In this passage Dimmesdale is speaking about Pearl standing on the other side of the stream refusing to go to him and Hester. The contrast between Pearl standing on the opposite side as them parallels the contrast in their lives. Hester, now not wearing the scarlet letter, and Dimmesdale are concealing their relationship and their sin in the forest, representing a world of secrecy. Pearl, however, is representing a world of truth by refusing to join them until Hester once again wears the ‘A’, which throughout the book has been Hester’s truth. The two separate worlds that they’re a part of cannot come together until they change; Dimmesdale wants Pearl to be the one to change by joining them in their new plan to escape to Europe and by joining them in their lie. Pearl however refuses to be with them until they join her in her truth. This is exemplified by Pearl not going to her mother until she wears the ‘A’ and by Pearl rejecting Dimmesdale. Pearl washes off Dimmesdale’s kiss after he once again refuses to hold their hands in public, showing yet again how much she rejects dishonesty. Dimmesdale refers to Pearl as an elf which is defined as, “one of a class of preternatural beings, especially from mountainous regions, with magical powers, given to capricious and often mischievous interference in human affairs, and usually imagined to be a diminutive being in human form”. This parallels to Pearl’s character very well because she is very capricious, her mood often changes very quickly and she can be really unpredictable also throughout the book she seems to be meddling in the affairs of Dimmesdale and Hester by not allowing them to live in secrecy. When Dimmesdale says Hester can never meet Pearl again it shows a strong divide between Hester and Pearl as Pearl is still very innocent and pure while her mother is conveyed as a sinner, similar to the way…
2. Hester was condemned to wear the "Scarlet Letter," as punishment for adultery. The scarlet letter was the letter "A" and is a symbol of shame. It was meant to single out the wearer for their sin and ostracize them from the community. Hester's pregnancy and Pearl's subsequent birth were the reason she was publicly shamed by the Puritan community. The scarlet letter is bright red with gold thread. The symbol symbolizes Hester being “able.”…
In the first chapters of the novel, Hester was punished to wear an "A" on her chest at all times. The "A" is a punishment for the adultery she committed with the towns own Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Instead of making it into something that people looked down upon, as something horrific and disgusting on her chest, she made it look like a beautiful, gleaming gem. She made it out of the most gorgeous sparkling gold threads that caught everyone's eye. A quote in chapter two described the scarlet letter as "so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself." That shows how she is a confident and very individual person. No other woman would have as much courage as she did to make a punishment into an attraction.…
Hester Prynne wears a scarlet letter A on her chest as a symbol to represent that she has committed adultery. In the beginning, the letter is a means of reminding the town of Prynne’s sin, and therefore, negatively affects how society views her. Adorning the letter A is something that Prynne, originally, is meant to be ashamed of. The beautifully embroidered A’s intent is to humiliate her and enable her sin to haunt her for the rest of her life, “‘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’” (63). However, after years pass and Prynne continues to wear her letter, it starts represent new meanings other than adulterer.…
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to reinforce the idea that, for every action, there is a positive or negative effect that will follow. In simple terms, if you do something bad, there will be a negative consequence. One of the main recurring symbols in the novel is the scarlet letter itself. The scarlet ‘A’ that Hester Prynne wears in the novel is worth a lot more than just its material value, it relays many ideas and themes. The ‘A’ is a punishment for one of the worst sins that could be committed; adultery. The punishment that is caused by the scarlet ‘A’ manifests itself in different ways and in different people. For example, Hester’s punishment comes in the form of public embarrassment and shame, whereas Minister Dimmesdale’s guilt comes in the form of personal guilt. The ‘A’ means different things at different times in the book also.…
