What does Hester do to help the poor?
Hester becomes known for her charitable deeds. She offers comfort to the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden. When the governor is dying, she is at his side. "She came, not as a guest, but as a rightful inmate, into the household that was darkened by trouble.".
Why is Hester's presence taken for granted?
Yet Hester's presence is taken for granted, and those that she helps do not acknowledge her on the street. Hawthorne attributes this transformation to her lonely position in the world and her suffering. No friend, no companion, no foot crossed the threshold of her cottage. In her solitude, she had a great deal of time to think.
How do the townspeople treat Hester and how does she react?
How do the townspeople treat Hester, and how does she react? Hester's skill at needlework, earlier shown in the fine way that she displayed the scarlet letter, allows her to maintain a fairly stable lifestyle. Still, her reputation as an outcast and loner causes a negative aura to be cast around her.
What do we know about Hester from the days before her punishment?
What we know about Hester from the days prior to her punishment is that she came from a "genteel but impoverished English family" of notable lineage. She married the much older Roger Chillingworth, who spent long hours over his books and experiments; yet she convinced herself that she was happy.

How was Hester treated in The Scarlet Letter?
Public Humiliation In The Scarlet Letter Reality behind Public Humiliation In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, the character Hester Prynne is publically shamed for committing adultery. Hester is forced to stand upon a podium and is taunted and shunned by her fellow townspeople.
How did society treat Hester?
Because this sin is considered to be one of the worst in the Puritan society, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet "A" which stands for adultery. Hester also has to stand on a scaffold in front of the townspeople to punish her for the sin in which she has committed and also as an example to the crowd.
How does Hester respond to how she is treated?
How do the townspeople treat Hester and how does she react? The townspeople all look down on Hester and publicly disrespect her. When she is mocked, she feels insulted but never tries to retaliate. She comes more humble and charitable after having the revelation that everyone is guilty of having sin in their hearts.
How does Hester treat herself?
Although Hester Prynne is beautiful, her beauty barely compares to her strength of character. Even when she is punished for her crime of adultery and publicly humiliated by being forced to wear a scarlet A on her chest, Hester does not break. She remains exactly who she is: strong, kind, proud, but also humble.
How did ladies of Boston treat Hester?
How do the townspeople treat Hester? How does she react? They treat her horribly and call her names. The religious leaders stop her in the street and preach to her to make an example of her.
How is Hester alienated from society?
Hester Prynne and Pearl are both alienated by their society because of the sin with which they are associated. Hester has committed adultery and must wear a scarlet 'A' on her bosom because of it. This labels her and sets her apart from society. Pearl is likewise tainted because she was conceived in adultery.
What reason does Hester give for not removing the scarlet letter?
What reason does Hester give for not wanting to remove the scarlet letter? Hester refuses to remove her scarlet letter because she says that human authority cannot remove the letter from her chest. Only God can decide when she is through paying for her sins.
What happened to Hester at the end of the story?
Many years later, Hester returns alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old cottage and resume her charitable work. She receives occasional letters from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat and established a family of her own. When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale.
How did Hester change throughout the story?
In the course of the novel, Hester Prynne changes from a vilified sinner to a valued servant of her community. Although she is still ostracized by her fundamentalist and repressive community, she plays the role of loving and compassionate nurse and comforter when anyone needs support.
Does Hester feel guilty for her sin?
In chapter six Hawthorne writes that Hester knows “her deed had been evil” (92). This evil deed, in Hester's eyes, causes Pearl to act sinful, so Hester feels overwhelming guilt. At this point Hester feels that her actions were evil and were her fault, therefore she is sorry for committing adultery.
Who is the victim in The Scarlet Letter?
In the first several chapters of The Scarlet Letter we can understand Hester Prynne to be a good but misunderstood soul. Labeled as an adulteress, she is the victim of the Puritan lifestyle.
What value does Hester place upon her life?
What value does Hester place upon her life? She hopes for little improvement in her life and she often thinks of suicide, but the only thing keeping her from killing herself is Pearl.
What does Hester turn to in the novel?
