I chose this word because the tone of the first chapter seems rather dark. We hear stories of the hopes with which the Puritans arrived in the new world; however, these hopes quickly turned dark because the Purtains found that the first buildings they needed to create were a prison, which alludes to the sins they committed; and a cemetery, which contradicts the new life they hoped to create for themselves. I chose this word because the plot of the second chapter details the crime committed by Hester Prynne. Her “sin” of conceiving a child under adulterous affairs was an intolerable act in a Puritan society. Her child became a symbol of her sin but also a symbol of love. The scarlet letter “A” that was supposed to represent her shame became …show more content…
Years ago, Hester promised Chillingworth to keep his identity a secret, thus allowing him to do evil to Dimmesdale. Chillingworth believes that it was his fate to change from a kind man to a vengeful fiend. He believes that it’s his destiny to take revenge and thus would not stop until he does so. I chose this word because it describes Pearl’s fascination with the scarlet letter in this chapter. Pearl doesn’t know the significance of the letter and constantly questions her mother but receives no answer. Hester even lies about the significance of the letter saying, “I wear it for the sake of its gold thread.” This shows that Hester believes that Pearl is too young to understand the meaning behind the letter. I chose this word because it describes the setting of the forest and the moods during this chapter. The gloomy forest reflects Hester’s conversation about the “Black Man” with Pearl. When Hester and Pearl were talking out the story of the “Black Man” the mood of the scene was gloomy and eerie, thus reflecting the setting of the …show more content…
The thought of beginning anew and leaving the Puritan community has begun to change Hester and Dimmesdale. Hester throws away her scarlet letter and cap, thus throwing away her burden of shame and Dimmesdale, who was burdened by his guilt and sin, found happiness once again. I chose this word because it describes how Pearl felt when she was encouraged to meet Dimmesdale. Pearl is the product of love between Hester and Dimmesdale. Hester’s affair with Dimmesdale was one of passionate love. Instead of following the human laws (Puritan laws), Hester followed what her heart wanted. This signifies that Pearl is part of the natural world and her reluctance to meet her father foreshadows a sad ending for Hester and Dimmesdale. I chose this word because this chapter talks about the changes taking place within Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale’s conversation with Hester has transformed him from a weak and miserable man into an energetic man with a new purpose. Before this, Dimmesdale had lost his will to live. Their plan to leave and go to Europe has given him a new purpose to
There is nothing more pliable than the mind of a child, and because of the world that she lives in, Pearl has been forced into the deeper understanding of what eternally plasters her mother’s chest; this is even in infancy. “One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant’s eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her face the look of a much older child” (Hawthorne 79-80). Though it terrifies Hester, the fact that Pearl is able to identify that the letter exists is only the gateway to the growth of her knowledge of it. This comes into effect more prominently in the following years when she finally begins to comprehend the scarlet letter’s importance. Pearl realizes that because her mother wears the letter, people treat her differently. She does not know why or how, but she knows that it is not right. One person in particular who treats Hester differently is Dimmesdale. Though at the time she does not know her father, Pearl understands that the scarlet letter controls his life just as much as it does Hester’s, but he is not treated differently. Even so, her innocence takes over and questions why he does not have the same burden as Hester. A quote on page 127 can support this: “Pearl
Dimmesdale considers the timing fortunate as it aligns with his Election Day sermon and feels that there could not be a more suitable way to end his career as a minister. He thinks to himself, “At least, they shall say of me, that I leave no public duty unperformed, nor ill performed!’” (Hawthorne 146). Up until the moment of his histrionic confession on the scaffold, Dimmesdale acts to maintain his respected reputation in the Puritan society. Even his final confession is a performance before the town. As analyzed by literary critic Terrence Martin, “...in keeping with the brilliant economy of The Scarlet Letter, the moment at which Dimmesdale commits himself consciously to deadly liberating sin becomes the moment at which he secretly wishes to cap his public life with a final burst of eloquence on the most important occasion the Puritan community can offer.” His death is his final act of hypocrisy, as he declares that he stands with them but leaves Hester and Pearl alone again to face society. His confession, like his silence, was a grandiose facade for an act of
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, includes a variety of symbolism, which plays a significant role in the book. The most significant symbol in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne's daughter, Pearl, whom Hester bore as a result of her sin of adultery. Hester "named the infant "Pearl" as being of great price, -purchased with all she had, -her mother's only treasure!"(Hawthorne 75) As a consequence for Hester's sin, she is forced to wear the letter "A", for adultery, on her chest for the rest of her life. However, the scarlet letter is not the most severe consequence for her sin, Pearl gives Hester the most grief, "the scarlet letter in another form". (Hawthorne 84) Yet, if it were not for Pearl, Hester would not have been able to survive the pure agony of life itself. Pearl is like the wild red rose outside the prison door, giving Hester hope that everything would turn out positive. Pearl is not just a mere token of sin, her purpose is much greater- she symbolizes the love affair of Hester and Dimmesdale, Hester's passionate nature, she is a living daily punishment to Hester, and a living conscience for Dimmesdale. Yet, Pearl is the one who saves Hester from death and Dimmesdale from eternal sorrow. She forces Hester to live on and kisses Dimmesdale to show her filial love. She both guides them and teaches them the true lessons of life.
