Pearl from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a very important character, and an even more significant symbol. She represents the fact that even when everything seems lost, there is still hope, and that there is more to live for. Pearl helps explain the bond between a mother and a child and symbolizes sin, consequence, and morality. Hester Prynne is an adulteress who has a child, and this child is named Pearl. Later in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, more information about
Hester Prynne: “At the very least, they should put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead.” A man that these five gossips do not know even throws in his two cents on her punishment. With Hester wearing a mark as noticeable as a bright scarlet “A” on her chest, every townsperson is bound to notice it and talk about it with his or her friends. When Hester is being paraded through the town, it was “as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon (p. 48)
To what extent and with what success are the characters Hester and Pearl used to critique Puritan values? Hawthorne criticises the Puritan values throughout ‘The Scarlet Letter’, mainly through the characters Hester and Pearl, in how they are treated in society by the Puritan people, using the town’s people to represent the hypocrisy of Puritans. He forces the reader to sympathise with Hester and her illegitimate child as Hawthorne commits to a strong yet subtle negativity towards the Puritan society
"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart." (Hawthorne, 2) In The Scarlet Letter, the leaders of the town are very stringent and sin is a big deal. Hester Prynne is caught in adultery and she is punished greatly because of it. She is shunned from society and considered a renegade. She does not try to be an interloper and there is always a hiatus between her and the townspeople. She
The Scarlet Letter is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne that emphasizes sin. In the story the main character Hester Prynne is punished by her community because she committed adultery. The living proof of Hester’s sin is her daughter Pearl, a bothersome, yet intelligent, child. Hester is forced to live a life of isolation and raise Pearl by herself because she refuses to admit who the father is. Darrel Abel, in his literary criticism of The Scarlet Letter, wrote, “Society wronged Hester grievously
people have judged others, often leading to alienation or abandonment. The Scarlet Letter is about a woman named Hester Prynne who commits adultery and is alienated from her Puritan society. She was miserably judged and made fun of the rest of her life while living with two of her consequences. One of these consequences was her daughter, Pearl, who was a constant reminder of her sin. The second consequence was a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals the standard of how the Puritans
In the Scarlet Letter, sin affects and influences two key characters. It affects a guilty husband by tearing his life apart and influences a doctor to torment and drive one character completely insane. These two people are well known in the community and uphold very important roles. Their names are Dimmesdale and Chillingsworth. Sin plays a major role in Dimmesdale’s life. First he has to witness Hester, the mother of his child, have to stand on the scaffold and be punished for committing adultery
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter Value of Truth within a Literary Classic In the opening of this novella, townspeople are gathered in front of a prison door waiting for the exit of Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne had been accused of committing adultery, and due to this action, she would soon be paraded through the town displaying the scarlet letter "A" that she's been forced to wear as evidence of her adultery placed on her bosom forever. Hester’s baby daughter, Pearl, was not only the child conceived
Beginning in seventeenth century Boston, Massachusetts, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the fortitude of the Puritan society as well as major imperfections of its beliefs and religion. Using his familiarity of the Puritan ways of life, Hawthorne not only expresses his fondness of the culture, but also institutes a concern for the judgmental and irrational behaviors that are enforced by the Puritan religion. Hugo McPherson has claimed, “Hawthorne’s rejection of the Calvinist view
chapter Eleven; The Interior of a Heart, Dimmesdale would whip himself for the sin he had committed; adultery. The guilt has been eating him away from what Hester has to go through every single day with the Scarlet Letter. Also, Chillingworth finds out that Dimmesdale is the real father of Pearl and has any intention to use it at his will. Dimmesdale becomes famous for his speeches to the townspeople and countless times tries to tell the townspeople of his act of adultery with Hester but it results