Hester Prynne 🔒 Members

🔒 Members only: join for £4.99 a month

Age and build

tall with perfect elegance on a large scale

“The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale” (Scarlet Letter, part 3)

majestic and statue-like form in later years

“nothing in Hester’s form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

Face and hair

dark and abundant glossy hair throwing off sunshine with a gleam

“She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam” (Scarlet Letter, part 3)

beautiful face with marked brow and deep black eyes

“a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes” (Scarlet Letter, part 3)

rich luxuriant hair later hidden by a cap

“her rich and luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

hair dark and rich with shadow and light when released

“down it fell upon her shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance, and imparting the charm of softness to her features” (Scarlet Letter, part 19)

Dress

attire wrought in prison expressing desperate recklessness of mood with wild and picturesque peculiarity

“Her attire, which, indeed, she had wrought for the occasion, in prison, and had modelled much after her own fancy, seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity” (Scarlet Letter, part 3)

coarsest materials and most sombre hue with only the scarlet letter as ornament

“Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament,—the scarlet letter,—which it was her doom to wear” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

studied austerity of dress in later years

“It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine. It was due in part to all these causes, but still more to something else, that there seemed to be no longer anything in Hester’s face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in Hester’s form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace; nothing in Hester’s bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of Affection” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

formal cap confining her hair

“she took off the formal cap that confined her hair” (Scarlet Letter, part 19)

Voice and speech

voice raised almost to a shriek when defending her child

“God gave her into my keeping,” repeated Hester Prynne, raising her voice almost to a shriek” (Scarlet Letter, part 9)

speaks slowly and firmly when resolute

“Thou must dwell no longer with this man,” said Hester, slowly and firmly” (Scarlet Letter, part 18)

speaks gently in moments of compassion

“You wrong yourself in this,” said Hester, gently” (Scarlet Letter, part 18)

Signature words

addresses others as 'Mistress' or formal titles

“And now, Mistress Prynne,” said old Roger Chillingworth” (Scarlet Letter, part 5)

repeats 'I will not' with determination

“I will not give her up” (Scarlet Letter, part 9)

Gait and mannerisms

walks with firm sad eyes never turned away

“All the world had frowned on her,—for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman,—and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm, sad eyes” (Scarlet Letter, part 18)

involuntary flush of crimson over pale cheek when attacked

“she never responded to these attacks, save by a flush of crimson that rose irrepressibly over her pale cheek, and again subsided into the depths of her bosom” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

refrains from covering the scarlet letter with her hand

“oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

looks steadily and firmly into faces

“Ask me not!” replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his face” (Scarlet Letter, part 5)

Strengths

native energy of character and rare capacity

“With her native energy of character, and rare capacity, it could not entirely cast her off, although it had set a mark upon her” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

skilled needlework and embroidery

“her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

warm and rich nature showing tenderness unfailing to every real demand

“In such emergencies, Hester’s nature showed itself warm and rich; a well-spring of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the largest” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

strength to sustain and soothe others

“so powerful is she to sustain,—so tender to soothe” (Scarlet Letter, part 19)

disciplined to truth by the scarlet letter

“whom the scarlet letter has disciplined to truth, though it be the truth of red-hot iron, entering into the soul” (Scarlet Letter, part 15)

Flaws

impulsive and passionate nature prone to shrieking and madness under pressure

“Of an impulsive and passionate nature, she had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely, wreaking itself in every variety of insult; but there was a quality so much more terrible in the solemn mood of the popular mind, that she longed rather to behold all those rigid countenances contorted with scornful merriment, and herself the object” (Scarlet Letter, part 3)

allowed minister to be thrown into position of evil by acquiescing in Chillingworth's disguise

“she had been able to discern no method of rescuing him from a blacker ruin than had overwhelmed herself, except by acquiescing in Roger Chillingworth’s scheme of disguise” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

morbid meddling of conscience with immaterial matters

“This morbid meddling of conscience with an immaterial matter betokened, it is to be feared, no genuine and steadfast penitence, but something doubtful, something that might be deeply wrong, beneath” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

imagination affected by strange and solitary anguish

“Her imagination was somewhat affected, and, had she been of a softer moral and intellectual fibre, would have been still more so, by the strange and solitary anguish of her life” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

Traits

lady-like with state and dignity in antique interpretation

“She was lady-like, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace, which is now recognized as its indication” (Scarlet Letter, part 3)

patient and forbearing under public scorn

“She was patient,—a martyr, indeed,—but she forbore to pray for her enemies; lest, in spite of her forgiving aspirations, the words of the blessing should stubbornly twist themselves into a curse” (Scarlet Letter, part 6)

conscious of her own right and strength

“Full of concern, therefore,—but so conscious of her own right that it seemed scarcely an unequal match between the public, on the one side, and a lonely woman, backed by the sympathies of nature, on the other” (Scarlet Letter, part 8)

quick to acknowledge sisterhood with mankind when benefits to be conferred

“she was quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man, whenever benefits were to be conferred” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

speculates boldly but conforms quietly to external regulations of society

“It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society. The thought suffices them, without investing itself in the flesh and blood of action. So it seemed to be with Hester” (Scarlet Letter, part 14)

capable of profound love and passion

“With sudden and desperate tenderness, she threw her arms around him, and pressed his head against her bosom; little caring though his cheek rested on the scarlet letter” (Scarlet Letter, part 18)

Lines in their own words

The book is silent here, so we keep this plain and neutral.