Analysis Of ' The Scarlet Letter '

By revealing this small, hidden regret, he exposes Hester’s tortured state of mind. Unable to reach salvation in the town she desired to live in, she regretfully decided to leave and abandon her sorrows. The burden society placed on her with the scarlet letter was too demanding for her to handle any longer. Similarly, Arthur Dimmesdale was distressed from his ignominy. Afraid of societal repercussions, Dimmesdale had been “overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast” (102). Society’s extensive honor toward him exacerbated his pain, thus causing society to trap Dimmesdale; this prevented him from revealing his dark secret and reaching salvation. Additionally, he began to picture his surroundings as an obstacle designed to hinder his path to redemption. His shortcoming to reach salvation agonized Dimmesdale to the point where he was incapable of recalling “[any] text of Scripture, nor aught else, except a brief, pithy, and, as it then appeared to him, unanswerable argument against the immorality of

She was conceived by mistake, and is born into a miserable life. In other words, Pearl does not fit in. And it is not that she does not want to but for the fact that she cannot fit in. “ In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder…” (Ch. 6). In this quote, Hawthorne is showing that Pearl is a complicated child. She is conceived within a sin, but turned out to be a truly amazing child. Also, Pearl knows how and why her life is like this. For example, Pearl notices that Dimmesdale is her father, but she wanted him to show it publically. “‘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?’” ( Ch. 19). Pearl is too smart to let this go unseen. She also notices that Hester takes off the scarlet A in the forest and she throws a

From her initial introduction to the reader as the “yonder babe, (…) of some three or four months old”, Pearl represents the beauty of the truth (54). As she struggles to find answers about her mother’s scarlet A while simultaneously growing up, Pearl identifies as an innocent character, despite her creation. It is frequently noted that she looks similar to the scarlet letter that her mother so reluctantly bears, with her “bright complexion [and] eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown” (76). Her similar appearance to the scarlet letter furthers her permanent connection to the letter. Additionally, it highlights the notion that her mother will likely never be able to look at her without reminiscing upon her sin. As Pearl develops, her fire-like actions and dark appearance further molds her into the fleshly expression of Hester’s adultery. Furthermore, Hawthorne ensures to characterize Pearl throughout the novel as a friend to the sunlight, a friend to the truth. As she begins to pick determine that Dimmesdale is her father, the sunlight welcomes her. This is because she is the only innocent character who is not afraid to step into the sun’s rays. Pearl recognizes the light’s love for her and audibly notes, “the

Dimmesdale believes that Hester has declared her sins through the scarlet A on her chest and it relieves her burden. Dimmesdales hidden thoughts, however, seem to be the source of his illness. Despite this, he doesn’t tell anyone and doesn’t believe in confessing to an “earthly physician” and believes he should only confess to Christ. Chillingworth gets impatient but after they fight, the two men make up. Later, Dimmesdale falls asleep and Chillingworth goes to his room and lifts his shirt to reveal something that excites him. To me, his secretive nature reveals his not-so-positive intentions and the townspeople rightly suspect him of acting darkly towards the

Pearl also becomes the one reason Hester still enjoys her life. She accompanies Hester everywhere they go. However she also has issues caused by her lack of social interaction, when kids make comments to her she charges and screams at them. Pearl is also very smart for her age. Throughout the story she is able to make connections based on very subtle cues, such as why Dimmesdale places his hand over his heart.

An additional example of Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy is the fact that he professes his love for Hester and Pearl, yet it is always when they are hidden from their fellow townsmen. When Pearl notices this, she tells Hester:

People were burdened with titles and isolated from the community without having the opportunity to plead their cases or attempt to clear their names. In order to overcome the harsh criticism that came with the times, people had to be like Pearl and prevail over the hate they received. For Pearl, sticking to her true identity and refusing to let people’s predetermined negative mindsets control her worked in her favor. By the end of The Scarlet Letter, when Chillingworth, Hester and Dimmesdale have all died, Pearl finds love and becomes the richest woman in New England after obtaining Chillingworth’s inheritance. If nothing else, Pearl bests those who doubted her in terms of wealth and

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter provides a window into the puritanical mind through his character Reverend Dimmesdale. Reverend Dimmesdale comes to understand that one's relationship with God supersedes any other relationship one has, whether it's with one's beloved, one's children, or one's social circle. He expresses it publicly on the scaffold in a dramatic sequence in a passage in chapter 23. Throughout the story Dimmesdale is supposed to be an example of upright godly behavior but he's lying everyday, all the time, in every relationship because he had an affair with Hester. While adultery was illegal, it was also against one of God's Ten Commandments.

