Critical Analysis Scarlet Letter

In a surface examination of the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is quickly evident that no good things come from the wilderness. Therein, the wilderness is often associated with the savages and the devil. In his work The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne finds herself exiled by society for having an adulterous affair with the town reverend which brought forth the child known as Pearl. Pearl is quickly established as the child of the wilderness: wild, capricious, and thought by the town to be a demon-child. She represents several entities in the novel just by her being, but when her morality is delved into, much more of the nature of the story can be revealed. Pearl’s role is often overlooked as a formative force in the novel. Some scholars have gone as far as to denounce her as unnecessary to the story’s makeup. Upon close examination, it can be determined that Pearl is indeed a necessary element. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Pearl presents themes of morality, both personal and cultural, as well as the divide between society and nature, through her interactions with Hester, Reverend Dimmesdale, and the scarlet letter itself.

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne characterizes Pearl with contrasting personalities and roles she plays in Hester’s life. Pearl’s conflicting personality components, innocence and defiance, both derive from her isolation from society, which transpired because of her mother’s sin. Pearl represents the conflict between everything good and dark, which reflects in the role she plays in Hester’s life, as the physical embodiment of the A. While Pearl serves as a savior to Hester, representing possible redemption, she is also Hester’s tormentor, a constant reminder of her sin, and the consequences of disobeying her Puritan nature and religion. Hawthorne’s intent is established in the novel through Pearl’s attachment to the A, the mirror

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester

A common theme throughout literature is religion and how the author feels about his or her faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices to draw comparisons between characters and events in The Scarlet Letter and Biblical figures and accounts. A few of the devices found in this novel that connect it to the Bible are symbolism, paradox, allusions, and characterization. It is important to first look at the characters and how they are described through characterization.

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

““There was witchcraft in little Pearl’s eyes, and her face, as she glanced upward at the minister, wore that naughty smile which made its expression frequently so elvish.” (Hawthorne 145) This, is a misleading description that Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts of Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne, in his classic novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is the living product of sin for her mother. Born out of wedlock, Pearl is a unique child that tends to be very moody and unpredictable. However, Pearl, at such a young age, demonstrates outstanding knowledge and exhibits curiosity to her mother’s scarlet letter, and the hypocrisy of Puritan society. Although Pearl portrays devilish characteristics and performs mischievous behaviour, she

In passage 1, the Hawthorne employs an allusion when he explains that Hester names her child Pearl because “Hester purchased her with all she had.” This is a reference to the bible when Jesus calls heaven a “pearl of great price” and declares that when someone comes across a pearl, he shall sell all he has to buy it. The author includes this allusion to convey how important Pearl is to Hester and to connect the meaning of Pearl’s name to religion, for religion presides over all in Puritan society. Hawthorne also uses exclamations to show how valuable Pearl is to her mother. But, at the same time, he points out that Pearl is Hester’s source of shame and torture. The function of the child parallels the function of the scarlet letter. They are both a reminder of Hester’s wrongdoing but become a huge part of her identity that she cannot live without. Hawthorne creates a sense of situational irony when he introduces the idea that in creating Pearl, Hester loses everything, her pride, her reputation and her social life, but at the same time she gains

To begin, Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter “A” to reinforce the theme of Guilt. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her bosom because she has committed the sin of adultery. This leads Hester to feel guilty for the rest of her life. Hawthorne states, “... that scarlet letter, 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” (Hawthorne 51). The quote shows how feeling guilt has made her much more distant from the rest of the townspeople. Hester experiences this agonizing guilt whenever she glances in a mirror, or down at her chest. Pearl is the result of Hester’s

Through Pearl, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores innocence as well as naivety in the mind of a young child. These qualities, along with the idea that all children are born free of sin, allow Pearl to escape the meaning of the Scarlet Letter that has turned her family upside down. The Scarlet Letter serves as a reminder of the sin that Hester commits by having a child out of wedlock. When Hester becomes pregnant and is forced to wear the Scarlet Letter, her community looks down upon her and wrongfully places the impurity of her actions onto her unborn child. Despite what people in the town think of Pearl, Hester views Pearl as a treasure, naming her ‘Pearl’ after something of opulence. In order to not taint this view, Hester tries as hard as she can to shield Pearl from the punishment of the letter telling her that she simply likes the gold trim on it and lying about its negative connotation. Instead of a curse, Pearl is a blessing in disguise and a gift from God, described as “a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion” (74).