Here Hester turns to Dimmesdale for help, the one time in the novel where she does not stand alone. Hester's strength is evident in her dealings with both her husband and her lover. Hester defies Chillingworth when he demands to know the name of her lover.
What do we know about Hester?
What we know about Hester from the days prior to her punishment is that she came from a "genteel but impoverished English family" of notable lineage. She married the much older Roger Chillingworth, who spent long hours over his books and experiments; yet she convinced herself that she was happy.
What happened to Hester in The Scarlet Letter?
While Dimmesdale dies after his public confession and Chillingworth dies consumed by his own hatred and revenge, Hester lives on, quietly, and becomes something of a legend in the colony of Boston. The scarlet letter made her what she became, and, in the end, she grew stronger and more at peace through her suffering.
What does Hester do when she takes off the cap?
Symbolically, when Hester removes the letter and takes off the cap, she is, in effect, removing the harsh, stark, unbending Puritan social and moral structure. Hester is only to have a brief respite, however, because Pearl angrily demands she resume wearing the scarlet A.
What does Hester do when she removes the letter and takes off the cap?
When she removes the letter and takes off her cap in Chapter 13, she once again becomes the radiant beauty of seven years earlier. Symbolically, when Hester removes the letter and takes off the cap, she is, in effect, removing the harsh, stark, unbending Puritan social and moral structure.
What is the most remarkable thing about Hester Prynne?
What is most remarkable about Hester Prynne 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 humiliation and subsequent, isolated life in Puritan society. Her inner strength, her defiance of convention, her honesty, and her compassion may have been in her character all along, but the scarlet letter brings them to our attention. She is, in the end, a survivor.
What does Hester say in the first scene of the story?
In this first scene, Dimmesdale implores her to name the father of the baby and her penance may be lightened. Hester says "Never!" When asked again, she says "I will not speak!" While this declaration relieves Dimmesdale and he praises her under his breath, it also shows Hester's determination to stand alone despite the opinion of society. Hester's self-reliance and inner strength are further revealed in her defiance of the law and in her iron will during her confrontation with the governor of the colony.
What is Hester's punishment?
Hester is guilty of adultery, and the whole town gathers together to seek her punishment. Her punishment is she must wear the scarlet letter A on her bosom for shame. During the sin she committed, she has a daughter out of wedlock. She and her daughter, Pearl, stand on a scaffold for the whole town to see and some to judge.….
Where did Hester stay when she was released from prison?
When Hester was finally let out of prison she began a life with her baby, she was given the option to move but Hester decided to stay in New England. Hester and her daughter grew a very close bond although sometimes Her daughter, Pearl made her life a living hell but she still loved her nevertheless.
How did the Scarlet Letter and the Crucible relate to the Puritan community?
In The Scarlet Letter we followed a woman named Hester Prynne who committed adultery and was faced with many trials and tribulations because of her act of sin. In The Crucible we read about a group of teenage girls who lied to the reverend of the church and high status people of the community about being possessed by witches so they could avoid getting in trouble. In the end nine-teen people were executed because of their lie.…
What is Dimmesdale's job?
Dimmesdale 's job was to get Hester to confess the identity of the child" ' Good Master Dimmesdale 's said he 'the responsibility of this woman 's soul lies greatly with you. It behooves you...to exhort her....to confession ' " little did they know that Dimmesdale was the actual father. Dimmesdale tells Hester to confess on who the father is but Hester does not confess leaving him to feel a sinner for 7 long years. As the story continues Dimmesdale health becomes very bad " he was often observed...to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush then a paleness indicative of pain." He starts to feel this pain because of the remorse he is feeling, so he decided to get a doctor knowing little that the doctor he is getting is Hester 's husband, Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth makes Dimmesdale 's every single life moment feel as "Suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul, and given over to the machinations of his deadliest enemy". Dimmesdale soon finds out that Chillingworth is Hester 's husband when she speaks to him in the woods after seeing him suffer so much by her husband during that moment they also plan on leaving to Europe to lives as a happy family. As Dimmesdale is about to give his last speech before leaving you can see he is becoming weaker and weaker " it seemed hardly
Why did Hester Prynne wear a scarlet letter?
