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or nearly two-thirds of 24 chapters are centered on her and also, Hawthorne, begins his story with Hester’s first appearance with the audience and then ends it with her return and death. Throughout the story, the heroine Hester Prynne, who is convicted of adultery in colonial Boston by the civil and Puritan authorities and condemned to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her chest as a permanent sign of her sin, remains generally silent, accepting the abuse of Puritan parents and children alike. In the author’s depiction of Hester, he often employs the biblical archetypes as diverse as Virgin Mary, Eve and Scapegoat, which, on the whole, reveals the marked contrast between the heroine and the hypocritical society in which she lives. In making Hester the most human character, Hester reveals his conflicting philosophical ideas and religious views in evaluation of Puritanism and individual rebellion against society.
     2.1 Eve
     The well-known Biblical story about humankind’s degeneration from Eden is widely adopted in the narration of traditional novels. In the Genesis of old testament, our ancestor, Eve, is tempted into stealing the fruit of knowledge tree by the serpent, the incarnation of Satan. As a result of their knowledge, Adam and Eve are made aware of their humanness, which separates them from the divine and from other creatures. Therefore, our ancestors are driven out of Eden by Lord God and have to endure all kinds of misfortunes.   In the novel, the author adopts this narration mode to foreshadow Hester’s tragic life. Hester bears resemblance to Eve, the fallen woman, because in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering, which, in turn, results in knowledge of what it means to be human.   Hester undergoes almost the same experiences of Eve—living in the paradise, then falling, suffering and finally attaining salvation. Hester Prynne was born in a declining aristocratic family and later married an old and learned scholar. Her husband sends her to New England, where Puritans decide to build up an Earthly paradise. Hester could have lived a comfortable life in this promising land. However, she violates the Ten Commandments by committing adultery which is deemed as the vilest of the vile at that time, just as Eve who is tempted by the serpent and eats the fruit of the forbidden tree. Consequently she is punished in the public and forced to wear an embroidered scarlet “A” upon her breast to display her shame and sin for the rest of her life. She moves to live in a thatched cottage “on the outskirts of the town, not in close vicinity to any other habitation” (Hawthorne, p. 81). The environment is very harsh there and she has to nurse her daughter Pearl by art of embroidery. To some extent, Hester is banished from the Puritan community like Eve who is driven out of the Paradise God provides. As the sin of Eve results in her knowledge of good and evil, Hester’s sin leads to her contemplation of human nature. Shamed and alienated from the rest of community, Hester grows intellectually and contemplatively. She speculates on human nature, social organization and large moral questions. Besides, she spends much of her time doing service work for the poor and the unfortunate. Criticized severely at times by women “of elevated rank” (Hawthorne, p. 84) and by the poor whom she often aids, she remains a patient martyr. Eventually, people