How Do People Change In The Scarlet Letter

Nelson Mandela once said, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” In most cases, it is difficult to distinguish and fully understand when you have changed. Whether it be a trivial change in habit to a crucial character transformation, it is best to set oneself up against an untouched canvas, and begin to analyze the newfangled person from there. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, the concept of identifying one’s changes is apparent in two of the main characters, Pearl and Dimmesdale. Both characters experience their own engenderment of maturity and personal growth, though Dimmesdale’s involvement with it is much more deleterious in comparison to Pearl’s.

When considering this further, the burden, which the scarlet letter and its separate culpabilities imply, reveals how the character Dimmesdale feels shame in his inability

She was born in a prison, and is being raised in a cottage that is nowhere near the village where all the other children grow up. When people call her such things, she does hear, so this hurts her emotionally and makes this an internal conflict for she must deal with the feelings of being different and judged by others. Since she is isolated from that part of a normal childhood, her only friend in the novel growing up is her mother. This being another internal conflict because she grew knowing her mother always wears the scarlet letter, and is in a certain community that has rules about women. Now in the novel, chapter 17, Hester takes off a garment that covers her hair and removes the scarlet letter from her bosom. Pearl seeing this throws a tantrum for her mother to undo this doing. Causing a major internal conflict of how Pearl sees her mother and dealing with what her mother’s symbols stand for. Pearl mocks her mother for that. There’s an external conflict created by Pearl towards Dimmesdale for when he is conversing with Hester in the forest and he dwells for a kiss, but Pearl refrains. Pearl is a strange child, for she knows something must be going on.

Hester thinks of Pearl as evil. Hester is with Pearl every day, and she knows Pearl best. Pearl is a wicked little girl, and can be a nuisance to her mother. Hester can’t discipline her daughter and “[is] ultimately compelled to stand aside, and permit the child to be swayed by her own impulses.” (81) Hester can always use force to deal with her daughter, but this only lasts for so long. Pearl does her own thing, and Hester is forced not to discipline her, because she is so repugnant. Hester loves her daughter and loves to look in her eyes, but sometimes “[i]t [is] as if an evil spirit [possesses] the child, and … just then [peeps] forth in mockery.” (86) When Pearl looks at her mother Hester can see something evil and know that her child is nefarious. Pearl tells her mother that she has “no Heavenly Father.” (87) Pearl begs her mother to tell who her father is. Pearl gets her roots

Dimmesdale’s feeling of guilt drives him crazy that he begins to suffer from health and mental problems which was caused by his self torture to himself as well. In the book, Hawthorne described how he had “bloody scourge” that he made someone “plied it on his shoulders” and how he would “fast...until his knees trembled beneath him” and kept vigils on most nights (Hawthorne 141). He was serving himself with the punishment for his sin instead of making the officials decide his punishment. As a preacher, he knows the right thing is to be honest and accept his sin but does not have the courage and strength to publicly admit it. As the reader's progress further in the book, Hawthorne describes Dimmesdale reaching the “spot where now so long since,Hester Prynne had lived through her first public ignominy”(Hawthorne 143).

Dimmesdale feels like a hypocrite, because he is portrayed as a pure man, but on the inside he is a sinner. Also, the more he tries to confess his sins, the more the congregation love his sermons. Dimmesdale even tries to reveal his inner self throughout the novel. In chapter 20 Dimmesdale wants to do bad things to show that he is impure, “it was only by the most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphemous suggestions that rose into his mind” (207). The feeling of hypocrisy is driving Dimmesdale crazy, but Hester does not have this feeling.The reader sees that Dimmesdale is actually jealous of Hester, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! Thou little knowest what a relief it is, after the torment of a seven years' cheat, to look into an eye that recognizes me for what I am!” (183) Hester does not have to deal with this guilt as much as Dimmesdale, because she was already publically punished. Everyone knows that she is a sinner, so she doesn’t have to hide it. In fact, after a couple of years, people began to see her as a saint, rather than a sinner. They even say that her scarlet letter stands for “able”. Dimmesdale’s whole life revolves around the shame and suffering of his sin, which is why he dies after he confesses his sin. However, because Hester’s sin is publically revealed, she only suffers for a couple of

Pearl is often accused of being a witch child, but Hester tries her best not to believe it. Hester does her best to be there for her daughter, even when she was faced with her own burdens. Even though she’s been through so much in her, Hester gives out all her love whenever she can. That proves that she’s become a pure and loyal person.

     After her horrible ordeal, and her release from prison, Hester and Pearl reside for the next few years in a hut by the sea. Hester tries to keep her distance from the Puritans. She does not want them to influence Pearl. Hester wants to raise Pearl, and find peace within herself. Pearl, however,

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

People become accustomed to traditional lifestyles and lack the yearning to be open minded for new ideas. Society is supposed to be a continuous establishment, constantly undergoing changes and reinventing itself to fit the standards of new generations. A person's inability to change causes them to reject any ideas that may seem original and a threat to their everyday lifestyle, and this is the reason why daring opinions do tend to become transgressions as they exist to try and replace what is already understood and accepted by a vast majority of people. This concept and theme occurs in the novel “The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, where a young woman appears as an outcast to the public. The main character who is Hester Prynne lives

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.

When around them “Pearl would grow positively terrible in her punny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them” (86). Her actions are very powerful for she would “frown, and clench her little fist, and harden her small features into a stern, sympathizing look of discontent”(85).Pearl’s mischievous behavior is influenced by a strong determination for her beliefs she will “suddenly burst into a fit of passion, gesticulating violently and throwing her small figure into the most extravagant contortions”(192). Her “flightiness temper” caused her to be “sometimes so malicious... Hester questioned whether Pearl was a human child” and the church members believe that she should not stay with her mother for Hester’s sake (83,84). She often defies her mother’s commands when “she screamed and shouted, too, with a

Pearl, Hester Prynne’s daughter, which is only known to be the child of the sinner. She was automatically born into the stereotype that she was bad and that she shall be shunned like her mother for the rest of her life. As she grows she develops these skills and characteristics that are not normal. These traits are noticed by Hester, the pastor, and other people of the village. Eventually it gets to the point where the pastor and his men feel the need to try and take Pearl away from Hester, in which Hester refuses to give her

Although the town commonly recognizes Pearl for her misbehavior, everyone also knows Pearl for her pure beauty and innocence. They do not define her for her mother’s mistake. Pearl, “a lovely and immortal flower,”(61) seems to radiate her beauty everywhere she goes. In nature, a rose symbolizes immortal love and passion. Coincidentally, Pearl is a product of her mother’s passion, and Hester has an immortal love for her even though Pearl symbolizes a mistake in her life.

Often, individuals push aside mistakes in an attempt to traverse life unscathed by consequences. However, most people find that in order to encounter peace and purpose in life, one must first reach salvation. Through Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hawthorne emphasizes the use of confession in order to overcome repressed guilt. As Dimmesdale attempts to pass through life without any regard for Hester or Pearl, even though he plays a large role in their suffering and troubles, Dimmesdale accurately reflects the impact of guilt on individuals who attempt to repress it. Eventually, one can no longer avoid the guilt, and thus, Dimmesdale finds himself in a state of psychological unrest, as he feels a need for salvation in accordance to the sudden realization of the burden of his guilt. Through Dimmesdale's realization of guilt,