Rad

In the beginning of the novel, Hester comes out of the jail beautiful as ever even though she had just given birth. She came forward from the prison full of dignity as if walking out was her own choice. Standing tall and elegant with her thick black hair shining in the sunlight she stood dignified with a proud smile on her face. As time passes, Hester is no longer the powerful individualistic person that she was before. Her beautiful hair is cut short and hidden by a cap and any physical aspects of her have been washed out.

"On this public holiday, as on all other occasions, for seven years past, Hester was clad in a garment of coarse gray cloth. Not more by its hue than by some indescribable peculiarity in its fashion, it had the effect of making her fade personally out of sight and outline; while, again, the scarlet letter brought her back from this twilight indistinctness, and revealed her under the moral aspect of its own illumination. Her face, so long familiar to the townspeople, showed the marble quietude which they were accustomed to behold there. It was like a mask; or rather, like the frozen calmness of a dead woman’s features; owing this dreary resemblance to the fact that Hester was actually dead, in respect to any claim of sympathy, and had departed out of the world with which she still seemed to mingle." (Hawthorne 203)

Wearing of the A and carrying the burden her sin has exhausted Hester. She spent many years trying to recover and fit in society once more. This effort transformed her into someone who she is not. On the outside she is simply following guidelines to fit in society, going through the motions she does not care for. In her heart Hester is miserable but is doing what she has to do for her sin because it is penance and it is what the Puritan people wanted from her.

Later Hester is compared with how her daughter Pearl is dress:

"Pearl was decked out with airy gayety. It would have been impossible to guess that this bright and sunny apparition owed its existence to the shape of gloomy gray; or that a fancy, at once so gorgeous and so delicate as must have been requisite to contrive the child’s apparel, was the same that had achieved a task perhaps more difficult, in imparting so distinct a peculiarity to Hester’s simple robe." (Hawthorne 204)

While her mother was dress in a bland grey attire, Pearl was dressed in light happy clothes. It is stated that it would have been extremely difficult to think her mother was Hester, who is sporting the complete opposite of what her daughter is wearing. Pearl is a very nimble and intelligent child who has the same confidence that her mother had earlier. The dress that she wears suits her well in the fact that it makes her seem like she is one with nature.

It seems as Pearl grows older and the longer Hester bears her sin the less of an individual she becomes and tries her hardest to fit back in with the Puritan society for the sake of her daughter. But as she is doing this, Pearl is wild and unique as Hester was when her sin was new.

I compared this transformation with two of Willian-Adolphe Bouguereau's paintings. Although is he most known for his classical paintings of women, he painted two Christian Marion paintings. One showing the popular image of Madonna and child and the other being the image of the Pieta.

The first painting Madonna of the lilies represents Hester standing on the scaffold with Pearl and also her sin. You can see that her face is showing little emotion and does not show any sort of shame and she ignores eye contact with the viewer. If there baby were to represent her sin it is new and easy to hold and has not burdened her yet. There are also flowers around her (not roses but hey) representing the wild and sin. The second picture shows the scene of the Pieta which is Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus. In this painting the colors are darker and Mary is facing the viewer with a face of distress. Next in the sequence of Marian art comes the depiction of Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows. Definitely in this painting  Mary/Hester is sorrowful. Let's call Mary Hester and Jesus her sin. In this painting jesus/her sin is older and she has been with it longer. Hester is burdened with carrying this load. The angels around her can be depicted as the Puritans. Some refuse to acknowledge her, some feel pity for her and are ready to take the load/ A off of her and others are still aggressive.