Scarlet Letter Sin Essay

She was conceived by mistake, and is born into a miserable life. In other words, Pearl does not fit in. And it is not that she does not want to but for the fact that she cannot fit in. “ 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…” (Ch. 6). In this quote, Hawthorne is showing that Pearl is a complicated child. She is conceived within a sin, but turned out to be a truly amazing child. Also, Pearl knows how and why her life is like this. For example, Pearl notices that Dimmesdale is her father, but she wanted him to show it publically. “‘Doth he love us?’ said Pearl, looking up, with acute intelligence, into her mother’s face. ‘Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?’” ( Ch. 19). Pearl is too smart to let this go unseen. She also notices that Hester takes off the scarlet A in the forest and she throws a

In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is more than a literary figure in a classic novel, she is known by some people to be one of the earliest American Hero’s. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester commits adultery and has a child that she must care for all alone. She is forced to wear a powerful, attention grabbing “Scarlet A” on her chest while she must try to make a living to support her and her child, Pearl. Even though she must face all the harsh judgment and stares she does not allow her sin to stop her from living a successful life. She looks past the Letter as a symbol of sin and turns it into a sign of approval. Hester

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

Hester Prynne was the main character in the Scarlet Letter. Hester sin was committing adultery with minister Arthur Dimmsdale. Birthing a child named Pearl of pure sin. By committing her sin they punished her. “‘If thou feelest it

Having to deal with her daughter Pearl day in and day out is a punishment in itself as well. Most people, including Hester, view Peal as a demon child. However, Hester hesitates to punish Pearl for being so. She feels guilty as it is, placing a burden on Pearl's life, for Peal is branded as the child of an adulterer, all of this resulting from Hester's 'passionate sin'. (Guilt as Reparation for Sin, paragraph 14).

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

Desire, passion, love, sex, adultery, evil, religion, law, and judgement are the primary topics that make reading The Scarlet Letter more interesting. Caught up in passion, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, succumb to their desire in the forest. Hester is a married woman and Arthur Dimmesdale is the Puritan community minister. Their affair is adultery and brought to light when Hester becomes pregnant. Pearl is the illegitimate daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale.

Furthermore, Hawthorne also expresses the belief that Puritans are intolerant, specifically in terms of sin and punishment. Their punishments often resulted in guilt, isolation and a desire for redemption or acceptance into society. In the instance that a sin or a crime is committed, Puritans demand the sinners or criminals to confess publicly, and they are met with a severe punishment. “The slightest offense...met with the same ‘solemnity of demeanor’ as the most awful, “as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical’ ” (Mills 84).

Evil. Pearl is the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, and the product of adultery and sin. Hawthorne explains, “...a lovely and immortal flower...of a guilty passion” (Hawthorne 81). Hawthorne begins to reveal more about Pearl, who is now a young girl. This quote illustrates how Pearl, this wonderful little child who is so dear to Hester, was made from sin.

They said that it meant Abel; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength." Her change transforms her to a new person. It changes her so much, Pearl, couldn’t even recognize her.

The Scarlet Letter is a representation of sin, and so is Pearl. The Scarlet Letter is the way that Hester atones for her sin by wearing it upon her bosom. The Scarlet Letter has many different interpretations throughout the book. First it begins to represent the sin that Hester has committed. Later the villagers start to see it as Hester’s bravery, charity, and hard work.

Pearl functions primarily as a symbol. Only seven years old when Dimmesdale dies. She has the ability to provoke the adult characters. Draws their attention to the overlooked truths of the adult world.

Being born as a symbol of her parent’s sin, Pearl displays observant and peculiar attributes. Throughout the book, Pearl is a symbol of the sin her parents committed. Hawthorne describes Pearl as “the scarlet letter endowed with life” (114) and as “the emblem and product of sin” (105). Furthermore, Hester recognizes that Pearl is the symbol of her fall when she tells the governor that Pearl is the scarlet letter that God gave her; the punishment of her sin that she must bear with daily.

Hawthorne used Pearl to depict the conflict of how sin versus purity, while Pearl stands as the picture of innocence and purity. Because they live in isolation, Pearl is the only joy and happiness that Hester receives from watching her daughter enjoy the woods and almost becoming a part of nature. Pearl is a perceptive child, even more so than adults sometimes, she asks innocent seeming questions about the scarlet letter around her mother’s neck. Hester pays for the sin of committing adultery not only by the forced wearing of the scarlet letter but only by the constant living reminder of her daughter. Pearl repeatedly asks the question, "What does the scarlet letter mean?" and it causes Hester concern (Hawthorne 178). Pearl seems almost scared and slightly stunned when Hester tries to lift the burden she carries with the scarlet letter when she attempts to tear it off in the woods. Pearl seems to realize that the letter does have some kind of significance in their lives and that it definitely affects her

In “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne presents the consequences of sin as an important aspect in the lives of Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingsworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale. The sin committed, adultery, between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale had resulted in the birth of their innocent little girl, Pearl. This sin ruined the three main characters’ lives completely in different ways. With the sin committed, there were different ways the characters reacted to it: embracing the sin, concealing the sin, and becoming obsessed and consumed with it. With each reaction to the sin there were also different actions of redemption.