Scarlet Letter Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

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.

Hawthorne uses diction and similes of darkness to depict Hester's reputation in a Puritan society. Hester and Pearl converse with Dimmesdale in the forest when suddenly, Hester removes the scarlet letter from her chest. Pearl, who has never witnessed her mother without the scarlet letter, forces her to put the scarlet letter back on. The narrator describes, "her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed, like fading sunshine; and a grey shadow seemed to fall across her" (Hawthorne 166). Hawthorne uses a simile to compare Hester's beauty to fading sunshine.

In spite of that, what makes her the protagonist of the story is how she is able to overcome her punishment that was meant to give her shame. Throughout Chapter 13 of the book, Hawthorne shows how Hester’s confidence has developed in herself and in view of the town, most noticeably when considering the meaning of the scarlet letter, “Such helpfulness was found in her ... that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength,” (Hawthorne 107). Instead of subjecting to the shame that was forced upon her, she grew above it, conveying a different aspect of the theme of guilt, which is redemption. This is not to say that Hester did not care about the sin she committed, as she is very much reminded of it every day of her life while living with the child of that sin. In fact, the author addresses this by saying, “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,” (Hawthorne 60). Hawthorne is implying how Pearl represents the outcome of a sin and arranged it so that Hester is always living with that sin, therefore, always being reminded of the shame she is supposed to

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

The Puritan era in New England was inundated with an atmosphere of righteousness and judgment. This culture spurned those who strayed from its religious codes. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses multiple symbols to bring a deeper meaning to the society, his characters, and to adultery. One of the motifs used comes as the character Pearl, the daughter of the two adulterers. Pearl has multiple descriptions; physically, she is “a lovely and immortal flower,” yet also “an airy sprite . . . as if she were hovering in the air and might vanish” (80, 83). She has a “wild, desperate, defiant mood” and is often referred to as a “flower,” a “bird,” and an “elf” (82, 80, 98, 87). Hawthorne uses Pearl’s multi-layered personality

This furthers the idea that Hester is completely ostracized from society because even those that are naïve of the letter’s meaning will not accept her. Hawthorne illustrates the isolation Hester experiences, as a result of wearing the scarlet letter, with the symbol of the sphere.

One simile I found in this passage is " But methinks, dear Sir, you look pale; as if the ravel through the wilderness had been too sore for you."

Hawthorne describes Hester picking Pearl name by saying, “But she named the infant ‘Pearl,’ as being of great price,-purchased with all she had,-her mother’s only treasure!” (74). Pearl name justifies her state perfectly that she is not a demon and is just a girl who is not understood. A pearl in the bottom of the ocean is considered the treasure of the sea as, it hidden beauty is inside the clam shell, and the only way to sees the pearl’s beauty is to explore the inside. In comparison, many people in Puritan society depict Pearl as being a demon, when she is actually a normal girl who is structured by her horrendous past. Lastly Pearl has a dark and dreary side due to the pain that she is in with being reprimanded by society, which is described when Hawthorne is describing Hester looking to her daughter as, “Day after day, she looked fearfully into the child’s expanding nature, ever dreading to detect some dark and wild peculiarity, that should correspond with with the guiltiness to which she owed her being”

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne displays through Hester his ideal of how one should atone for their sins. When the community shuns her for her transgressions, “Hester's nature shows itself warm and rich--a well-spring of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the largest. Her breast, with its

“She had wandered without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide her fate” (Hawthorne 183). This quote from the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is one of many in which he utilizes in-depth descriptions of the setting to describe the character’s mental state. Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale’s interaction in the forest is a pivotal scene in the novel due to surroundings that are reflective of the ongoing conflict. Hawthorne illumines the inner turmoil of each character through multiple literary devices, especially with the recurring paradox of light and dark. Hawthorne’s use of light and shadows in the forest scene illustrates the recurring tension between purity and sin.

The scarlet letter was exemplified as a form of life by the way Hester arrayed her. She wants the town to know that she is not ashamed of the scarlet letter, and that she is proud of her daughter. Although Hester Prynne is prideful, she also experiences isolation in the town in the beginning of the book. In chapter 2 on page 52 Hawthorne wrote,

Near the end of the book, Hawthorne reveals the true transformation of Hester’s symbol by stating, “... the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too.” (Hawthorne 239) This quote unveils the rewards that come to those who have integrity. When Hester chooses to confess and accept her punishment,

The Scarlet Letter describes very clearly the story of regret, but also it represents something much greater: hope. Pearl is an even greater symbol of hope. It is shown in the book that even Hester realizes that hope is possible as she talks to young Pearl. She says, “‘Come along, Pearl!’ said she, drawing her away. ‘Come and look into this fair garden. It may be, we shall see flowers there; more beautiful ones than we find in the woods.’” (Hawthorne 73) Redemption not only lies as a metaphor for the flowers in the woods but also inside Pearl herself. She helps her mother realize that she could represent a new start for her life. Thanks to Pearl, Hester soon begins to start accepting her life as a chance to start over, and not to dwell in the past.

In the beginning of the novel, the reader is presented with a physical appearance of Hester that is pleasing to the visual eye. It is Hawthorne describes his heroine of the book by