Witches and Pagans

In the conclusion of The Scarlet Letter, the narrator writes, "...people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel..Hester comforted and counselled them, as best she might" (241).  After reading this, I pictured Hester as this sort of Pagan-like figure in Puritan New England.  This reminded me of a museum I went to while actually visiting Salem, Massachusetts.  There was a tour around a small museum in Salem, and I learned of how the image of the originally calm, peaceful, and helpful pagans changed to some green, evil witch.  I felt like this mirrored Hester and how she, in the view of society, changed from one to the other.

Hester                                     History

Witch, then Pagan                  Pagan, then Witch