Hester is definitely pretty darn amazing, if you ask me. As Hawthorne describes her, she is, "warm and rich; a well-spring of human tenderness." She works hard to provide for her and Pearl and even though her salary is not very large, she's willing to help the poor when she can. If disease ever comes around to her town, she helps those that are sick. It is amazing that, even if the people she helps mocks and teases her for her scarlet letter on bosom, she continues to help instead of leaving them to die. Her help shows that she doesn't particularly care too much for holding a grudge and is more interested in actually moving along with life and making the best of it, which is definitely unlike Mr. Dimmesdale who's inner guilt perseveres till current day (in accordance to the book). While several years have passed in the book, the towns people had forgiven Hester because of her consistent kind actions that she donates to the community. For example, in the book it says, "The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power to sympathize,—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength." and, "they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin". it got the point where even the rich snobs around town even began to look beyond the surface and sin she commited several years ag, and looked at her a bit more amiably and less with a sour expression. In chapter 13, it says, "(the public)...show its former victim a more benign countenance than she cared to be favored with, or, perchance, than she deserved" which says that Hester does not think the kindness of the community around her is something she deserves. It also goes to show that she still has not forgotten the fact that she committed adultery and, in turn, seeks no gratitude for her good deeds.
-Stephanie Tran
-Stephanie Tran