The Puritan Era was the most religious time in American history; committing any sin was seen as an act of rebellion. In that time the sin of adultery was taken very literally to an extent where the women were forced to wear the letter “A” across their bosom to show the people of the town what they had committed. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne’s sin results in such a punishment, but as the reader gets deeper into the book, a prominent and more profound understanding of Hester can be reached. It is through her struggles that Hawthorne gets across his primary themes. Hawthorne illustrates his theme through Hester's struggles that becoming an outcast can help one achieve a profound grasp of who they truly…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, is a fantastic piece of symbolism, which delves into the society of seventeenth century Puritans, in colonial Boston. Centered on Hester Prynne, a young woman sent to the colonies by her husband, Roger Chillingworth, she is first introduced standing upon the scaffold, bearing to society her guilt of adultery through the scarlet A on her chest and her daughter, Pearl, in her arms. Here Hester refuses to confess Arthur Dimmesdale’s identity as her lover and Pearl’s father. Dimmesdale, a newly ordained minister, recognizes his transgressions, yet is still unable to admit his relation to Hester and Pearl, a secret which serves to cause restless turmoil until he confesses in the third scaffold scene. Because of his public confession in the third scaffold scene, Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are each freed from two burdens that the adultery caused and that each character carries into the scene.…
When The Scarlet Letter was written the Author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, discovered many ideas and facts about the Puritan community. Knowing this Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about how women in the 17th century lived and how strict the society's rules can be, one major rule that was followed strictly phonate was “Actions spoke louder than words, so actions had to be constantly controlled.” (nd.edu). When the book begins it starts with introducing Hester and how she has done this huge violation according to the bible, maybe even causing the death penalty upon herself. As The Scarlet Letter goes through the timeline of how she is isolated and is shunned from the society; eventually, Hester slowly becomes part of the society by being the pure character she really was. This lets her take off the scarlet “A” and change the meaning of Adultery to the meaning of Able. Hawthorne decribes the climax of Hester’s story by expressing, “The letter was the symbol of her calling. such helpfulness…
In the beginning, Hester’s scarlet letter was seen as a sinful, dark, symbol of adultery. However, the townspeople “refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification” (168) and “said that it meant Able”…
In Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, he writes a gloomy story that talks about a young woman named, Hester Prynne. As the story begins Hawthorne states,” …that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom.”(Hawthorne 32). In this time, it was unusual for someone to have a scarlet letter since women only got these because they have committed the sin of adultery. This scarlet…
I used this word because Hester is given the scarlet as a symbol of sin. As she is criticized by the public and possesses the letter, the townspeople think that she will keep acknowledging her sin and shame in order to regret what she did. The narrator, later in the chapter, emphasizes the letter “A” in scarlet, which indicates adultery.…
passed judgment on Hester and her sin is laid bare to the reader's opened eye.…
I, Pearl, was born an outcast of this prejudice world. Today marks my twentieth birthday. My mother, Hester, my father, Dimmesdale, and the town’s people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony know I am the living Scarlet Letter. Since the day I was born my mother has had to wear that dreadful symbol. The Scarlet Letter represented my mother as an adulterer.…
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel set in the mid-seventeenth century, which tells the story of Hester Prynne, a woman who commits a sin in her home in Boston. With a child in her arms from another man who is not her husband, Hester is obligated to wear a scarlet ‘A’ (which stands for adultery) on her chest. As part of her sentence, she is locked up in prison with her daughter Peal, until she confesses who the child’s father is. As she refuses to name him, she is forced to stand in the town’s pillory for a few hours while being tormented by the civilians’ frightful comments. In most of The Scarlet Letter, Hester is haunted by her sinful act, since the town people use her as an example. However, Dimmesdale, Pearl’s father, also suffers with this situation, even though his identity as Pearl’s father is unknown, his lie lives with him and as the novel progresses, Hester gradually begins to be accepted in society, while Dimmesdale’s life becomes worse.…
To begin with, the most important and influential symbol in the entire book is the infamous scarlet letter, hence the title, The Scarlet Letter. In the second chapter, Hester walks out of the prison, wearing the ill-famed scarlet letter ‘A’. During the first few years of Hester’s punishment, the letter was a daily reminder of shame. Hawthorne marks, “…Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture.”(90). As the story unfolds, though, this letter comes to mean other things to Hester and the people. Rather than bringing torture to Hester, it eventually becomes a symbol to some people meaning “able.” Hawthorne writes, “They said that it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.”(178). Then a few pages later, “The scarlet letter had not done its office.”(182). The scarlet letter was meant as a punishment for Hester, and yet here we see that it hasn’t punished Hester. It was applied to her so she wud feel and show others her sin and how she is punished by it. She writes, “Thus, we…