not give a great
deal of information about her life before the book opens, he does show her remarkable character, revealed
through her public humilliation and isolated life in Puritan society.
• Hester plays many roles: devoted mother, abandoned lover, distant wife, religious dissenter, feminist and
outcast.
• Perhaps her most important role is that of a “breaker” who opposes established conventions or who attacks
beliefs or institutions. Hawthorne develops her as a kind and sympathetic woman who suffers her agony,
kindly helps those less fortunate than herself, and piously hopes that her life will improve.
• Hester is not just a rebel, she is a glorified rebel, and Hawthorne uses her to criticize the Puritan’s strict
society. He portrays Hester fondly, as a woman of strength, independence and kindness, who stands up to the
judgements and constraints of her society. Hester, however, does what she can for charitable causes. (Hester
chooses to share with the poor, despite her own poverty and despite the fact that the poor also look down on her
for being a sinful woman.)
• Though society tries to demean and disgrace her, Hawthorne emphasizes that Hester is a very strong woman.
She works as a streamstress. Hester’s needlework creates her social power. It is ironic that the only “public
sinner” in their town creates beauty for all. Her silent suffering wins the sympathy of others but still fail to gain
her complete acceptance by the Puritan society that surrounds her.
• She uses her innate talent to transform the meaning of her punishment and, in the end, becomes a legend in the
puritan society where she lives.
ARTHUR
DIMMESDALE
• He has an affair with Hester Prynne and is the secret father of Pearl.
• He is a good man, but he lacks the courage to reveal his secret sin to the
townspeople. He is too scared and too selfish to reveal it and to carry the weight of
punishment with Hester.
• However, at the same time, he punishes himself secretly for his sin by fasting and
whipping himself.
• He could have burned the letter "A" in his own flesh to atone for his sins.
• At the end, the suffering and punishment he endures, though self-inflicted, turns out to
be far worse than Hester's or Pearl's, suggesting that betrayal and selfishness are
greater sins than adultery.
• He has true devotion to God and his religion, and knowing that not confessing his sin
to the public and God would have consequences for him. Dimmesdale hated himself
for the actions he did and he hopes that only God will forgive him more than Hester
and the Puritans.
• Dimmesdale’s guilty conscience overwhelms him like a disease, stealing his health
and preventing him from raising his daughter. His eventual confession comes too late,
and he dies as a victim of his own pride.
 ARTHUR
DIMMESDALE
• He is a young reverend loved and adored by the Puritans. He is well known and respected in his
community.
• He is a brilliant speaker; he often describes the words of God in his sermons. Sometimes, his
sermons can be powerful and eloquent, which may be why he is so respected by the townspeople,
who were deeply moved by his sermons and his soft, compassionate voice.
• The more the people honor him, the more his sense of guilty grows.
• Fear of public exposure and its consequences prevents Dimmesdale from openly confessing his sin,
although he tries on several occasions. When he does manage to find the strength to hint that he is a
sinner, he does so in such a indirect way that his confession is seen as a sign of his humility. As a
result, people love him and praise him more.
• Thus, Dimmesdale leads a hypocritical life. His duality, by maintaining his moral image in public
and leading a life of regret in private, scars his health and causes his physical decline. Because of his
own weakness, he does not confess his sin and he suffers in his life.
 ROGER CHILLINGWORTH
• Antagonist. As its name suggests, Chillingworth is a sinister reference to fear and evil.
• Hester’s husband in disguise. He is much older than Hester; he sent her to America while
he settled his affairs in Europe.
• He is captured by Native Americans. Later, he arrives in Boston and finds Hester and her
child being displayed on the scaffold.
• Seeks revenge: at the moment he knows of his wife's adultery, he plans to take revenge on
their love story and becomes a more twisted and evil man.
• Personal mission: to discover and torture her lover. He can often be compared to the
Devil.
• He is a scholar and uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a local doctor.
• He becomes more sadistic than he was before. Example: his medical practices and
experiments that deeply resemble witchcraft, as if he is actually practicing it to torment
Dimmesdale and keep him alive in order to take revenge on him.
• Unlike Dimmesdale, Roger is not a Puritan and at the same time, his evil side has been a
secret to the Puritans.
• Although his marriage to Hester Prynne was loveless, he still cared about her and her
reputation. In fact, his only good deeds in the novel are for Pearl and Hester. An example of
this is when he gave Hester some medical treatment after her public disgrace or when he
even left Pearl a fortune after his death.
 PEARL
• Daughter of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne.
• Pearl plays a significant role in the novel.
• Her mother has paid for this child with her honor; therefore, the name has
importance, since she is Hester’s only treasure. For her father, on the other hand,
she symbolizes his guilt and how he is unable to escape his suffering.
• Born as an illegitimate child, she is considered an evil child who is obsessed
with her mother's scarlet letter and has secret abilities such as talking to wildlife
and an interest in Black Man paganism. She is a constant reminder of her
parents’ sin.
• She is a happy child, safe in her mother’s love.
• However, she wonders about her father and seems to understand that
Dimmesdale is somehow related to her. She is wary of him because he refuses to
be seen with her in public
• She is an intelligent child, wise beyond her years.
• Naughty, stubborn, wild, innocent, moody, rebellious, determined…
• She manages to help her mother overcome her loneliness with morality, and with
her innocent nature, she also brought her father Arthur out of his sin by
exposing the truth.
 MORE CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL
• Mistress Hibbins: She is the sister of Governor Bellingham. She is a
woman who enjoys being an outcast and excluding herself from society.
This character is based on the historical figure of Ann Hibbins, a prosperous
Boston woman who was executed in 1656 after being convicted of
witchcraft. Whether or not she was a witch remains a mystery of history,
but Hawthorne links this character to witchcraft in the novel as well.

• Governor Richard Bellingham: Richard Bellingham is a historical

figure who was governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on multiple
occasions: from 1641 to 1642, from 1654 to 1655, and from 1665 to 1672.
His role in the book is minor, appearing in the beginning with the group of
men who impose punishment on Hester and reappearing when Hester needs
to know if the town leaders plan to take Pearl away from her. Since he is a
historical character, his appearance reaffirms that the book is set in mid-
17th century Massachusetts Bay Colony.