She was forced to wear this bright red “A” on her chest always so that everyone would know that she had committed the act of adultery. No matter where she went this embroidered “A” would tell the story of her sin to people she never even knew. She was eternally an outcast.…
Why does Hester Prynne wear a red A?
As a way of being shamed, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a bright red “A” upon her breast at all times, because she committed adultery. After Hester moved to Boston without her husband, Roger Chillingworth who was living in England at the time, Hester meets Mr. Dimmesdale.
What was adultery in Boston?
During the seventeenth century adultery was considered an immense sin in Boston and those who committed adultery were to be punished. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne we are introduced to a young woman who has committed adultery and now has to wear a scarlet letter upon her bosom, throughout the novel we get to see ...
Who said Jews were a disease?
David Ahenakew, an aboriginal leader in Canada said in 2002 that “Jews were a ‘disease’ and that Adolf Hitler was trying to ‘clean up the world’ when he ‘fried’ 6 million of the ‘guys’ during World War II.”. Initially Ahenakew was convicted of promoting hatred against an identifiable group, and had to pay a fine.
Why is Ahmadinejad's genocidal remarks so important?
Also the statements of previous Iranian presidents had been much less watched in the West. Another factor is that-due to September 11 and terrorism-there is more sensitivity in the West to many problematic aspects of the world of Islam than there was ten years ago. Moreover, Ahmadinejad’s reiteration of his genocidal statements combined with the strong impression that Iran is on the way to develop nuclear weapons leads Westerners to observe his actions and statements.
Why did Ferrara take the initiative?
Ferrara, when asked why he took an initiative that was unique in the world, replied: “I felt it a political, cultural, and civil duty to organize a protest against Ahmadinejad’s call for genocide. I wanted this demonstration to have a simple goal: to proclaim that we uphold Israel’s right to exist and object to a head of state who denies this.” 47
When did the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide come into force?
One of the relevant legal sources is the convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which came into force on 12 January 1951. This Convention is one of the most widely accepted treaties in the realm of international law, having been ratified by 138 states, including Iran.
Who was the political theorist who wrote about the Eichmann trial?
Reporting on the 1961 Eichmann trial, the political theorist Hannah Arendt wrote:
What is the future of psychiatric treatment?
"Otherwise, an already distressed person can be left feeling even more traumatized and disenfranchised, less motivated to engage with support, and less likely to disclose troubling experiences- all factors which elevate future risk.".
What is the most contentious source of dispute between psychiatry and its critics?
Thanks again, Eleanor. Involuntary treatment is perhaps the most contentious source of dispute between psychiatry and its critics (especially former patients who were forced into treatments that were harmful to them).
Is psychiatric coercion ever?
No psychiatric coercion, not ever, not even under the most seemingly urgent of circumstances.". I once put the question to its supreme test—thirty five years ago while having dinner with Tom Szasz. Tom was the probably the greatest defender of patient rights since Pinel (the father of modern psychiatry who, two centuries ago, ...
Is coercion dangerous in the short run?
Where bright lines are difficult to draw, common sense and good will must prevail. Granted that allowing the necessity of any coercion is a slippery slope, but never applying psychiatric coercion even under extreme circumstances can both be dangerous in the short run and result in much worse coercion in the longer run.
Can psychiatrists predict violence?
As Eleanor points out, psychiatrists cannot predict violence with any precision, but some situations are explosive enough for anyone to identify as an obvious call to action. Someone has to stand in for a patient who has become clearly dangerous to himself or others. Not to intervene when catastrophe is so tangible would be irresponsible on the part of the professional and would ignore what the patient would want done if he were not impaired by the psychotic symptoms. The majority of patients who do well come to recognise the necessity of the intervention and are thankful for the protection it afforded. Advance directives are a useful way to handle the risk of future recurrence.
Is coercive psychiatric treatment rare?
Coercive psychiatric treatment is now relatively rare; prison coercion all too common. Getting into a psychiatric hospital is extremely difficult and stays are usually about a week. Being jailed is easy and sentences are long. Patients should not be prisoners. We all need to advocate for the end of this barbarity.
