Scarlet Letter Identity Theme

In the book, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is very strong-willed and loyal. For example, when Dimmesdale tells Hester to identify the father and she replies, “I will not speak!” (51). When Hester is in front of many people; she stays strong and does not give Dimmesdale up. This is important because by not revealing the identity of the father, Hester stays loyal to Dimmesdale. Another example is when the governor tries to take Pearl away from Hester and she says, “Ye shall not take her! I will die first!” (85). Hester continues to be tough and not give up Pearl but also does not give the name of Pearl’s father. Hester continues to argue why she should keep Pearl and is willing to die before she would let someone else raise

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

Hester has changed in so many different ways. First, Hester starts the story looking very ladylike, but as the story progresses she becomes to look manly. Some of the townspeople believed she had cut her hair off because she started always having it up. She starts to look ladylike again when she is in the forest with Dimmesdale. Hester said she had to stay in Boston to face what she had done but being with Dimmesdale changed her mind. She thought Dimmesdale and her could move away from all of their sin `and start fresh. Another reason why Hester wanted to move away with Dimmesdale is so Pearl can have a father figure in her life. “In vast London - or, surely, in Germany...thou wouldst be beyond his power and knowledge” (Hawthorne 218). Another way Hester grows is her choice of going with the Black Man. Hester would have gone with the Black Man to get away from all her troubles. Since they did not take Pearl away from her, Hester stayed and Pearl changed her view on life. “Had they taken her from me, I would have willingly have gone with thee into the forest” (Hawthorne 129). One of the changes that occur since she has gotten the Scarlet Letter is her view of people. She understands and has the knowledge of other’s sins but the downfall is she loses faith. The last change she goes through is her needing to wear the Scarlet Letter. “Townspeople say she may, she does take it off privately in the forest” (Johnson 133). At first, Hester believes she must wear the Scarlet Letter and if it gains another meaning or just falls off then it is okay not to wear it. Eventually, the forest is a place where she feels safe and away from the rules of the community so she feels it is okay to be able to take it off. There are many more changes or growths that Hester has went through but can people really relate to

She refuses to tell the secret that Dimmesdale is her partner in adultery. By doing so, Hester eventually loses her entire reputation and image in the town all while protecting Dimmesdale and his high ranked and beloved position of a Reverend. This religious position brought along certain views and morals, which completely oppose the ones made by Dimmesdale when committing adultery. Because of this, Dimmesdale thinks of not one but himself and never stands up for Hester to tell the town that she is not alone in this crime. This eventually leads to Hester raising their child all alone and staining her reputation which is symbolized by the letter forever upon her chest.

Hester is very revealing throughout the novel, she is forced by the Puritans to reveal her facades. Dimmesdale is always hiding his facades, he covers up his true identity with the fact that he is a minister in the Puritan and church until the end he decides to reveal himself to the people. Pearl lives through her intuitions and her interactions with sunshine reflect Hester and Dimmesdale, and since she is a child she is considered very pure and innocent. Hester’s facades are revealed by the institutions and she is very open about her true-self and not covering up the Scarlet Letter. The truth will always be revealed at a point of life, and hiding your facades with another identity will destroy the personality.

During this point in the book it is easy to tell that Hester is not asking Dimmesdale to defend her out of sympathies but because Pearl is also his daughter. Hester is admonishing the man she loves to save her daughter while secretly brazening her heart to him. She knows that by begging him that there could be a possibility to keep Pearl and the man she loves without exposing his secret as well. When Hester referenced the scarlet letter that was on her chest she was bringing up their licentious matters so that he would remember why they were in that position. Dimmesdale knows that he loves both his daughter and her mother, but it would have been suspicious of him to defend them when their predicament caused them to live in secret. Also it is

Out of all the people affected by Dimmesdale’s sin, Hester is predominant, perhaps this is because she had a hand in its conception. It is through Dimmesdale and her sin that Pearl is born. Both a blessing and a curse to Hester, the child who damned her to a life of ignominy and who saved her from giving up hope and walking a darker paths, Pearl was only one part from Hester. The other half of the blame for Pearl’s existence rests squarely on the shoulders of Minister Dimmesdale, and, thus, her effects on Hester do as well. Furthermore, it is through Dimmesdale that Hester has a confidant, someone she can rely on and

