Hunter Rittle. Mrs. Voshell . Honors English 10 . 6 January

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, consists of multiple characters that are all important to the novel: Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne is the protagonist who has a affair with Reverend Dimmesdale behind her husband’s, Roger Chillingworth, back thus creating Pearl Prynne, the outcome of Hester and Dimmesdale’s affair. Since Hester was pregnant, she was charged for committing adultery, and her punishment is to wear a Scarlet Letter on her bosom. Though, the whole novel surrounds that idea of who the father is, because Hester and Dimmesdale won't reveal their sin, which creates conflict and tension between all the characters. Though Dimmesdale, in particular, caused chaos

In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the main characters is Arthur Dimmesdale, a Puritan minister living in Boston during the seventeenth century. Another main character, Hester Prynne, is the young wife of the aging Roger Chillingworth, a doctor who has recently gone missing. Dimmesdale and Hester commit adultery together and Hester becomes pregnant. Because her husband has been missing, however, the community discoverers her sin and they severely punish Hester. Dimmesdale does not confess to have taken a part in the adultery, and even with the ill treatment she receives, Hester refuses to reveal her partner in crime.

Also, Pearl has a strange attachment to the scarlet letter. As a baby, she would reach out and try to grab it on her mother's breast (Hawthorne 87). She seems to innately realize that it has great significance, but when she confronts Hester about it, her mother lies to her, telling Pearl that she wears it because of its beautiful gold thread. This scene shows an excellent example of innocent curiosity from Pearl, and Hester's lying because of societal regulations (Hawthorne 164).

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

Members of the town praise the reverend, thinking highly of him and never assuming that he was involved with Hester. While Dimmesdale commits the same sin of adultery as Hester, it is contrastly displayed through his internal guilt and conflict. As Hester serves her punishment publicly, Dimmesdale remains anonymous as the father of Pearl, which creates suffering in itself. He even tells Hester to remain fortunate that her secret known, and that his own scarlet letter “burns in secret” (Hawthorne 147). Even though Reverend Dimmesdale has a better reputation than Hester, his ultimate resulting fate ends up to be worse.

Pearl provides comfort and love to her mother and others around her; more so, she helps them through tough times or gives them a few words of wisdom. Therefore, even though Pearl resulted from a sin, according to the Puritans, that does not prevent her from granting happiness to the ones she loves by persuading Hester to rid of her sorrows and steering Dimmesdale towards his fatherly title.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, both Dimmesdale and Hester have grievously sinned in the eyes of the Puritan community. However, while Hester lives with her guilt publicly displayed in the form of the scarlet letter and Pearl, Dimmesdale hides his sin from the community and tries to continue as their saintly pastor. Yet, this concealment is not without consequences, as Dimmesdale suffers from horrible guilt as he denies his sin from his community, and thus denies himself forgiveness for his sin. Finally resolving to tell the truth on his deathbed, Dimmesdale dies after triumphantly punishment of having Chillingworth and Pearl as his personal tormentors. However, though Dimmesdale manages to overcome Chillingworth and Pearl, he

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, a reverend, and becomes pregnant. The townspeople demand to know the name of the father, but Hester, not wanting to destroy Dimmesdale’s reputation, refuses tell them. The punishment she receives is the wearing of a scarlet “A” for adultery on all her garments and public humiliation. Her strong willpower allows her to endure suffering to protect the reverend. Eventually, Hester acknowledges her adultery only after her companion Dimmesdale reveals publicly he is the father of her baby and dies. In The Crucible, John

In the novel, the Scarlet Letter, there are four main characters, Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Prynne Chillingworth. The story goes; Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery with the minister of their Puritan Community, Arthur Dimmesdale, the community then condemning her to wear the scarlet letter “A” for the rest of her natural life. Pearl Prynne being the product of the two sinners. In the moment, when Hester is completing the first part of her punishment, her long lost husband, Roger Prynne Chillingworth, arrives. Not wanting his arrival acknowledge Roger replaces his maiden name for Chillingworth. This situation creates a whole plot of conflicts both

She makes it known that she does not need a man to survive in the world. Instead of letting her offense get in the way, Hester changes the meaning of the letter A from meaning something bad and shameful to “Able”(141); it makes her strong “with a woman’s strength”(141). At the end of the novel, Dimmsdale calls her and Pearl onto the scaffold and reveals that he is Pearl’s father. Hester is finally accepted in society at the end of the novel as a counselor to women who “[demanded] why they were so wretched, and what the remedy [was]”(227), but instead of discarding the Scarlet Letter, she keeps it fastened to her bosom, and it is seen as a something “to be sorrowed over”(227) and “looked upon with

Both Dimmesdale and Hester are skeptical about Pearl’s true nature. Hawthorne describes Pearl as the “living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to die-all written in the symbol, all plainly manifest.” Pearl, as a child, represents innocence. Yet, she is the physical, living version of her parent’s adultery. It brings up the question in the readers’ minds of “how something that was evil could be embodied in this beautiful symbol of love and innocence?”

From his actions and poor judgement, individuals can see how much of a coward Dimmesdale is compared to Hester. Although, both have wrongly committed sin, this demonstrates how each character was able to deal with shaming. Pearl, on the other hand, is the living sermon. She is the product of her mother’s sin. Pearl is a constant reminder of how Hester cannot avoid of what has happened.

Pearl's relevance in the novel could be initially mistaken for nothing more than a side character and a minor detail, but after reading the entire story it becomes clear just how crucial her role is. Pearl's existence is the sole reason for this story to even exist, for without her existence, there would never have been any evidence or reason for Hester Prynne to be outed for adultery by her Boston Puritan community. As a result, Arthur Dimmesdale would have continued to live out the rest of his days as the beloved minister without the overwhelming guilt, and Roger Chillingworth would have most likely continued to pursue knowledge or Hester Prynne. But, Pearl does exist and so does the story of the scarlet letter, making her the single most important aspect of the

Even though she often uses it to taunt Hester, Pearl is a constant reminder of Hester’s sin and is always making sure she has her scarlet letter.

For example, the first thing she instinctively clutches to is the A fastened on Hester’s chest: “But that first object of which Pearl seemed to become aware was the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom” (Hawthorne). Here, Pearl’s aberration illustrates her deviation from normality. While Hester believes Pearl’s outlandish nature is God’s punishment for her sin, Hester also recognizes that Pearl is a gift from God, representing possible redemption. Pearl’s shift from endearing to demon-like behavior reinforces the idea that Pearl is Hester’s savior, yet also her tormentor. Pearl’s attachment to the A was further exemplified when she “imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother's” (Hawthorne). Despite society’s belief that Hester can only redeem herself through public shame, wearing the A, Pearl believes that the only escape from sin is in nature, as shown through her creation of a green A. Additionally, Pearl intentionally made the A to provoke her mother, wondering “if mother will ask me what it means,” characterizing Pearl as Hester’s tormentor (Hawthorne). Furthermore, while Pearl is physically attached to the A, she is also mentally, as shown through her constant questioning of Hester. “what does this scarlet letter mean?—and why dost thou wear it on thy bosom?—and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?” (Hawthorne). Pearl is