Hester__Coward or Admirable?

My juniors are anxiously reading The Scarlet Letter. OK, so anxiously may not be the right word. They are reluctantly, apprehensively, unwillingly reading The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s tale has had it’s critics throughout the years, but I find that every time I reread it, I am older and perhaps gain a greater sense of understanding from his text. When I first read his novel, I was a teenager and intrigued by the fact that this Puritan race had the nerve to brand someone simply based on what they considered a wrongdoing--branding for life. Forever marked with a mistake of the past.
Today as a 40-something, I wonder when my views on Hawthorne’s novel changed. I have read this novel maybe fourteen times throughout my life. I find new hope in the description and inner conflict in what remains a very quiet Hester Prynne. Today I appreciate Hester’s quiet demeanor. Her willingness to accept her fate as her own rather than place blame. Even at the beginning when she first sees her husband staring at her from the ground in front of the pillory, I remember as a teenager being very certain that I would have pointed at him and screamed to the world that he was the one who left her to her own devices. Selfish man leaving his wife alone for so long that she found solace in another man’s comforting arms.
Yeah, even as I read that, I know that I no longer feel the same way. Hester had choices. Even in the Puritan era she lived in, she had choices. She ultimately lived with what she chose. It’s actually a very brave woman who can know the consequences and live with them. It’s the rest of the world that wouldn’t allow her to live with the choices she made. And before you think I ‘m letting Reverend Dimmesdale (the father of Hester’s baby and not her husband) off with a pass, I’m not. I still have very clear feelings on his role in Hester’s punishment.
I find less tolerance in my 40-somethings for people who can’t own up to their responsibility. It’s a big word, I know. It weighs heavy on the tongue and even heavier on the heart. What people tend to not take responsibility for is oftentimes something minor and obscure. A student who gets busy and doesn’t do their homework. A little white lie to protect someone’s feelings. And before the heavy hitters come at me, yes, adultery today is bad and really bad during the Puritan era—not the little white lie of the day.
I admire Hester today. When I was a teenager, I found her weak and cowardly. Today I find her choices wrong, but the way she lived with them admirable. I’d like to have her strength and fortitude. I’d like to say that no matter what I do, I’d have the strength that Hester had. And yes, I know some might say that it’s a fine line between hiding one’s shame and taking responsibility for it, I believe Hester now shows me that she takes responsibility. That’s a Hester I can get behind.