Throughout the novel, Pearl remains focused on discovering her father’s identity. Because she wishes to know her father’s identity, Pearl constantly bombards Hester, her mother, with questions. Most children at her age would never comprehend the cause behind their father’s absence, much less children have the ability to hold a conversation with their mother on the subject, and even fewer children would talk about the topic, as it was forbidden in the Puritan beliefs. Pearl challenges the Puritan’s pious nature through understanding the complicated nature of adultery and pestering her mother on the subject. Furthermore, Pearl’s precociousness enables her to focus on Hester’s scarlet letter and its meaning, which represented her mother’s breaking of Puritan rules. She confronts Hester multiple times about the letter and what it means. “’Mother,’ said little Pearl, ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom…It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!’ ‘Nor ever will, my child, I hope,’ said Hester. ‘And why not, mother?’ asked Pearl, stopping short…’Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?’” (Chapter 16). At such a young age, Pearl still possesses the ability to inquire about Hester’s letter and its much deeper meaning, even though she knows its use as a warning for those who rebel against the Puritan society. Finally, Pearl’s precociousness enables her position as the sole townsperson to question the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale. The still extremely young Pearl confronts her mother about Dimmesdale. “’Doth he love us?’ said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence into her mother's face. ‘Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?’” (Chapter 19). Pearl quickly realizes that Hester and Dimmesdale have something
A sin is defined as any act regarded as a transgression, especially a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale were forced to face the realities and hardships of committing a mortal sin in the eyes of a predominately Puritan society. Seven years after moving to America alone, Hester assumed her husband, Roger Chillingworth, to be dead and had moved on with the town minister—Dimmesdale. The two lovers ended up having a child out of wedlock, which ensured them the public scorn from their community. Hester, while raising their illegitimate child, Pearl, was ostracized by society and required to wear a scarlet letter, “A,” on her chest as a sign of her wrongdoing. Dimmesdale remained the unknown father of Pearl, by keeping his sin a secret from the townspeople. Because of their unique circumstances, Hester and Dimmesdale were ultimately affected differently by the same sin. Hester was audacious and accepting about the sin, while Dimmesdale was secretive and suffered.
In the beginning of the passage selected, Dimmesdale begins his journey into confession. As he gathers the attention of the town’s citizens, his voice is described as “high, solemn, and majestic- yet had always a tremor through it, and sometimes a shriek, struggling up out of a fathomless depth of remorse and woe” (237). Hawthorne’s description of Dimmesdale’s unsteady, shaking voice, and his deep internal conflict induce pathos in the reader, in order to make the scene more identifiable with the audience. Dimmesdale’s emotions that are appealing to the reader also assists in putting the current
“Aspiring minds must sometime sustain loss.” This quote said by Plato exemplifies the fact that in life, every individual has at least one major battle that they must overcome. Within the Puritan society setting in the novel “The Scarlet Letter”, the rules and regulation on the small town are extremely rigid. Therefore, when the reader finds out that Hester has committed adultery they see how sin was not acceptable in any form at this time. The person whom Hester committed adultery with is Reverend Dimmsdale. Pearl, the product of the sin committed, is more closely associated with Hester. On the other hand Chillingworth is more closely associated with Reverend Dimmsdale. Pearl is a living reminder everyday for Hester about the sin she committed. Chillingworth’s torturing of Dimmesdale affects both Dimmesdale and Hester. It affects Dimmesdale mentally because it helps him realize the severity of the sin and it affects Hester because she is in love with Dimmesdale.
His inner conflict did not solely rely on the war between his guilt, pride, and false witness, but also from the loneliness he brought upon himself. Dimmesdale felt sorry for himself and envied Hester for the fact she could wear her sin openly and freely, yet why could Dimmesdale not? Dimmesdale said himself “ happy are you, Hester, that you wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! Dimmesdale’s sin did not have to burn in secret but he chose for it to out of his own righteous pride. His ride not only brought failure and guilt but also loneliness. His loneliness spring from no one getting to see him for what he really was. “After the torment of seven years’ cheat, to look into an eye that recognizes” him the “vilest of sinners” he shamed himself to be was the only time his loneliness had ceased to be. That day in the forest with Hester brought Dimmesdale comfort but he had only himself to blame for this misery. The truth is Dimmesdale tried to confess his sin. Though the times he tried to confess, it was not with much effort. The community would not believe him but instead claimed him to be “the saint on earth”. The irony of dimmesdales postion is almost hurmorous. He is disguised in lies therefore when he speaks the truth
He tried to pursue his revenge and failed. His reason for living was to exact his revenge, and because Dimmesdale died he couldn’t exact his revenge. So, he shriveled up without a meaningful purpose in
Dimmesdale wants to confess in order to achieve a clear conscience, but his desire to keep the Puritan people believing in God holds him back. His need to defend himself also leads him to keep the secret of his adulterous sin. Ironically, his physical state diminishes because he tries to protect himself. Dimmesdale’s choice to contain all of his guilt inside brings him great amounts of pain and suffering, more intolerable than Hester’s temporary feelings of isolation. Hester’s life proceeds to get better once the people have time to process her sin. Dimmesdale wants to do the right thing, but protecting the church and his reputation proves far more important to him than his own
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that shows the Puritanical way of life. Society does not accept the fact that Hester has committed the sin of adultery so they cast her out by making her wear a scarlet letter 'A' across her chest. Pearl is the product of Hester's sin, the scarlet letter is the product of society. This idea shows that Pearl is the scarlet letter and the scarlet letter is Pearl. There are many ways in which Pearl is shown to be as the scarlet letter because she is considered to be a part of nature, she is the physical connection between Dimmesdale and Hester, and Pearl is the reason that makes Dimmesdale and Hester to finally accept their sin and make their confession in front of society and the people within society. The reasons are listed in this manner because in the first one nature is a stronger force that human force, then comes her connection between Dimmesdale and Hester because she is the natural connection which is a link from the first one to the second and also her being the reason Dimmesdale and Hester accepting the sin is last because there is a stronger connection between the child and the parents here which is linked from the previous reason.