True love can conquer all. Ernest Sandeen writes The Scarlet Letter as a Love Story to give insight that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, is indeed all about love. Characters and symbols both show the love evident in the novel. The Scarlet Letter is always bluntly read as a story of shame. However it may be more complex than that. Most readers view The Scarlet Letter as a novel about sin, but it is more of a story of love shown by the significance of the “A”, love being the force and theme, and Hester Prynne’s thoughts on approval. 5

Identity can be construed as the differentiating character or personality of an individual. In the gothic romance novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells a tale of sin in a 17th century Puritan community and explores the theme of identity in characters Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth. Throughout the novel, Hester, Pearl, Arthur and Roger cope with the consequences of public and private shame. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the theme of identity is ubiquitous as Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale all form new identities as they cope with the consequences of sin.

Pearl, like the scarlet letter, serves a reminder of Hester’s affair. However, Pearl is more than just a punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing. Hester gives her daughter the name Pearl “not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant “Pearl”, as being of great price,-purchased with all she had” (Hawthorne 69). In a way, Hester sees Pearl as a punishment, and even believes that Pearl will have physical or mental defects because of her actions. Hester even questions if Pearl is truly her daughter, constantly asking “What are you child?” or “Are you truly my child?” Despite all this, Pearl is an important part of Hester’s life and ultimately gives Hester a reason to live. Hester’s love for Pearl also bolsters her when she is tempted to give up. An example of Pearl giving Hester a reason to live is when the ministers and governor try to take Pearl away from Hester, Hester adamantly refuses and defends her right to keep Pearl. The ministers and the governor change their minds when minister Dimmesdale says that they should “leave them as God has seen fit to place them”. Throughout the novel, Pearl mainly serves as a symbolic character. Pearl is a reminder of Hester’s sin, a punishment, and also a

Hester Prynne is the main lady in this novel, she is the mother of Pearl, a seamstress, and a shunned woman who committed adultery with a priest. Hester is also the wife to roger Chillingworth, who keeps his identity a secret to everyone but her. Hester starts out our tale in the prison, where a rose bush is visible outside the

The central theme in The Scarlet Letter is that of morality. A large majority of the book is dealing with morality and is based off that idea. An example of this from the book is the action that both Dimmesdale and Hester participated in with each other. The book delves into their inner thoughts and ideas while dealing with an action that most characters in the story see as wrong. A quote from Austin Warren is, “As Henry, brother of William, so truly says of Hawthorne, ‘he cared for the deeper psychology’ ” (Warren 26). Hawthorne likes to go farther into the emotions of his characters and analyze them for the reader. This novel also includes their actions, both private and public that they commit to deal with their sin.

The Scarlet Letter is mainly about how sin and grief affect people. During the Puritan time period many people were judgmental and not open to new ideas. In The Scarlet Letter the characters are mainly faced with having to confront what the Puritans believe is right, by their sins/actions. Many symbols convey the theme to the reader, some examples are Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and light and dark. The theme of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is that confessing is better than hiding the truth.

Hester Prynne is a great example of a strong woman. For example, even though the men of her town have more power than the women of the town, Hester is tougher than Reverend Dimmesdale, who cannot even admit his misdeed to the town. When people ask Hester who the father of Pearl is, she does not share his identity, even though she knows her silence will bring her a harsher punishment. Hester grows more powerful over the years while she keeps her secret. Furthermore, she returns to Boston after Dimmesdale has died and resumes life there. Dimmesdale does the opposite. His secret and guilt burden him over time and eventually kills him. Hester lives ignominiously in Boston and has the courage to have her disgrace be public, while Dimmesdale is a coward and cannot admit it. Another example

As Hester Prynne had committed adultery, she is judged by the townspeople very spitefully. Some women suggest that she be branded on her forehead, and even worse–death. This reveals how the community did not think too fondly of Prynne because she had broken the expectation of society that women had to stay loyal to their husband. It can be inferred that the women of the town acted this way because they were envious of Prynne's beauty. Several years later, the people saw Prynne as a very devoted and helpful woman. Hawthorne writes that she gives the people food to eat, nurses them, and makes clothes for them