Hester’s punishment goes beyond the symbolism of the scarlet letter A she must wear on her chest, to the point where she is stripped of her humanity and is completely objectified, lowered to the level of a savage animal, unable to deny her base desires. However, if Hester had been a man, no one would have thought all too much of it, and let it go sooner. The only reason people reacted so strongly to finding out that Dimmesdale was the person Hester cheated with is because he’s a man of the cloth and also because he died right after confessing. In fact, the puritan patriarchs and some others defended that Dimmesdale’s confession was an allegorical performance and merely a continuation of his moving

Dimmesdale yearns for nothing more than to confess his sin, yet he hid it from the world. He chose instead to let his inner demon destroy him before they could destroy his town. If the town found out their strongest foothold on their Puritan religion was a sinner, the townspeople’s faith would fall apart to leave the town’s backbone broken. There is also a component of fear: fear of death, fear of losing everything, fear of Governor Bellingham and Reverend John Wilson actively ignore the large probability that Dimmesdale has committed adultery with Hester, resulting in Pearl; the “good old boys” system protects Dimmesdale from the death penalty. [quote] Hester stays in Boston because she feels responsible for Dimmesdale’s suffering and sees right through his facade. Chillingworth devotes himself to torturing Dimmesdale with the secret sin. [quote]. Pearl needs no physical evidence: when she was a baby on the scaffold, her first time in contact with Dimmesdale [quote]. The more Dimmesdale vigorously detaches his sin from his physical appearance, the more his emotions show through sickness, even

She touches the scarlet letter, but little does she know that she is the reason for the punishment. They are social outcasts, so they don’t leave their house much. Pearl plays alone and has best friends that are imaginary. She distrusts her own imaginary friends for the same reason that she distrusts all the Puritans in the colony. People treat Hester and Pearl differently than everyone else is treated. She only loves Hester, because Hester spends time with her and is a good mother. She plays with her and teaches her Bible stories. Pearl knows the whole catechism at the age of three, but refuses to say it to anyone. She is smarter than everyone thinks she is. Chillingworth speaks to Pearl about the scarlet letter. He asked her if she knew the reason why her mother must wear the scarlet letter all the time. She replies, “Yes, that is the same reason why the preacher holds his hand over his heart.” Pearl asks her mom all the time the reason why she wears the scarlet letter and why the preacher holds his hand over his heart. She knows that they both do, but she doesn’t know why. Hester tells her that she wears it because of the pretty gold thread, but she doesn’t know the minister’s reason. Later in the story, Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl meet in the forest, and Hester rips the scarlet letter off. Pearl gets mad then, because she knows that her mother is supposed to wear it. Dimmesdale kisses Pearl, but she washes the kiss off with

Rahul A. Paul Mrs. Williams AP English III 19 September 2015 Rhetorical Analysis of The Scarlet Letter In chapter three (“The Recognition”) of The Scarlet Letter, Hester is punished publicly for committing adultery. Dimmesdale, a revered minister, tried to convince Hester to reveal who has committed the crime with her through the use of rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos, pathos, and concessions. In the story, Dimmesdale’s claim was that Hester should disclose the name of her fellow- sinner so that she will have less spiritual burden.

He shuns Hester for her crimes, when he did the same thing in the dark, WITH Hester at that. I didn’t understand why Hester wouldn’t have just outed Dimmesdale as a fraud immediately, but then I realized it wouldn’t have made a difference because people would believe a reverend’s words over a criminal’s. I also didn’t understand how you could claim yourself a man of God when you committed the “worst” crime and then tell bold-faced lies to everyone around you. If that’s the case, he is no better than Hester, and if anything he’s

This concealed sin is the center of his tormented conscience. The pressures on him from society are greater than those on Hester because he is a man in high standing, expected to represent the epitome of the Puritanical ideals. It is ironic that Dimmesdale, who is supposed to be absolutely pure and urges congregation to confess and openly repent their sins, is incapable of doing so himself. He knows the hypocrisy of his actions but cannot bring himself to admit his deed publicly. In resentment of this he punishes himself physically - he is "often observed to put his hand over his heart, with indicative of pain" (ch 9). Dimmesdale's resistance to be true to himself gradually destroys his well being as well as Hester's, and although he eventually declares the truth, his resistance ends him.

Dimmesdale whips himself to punish himself for his sins, and as his sin grew inside of him and festered there, he became very ill, he started getting very sick, holding his heart even more than usual. Chillingworth one night after Dimmesdale had fallen asleep, sneaks into Dimmesdale’s room, rips open his shirt, and right over his heart, is the Black Man’s mark, the scarlet letter ‘A’. Dimmesdale becomes even more sick as time goes on, Hester and Dimmesdale plan to leave to go to England, but before that happens, Dimmesdale gives his final sermon, which was phenomenal, and as they are leaving the church, Dimmesdale gets onto the scaffold, asks Hester and Pearl to join him “He turned towards the scaffold, and stretched forth his arms. ‘Hester,’ said he, ‘come hither! Come, my little Pearl!’” (Hawthorne 376), as he declares that he is the father and that he loves them. Pearl grants him the kiss he has been wanting/needing from her, and right after, Dimmesdale collapses on the scaffold and dies. Dimmesdale is buried in a tomb and when Hester dies, she is then placed basically beside him, sharing a headstone to mark their love.