Soon, because of his insecurities and weakness to commit a noble life, Dimmesdale becomes so corrupt that while repressing himself he also resorts to suppressing others. This suppression is only in the interests of himself and only serves to further hide his true self. As Hester pleads for her daughter’s custody at Bellingham’s estate, Dimmesdale watches stagnantly while listening to Hester’s plea to save the life of his own daughter, and only decides to help her when she appeals to Dimmesdale, “Thou wast my pastor, and hadst charge of my soul, and knowest me better than these men can. I will not lose the child! Speak for me!” (Hawthorne 100) Once the possible threat of the exposure of his sin is sensed by Dimmesdale, only then does he look to aid the woman who he once shared his most intimate feeling. He only looks to quiet Hester by helping her, not actually try and save his daughter through the goodness of his heart. Due to his fear of his sin, Dimmesdale is becomes cold and only sensitive to himself and those who can impact
Both committed adultery but have suffered in different ways. Hester’s punishment composed of public shaming on the scaffold for all to behold, but afterwards she did not suffer from guilt because she confessed her sin, unlike Dimmesdale, who did not confess, but rather let his sin become the “black secret of his soul” (170), as he hid his vile secret and became described as the “worst of sinners” (170). He leads everyone to believe of his holiness as a minister and conceals the, “Remorseful hypocrite that he was [is]” (171). Hester, a sinner too, however, does not lie about how she lives and therefore, does not suffer a great torment in her soul. While she stays healthy, people begin to see Hester’s Scarlet Letter turn into a different meaning, of able or angel, and they view her in a new light, of how she really lives. Dimmesdale however, becomes sickly and weak after “suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul” (167). He hides behind a false mask as he is described as possessing, “Brilliant particles of a halo in the air about his head” (300), and perceived as the most honorable man in New England. People do not see him as truly himself, but rather who he hides
Oddly enough, she decides to stay and moves to a small cottage between the wilderness and town. And so because of this, the Scarlet Letter forever has its mark on her physically and emotionally. Having a home not quite in the town but not quite far enough away isolated her from society. However along with that, she is being punished for a sin, a sin that the letter “A” represents. Overall, society views her as, “the figure, the body, and the reality of sin”(Hawthorne, 76). The letter she wears, not only publicly scorns her, but it causes Hester to see the sin in others. It gives her “sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts”(83). So even though this letter separates Hester from society, she is now able to recognize the sin in the society that in fact persecutes her. This shows the true nature of the Puritans in the fact that they were hypocrites. People condemn Hester for her own acts of sin when in fact the condemners have sins of their own. The letter Hester wears can sense these sinners for, “the red infamy upon her breast would give a sympathetic throb,”(Hawthorne, 84),whenever she is around someone masking personal sin. In chapter 6, Hawthorne describes Pearl in a way where she becomes a symbol. Pearl is in fact the product of a sin, and yet, she is such a treasure. The Puritans believed that extramarital sex was evil but “God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given Hester a lovely child”( Hawthorne, 86). In this sense, God’s treatment of Hester contrasts greatly from the Puritan’s treatment of her. However, how can Pearl, a product of evil be good? For it is thought that a child born from a sexual affair will be evil. This creates a struggle for Hester because Pearl is a sign of Hester’s punishment and treasure. Also, it isn’t surprising that Pearl is intrigued by the Scarlet Letter that her mother wears. “One day,
Although she uncontrollable, wild, and self-willed, she looks and feels the scarlet letter by herself not by other people’s thinking. Hester is a kind, and friendly. The A is an angel for her. She is the reason Hester lives bravely and strongly. ‘‘And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two’’ (Hawthorne 106). Her being encourages Hester and Dimmesdale to face the cruel society. The A becomes the sincerest and noblest symbol of love in her eyes. Hawthorne expresses those Puritan in the town prejudge Hester for her scarlet letter. Nevertheless, Pearl perceives that her mother is generous and beautiful. Hawthorne condemns Puritan’s fool through the description of link between Pearl, scarlet letter, and