Scarlet Letter Literary Analysis Essay

In "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathienal Hawthorne, the narrarator places symbolic connections between Hestre's daughter, Pearl and the life Hester endures after her commitment of an adultrious sin. Hester is forced to look upon her daughter; a living embodiment of the ultimate sin commited as a contant reminder of the past. The erry details used to describe Pearl as well as her actions enforce the sifficance of the consequence Hester must be reminded of evryday for her action in the past. In profiding such deatils, readers become intreged as well as suspicious as to why Pearl behaves in such a dark and myseterious way. By describing such a dark soul beneath a name associated with such beauty and value as Pearl is, enforcees the hardships Hester
During Hesters public punishment for the adultry she commits, the scarlet letter along with Pearl both prove to present shame in Hester for her actions. "She turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter ... to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real" (41). Everytime Hester looks at her daughter, she is tortured by the shame she endures for her sin even many years later. Not only does Pearl provide as a symbol of sin in public but also when both Pearl and Hester are alone. Pearl continusously points at the letter A harassingly asking questions about it while making a game of it by throwing rocks at her mother's chest. When Pearl and her mother are in a field, Pearl asks " " which indicats Pearl is wanting her mother to live up to the sin shes committed. Hester renforces the idea that Pearl is the scarlet letter in flesh when Hester confesses to the pious community leaders that Pearl "is my happiness! - she is my torture...See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a million-fold the power of retribution for my sin." (Hawthorne 100) In this passage, Hawthorne is describing the power the lasting effect Hester's sin has has on her life as well as the shame that she now embodies as a result of her
Pearl becomes more than just a consquence of wrong doings but rather a blessing in disguense. This is enforced when Hawthorne says ” Pearl is more than a mere punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing. ( ) Throughout the novel, Hester uses Pearl as motivation to continue on with life and move past the ridicul she endures everyday from the entire town. Hawthornes demonstrates that Hester believes Pearl is not just the living emodiement of the scarlet letter but rather "capable of being "She is my happiness!....She is my torture!- "Pearl keeps me here in life" Hester relizes that God has granted her happiness through Pearl and the opprotunity to rid herself of the past to focus on loving and caring for her daughter in the present. Not only is Pearl a living unsumbalnce for Hester's actions but she is also Dimmesdale's "pearl of great price" ( ) when he finally owns up to his actions and gives up his live in an attempt to recieve forgivness from