In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is often regarded as a symbol to that of the suffering of Hester Prynne and the shamed Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale but Pearls significance is more than just symbolizing the sin committed by her parents. She in many ways represents the innocence that the puritan belief is regressing itself to have. Hawthorne constructs Pearl as an evolving symbol for Hester and Dimmsdale and her progression as a character is shown through that of the actions set forth by these characters. Since the inception of the act of adultery by Hester and Dimmesdale, Pearl is developed by sin but she is not conformed to sin and as a result symbolizing a release of sin. She is essentially the road from childhood to adulthood, innocence to innocence lost to finally understanding and accepting the card that we are all delved with and that’s life after sin.

Pearl, Hester’s child out of wedlock, then emphasizes on the idea of darkness following Hester when she declares to Hester, “the sunshine does not love you. It turns away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom” (Hawthorne 167). The letter on Hester’s bosom not only repel the townspeople, it drives off the sunshine and light that used to follow her wherever she went. She is considered as a social outcast among her peers and even the children of the community. However, still in the forest, when Hester rips the Scarlet Letter from her chest and throws it into the nearby brook, “all at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees” (Hawthorne 186). Once the letter is no longer attached to Hester, she is set free from her guilt and grief that she has endured for so many years. She is no longer controlled by the “iron-framework” (Hawthorne 111) of the puritan society and is able to be with Dimmesdale, her true lover, without the guilt that was brought upon her by the Scarlet Letter.

In the ninth through eighteenth chapters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, many things are established. The characters in the novel are beginning to be fully characterized, Pearl is described as “elvish” and to have an “elf-smile in her eyes” and at such a young age Pearl displays a supernatural intelligence that most three year-old’s do not possess. Pearl is a living example representing the sin of adultery that Hester Prynne, her mother, has committed, which connects to the theme. Pearl is very much alike her mother Hester, because of their captivating beauty. Another character development is the evolution of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale’s illness. Dimmesdale becomes extremely ill, and he punishes himself because of the sin he committed which was also adultery, with Hester Prynne. Dimmesdale slowly begins to attempt to reveal his sinfulness through his sermons, but this leads his congregation to believe he is very holy and could never be a sinful being. Hawthorne uses dramatic irony, through this situation because the reader knows who the father of Pearl is and that Dimmesdale committed adultery, but the people of the

“Women belong in the kitchen.” “All women should be barefoot and pregnant.” “Women are strictly homemakers.” These are a few of the commonly used phrases regarding the female role in society that date back to the mid-seventeenth century. However, ardent supporters of gender equality have surfaced in almost every culture where this ideology is practiced. Nathaniel Hawthorne explores this inveterate societal conflict through his story The Scarlet Letter. The main character, Hester Prynne, is punished for committing adultery by being forced to wear a scarlet letter upon her bosom; Hawthorne created a story sympathetic to the female cause and demonstrated, through Hester, qualities of early feminism that later establish themselves during his

The Scarlet Letter Critical Analysis Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the direct descendant of John Hawthorne, and a judge at the infamous Salemwitchcraft trials. The guilt that Hawthorne felt over the actions of his ancestor had an enormous impact on his writings. In his introduction of "The Scarlet Letter", Hawthorne accepts the guilt from his forefathers and offers to repent for their crimes (Waggoner, 5). This unusual way of viewing guilt and sin is one driving factor in Hawthorne's writing. The other, which is closely related to the first, is the relationship between men, and of man to humanity as a whole.