留不住的是人心of thee, and be once more human? If not for his sake, then doubly for thine own! Forgive,
and leave his further retribution to the power that claims it! I said, but now, that there could
be no good even for him, or thee, or me who are here wandering together in this gloomy
maze of evil, and stumbling at every step over the guilt wherewith we have strewn our path.
It is not so! There might be good for thee and thee alone, since thou hast been deeply
wronged and hast it at thy will to pardon. Wilt thou give up that only privilege? Wilt thou
reject that priceless benefit?” (Hawthorne, 2009:133)
This courageous action is more evidence that Hester has realized that cowardice and weakness is not solution to a problem. During these seven years, Hester always endures all humiliation and damage in silence. However, now she has wit and courage to give her former
husband a power strike, which strongly suggests that Hester’s feminist consciousness has become relatively mature.
4.2 Hester’s pursuit of love and happiness
To a large extent, Hester’s feminist consciousness lies in her courage to pursue her true love and happiness. She grows in a Puritan society where the stiff male-dominated establishment and strict laws make women overwhelming and depressing. There is no denying that Hester knows very well that the adultery sinner would be subject to severe penalty. However, Hester plucks up her courage to violate the strict Puritanical rules. She falls love in Dimmesdale and gives birth to a child named Pearl, which makes her distinctive in that society. She accepts the punishment with a clear conscience so that she wears the symbol of humiliation no matter where she is. In other words, due to the authority and the community, she makes herself subdue to the Puritan creeds. However, she denies the puritan authority’ demand to refuse to sell her lover absolutely and suffers all insults and humiliation by herself, which indicates her faithfulness and loyalty to her truth lover. As matter of fact, Hester looks the letter “A” as a symbol of Arthur Dimmesdale. Her courage to break free from her unhappy marriage and to count on her strength to create new life leaves a deep impression on readers.
Due to be committed adultery sin, Hester has suffered humiliation and isolation for seven years. However, Hester never wants to give up her true love for Dimmesdale. Her unshaken love to Dimmesdale also reflects in her desire to run away with him to a whole new land. When Dimmesdale walks in the forest, he is very surprised by Hester’s presence. “They sat down again, side by side, and hand clasped in hand, on the mossy trunk of the fallen tree.” (Hawthorne, 2009:148) And Hester is unable to control her excited emotion so that “with sudden and desperate tenderness, she threw her arms around him, and pressed his head against her bosom.” (Hawthorne, 2009:149) In order to rescue their love and protect her lover from physical self-abuse, Hester suggests that they will leave for foreign shore where they will live a new life and the shame of the past will be unknown. “Is the world, then, so narrow? Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town? Wither leads yonder forest track? … There thou art free! So brief a journey would bring thee from a world where thou hast been most wretched, to one where thou mayest still be happy.” (Hawthorne, 2009:152) It is a pity, though, that Dimmesdale has no encourage to quit his post. Hester determines to encourage him with her own energy, and she says sincerely and firmly,
“Thou art crushed under the seven years’ weight of misery. But thou shall leave it all
behind thee... Leave this wreck and ruin here where it hath happened. Middle no more with
it! Begin all anew! Hast thou exhausted possibility in the failure of this one trial? Not so!
The future is yet full of trail and success. There is happiness to be enjoyed! There is good
to be done! Exchange this false life of thine for a true one…” (Hawthorne, 2009:154)
Dimmesdale is moved by her sincerity, so he resolves to escape with her. In order to give Dimmesdale encouragement and hope, Hester takes her scarlet letter from her bosom and throws off it without any hesitation, and she heaves a long, deep sign, in which the burden of insult and pain departs from her spirit.
Her encouragement for Dimmesdale to leave the town and to find a peaceful life shows the truth of her open penitence: she has no regrets. In fact, she believes the sex of true love is the human’s nature need. Although she gets into the public insults and social isolation, they could not destroy her love for Dimmesdale. Such a nature longing for real love between man and woman exactly presents the common willingness of human beings, which certainly arouses huge public sympathy. Hester dares to pursue her true love and to listen to her inner voice, which is the best proof of her feminism consciousness (Zhai Junqiao, 2012:38).
4.3 Hester’s bravery of undertaking her crime
