The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

““There was witchcraft in little Pearl’s eyes, and her face, as she glanced upward at the minister, wore that naughty smile which made its expression frequently so elvish.” (Hawthorne 145) This, is a misleading description that Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts of Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne, in his classic novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is the living product of sin for her mother. Born out of wedlock, Pearl is a unique child that tends to be very moody and unpredictable. However, Pearl, at such a young age, demonstrates outstanding knowledge and exhibits curiosity to her mother’s scarlet letter, and the hypocrisy of Puritan society. Although Pearl portrays devilish characteristics and performs mischievous behaviour, she

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne summarizes Hester Prynne’s perspective of the forest in one phrase. Early in the book, as Hester leaves prison, Hawthorne describes the forest as “dark, inscrutable… open to [Hester], where the wilderness of her nature might assimilate itself with a people whose customs and life were alien from the law that had condemned her” (75). Hawthorne explains Hester’s connection to the evil, isolated, and free forest, which serves as the location for her conversations with Pearl, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth. In contrast to Puritan society, Hester Prynne not only identifies with the sinful nature of the forest, but also finds its isolation and freedom liberating.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne’s act of adultery with Arthur Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 231) ultimately leads to negative and positive impacts on her life, including being isolated from everyone in town, being mocked and gossiped about, being more mature, and being more compassionate. One of the negative

All of the major characters in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne are dynamic and go through some form of character development. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, who are at the forefront of the central conflict in the plot of the novel, are no exception. While their respective evolutions in character were noticeably different, each was emphasized by the three scaffold scenes. The differences of Hester and Dimmesdale’s respective character developments are highlighted and emphasized by the three scaffold scenes in the novel.

In the Scarlet Letter there are characters that are important to the novel; however there is one specific character that relates to the topic of the story is Arthur Dimmesdale. The character Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected minster in Boston. However even though, Arthur Dimmesdale is a minister and preaches against sin to his congregation, he commits the ultimate sin with a young married woman named Hester Pryne. For punishment Hester Pryne becomes pregnant and shunned from public society, Dimmesdale is forced to live with guilt and later in the novel dies from the same sin within his body. Critics that have read the Scarlet letter would argue that Dimmesdale is a weak or ennobled character because he didn’t tell the community of his sinful crime. Another characteristic that critics would agree on is that Dimmesdale was a hypocrite. Arthur Dimmesdale is a character that is weak and hypocritical to his own belief.

As great effect as emotions can have on someone, even greater is the effect of how one reacts to his emotions. Arguably the two most influential of these emotions are guilt and anger. They can drive a man to madness or encourage actions of vindication. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are subject to this very notion in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter. Hester simply accepted that what she had done was wrong, whereas Dimmesdale, being a man of high regard, did not want to accept the reality of what he did. Similar to Hester and Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth allows his emotions to influence his life; however, his influence came as the result of his anger. Throughout the book, Hawthorne documents how Dimmesdale and Hester 's

The children In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter play a major role in the Puritan society. With their honest opinions of Hester and Pearl, the children are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults. Due to their innocence, children are capable of expressing themselves without constraints; there are no laws or regulations that they are bounded by. As an adolescent go through the stages of life and grow older, they begin to be more conscious of the how they act as they are more aware of society and the things that are occurring in the world, creating a filter for their actions. When they remain as the children, on the other hand, are adventurous; they are still exploring the universe that seems to fill with mysteries that are bound to be solved. They tend to attach to the truth and they are not afraid to speak it freely. Children differ from adults in their potential for expressing these perceptions. With their obliviousness to the things that are actually going on around the town, children therefore react differently compared to the adults, who are more knowledgeable. Perceived to be immature, young children are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults due to their innocence, how they are unaware of the reality and the crimes that are presented in society by the adults enables them to be blithe and not afraid of saying what they feel like. Due to their naivety, when they express what they perceive to be true, they do not get punished,

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.

The Buddha once said, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” The romantic novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the importance of the truth and the effects on an individual when they attempt to escape from it. This novel mostly follows the main character Hester, who is doomed to display the scarlet letter, signifying adultery, for the rest of the duration of her life. Pearl, Hester’s daughter and the result of her adultery, is thought of by the Puritan community to be unworldly, wild, and an offspring of Satan. However, despite the Puritans’ ill view on her, Hawthorne purposely uses her character to portray truth and nature in this gloomy and dark setting. The actions of Pearl make it apparent that one cannot hide or escape from the truth.

Children have sponge-like mindsets that are full of curiosity and through each negative and positive encounter, they are able to learn from their experiences. Through their experiences, they are able to be more perceptive about their surroundings and are more honest than adults because they do not know what they say is either right or wrong. Children differ from adults in their potential for expressing these perceptions because they are not afraid to say or express anything but the truth. The children in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, are presented as more perceptive and honest than adults due to their actions of perceiving Hester’s scarlet letter, expressing their opinions without knowing if it is right or wrong, and their willingness to ask questions. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester’s daughter, Pearl, has a willingness to ask questions about the scarlet letter on Hesters chest to help her have a better understanding of why her mother wears it. Pearl shows how different a childs mind is from an adults since she does not understand the mark on her mother 's chest is a punishment. Children are able to be more perceptive and honest than adults because they express their ideas out loud without knowing if it is either correct or incorrect; despite how rude it might be. The ideas that children pick up are usually picked up by the action of their parents. Children are shown to be blunt and innocent because they are young and curious about everything leading them

The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the main characters suffer from toils of sin. Especially Arthur Dimmesdale, the local puritan clergyman who has committed adultery and can 't admit to the people of the town in Boston what he has done. He lived under a strict society where the system and all of its components were based on God. He suffers from this because he values the Puritan way. Arthur Dimmesdale does not come out for many reasons and that isn 't right, which makes him a coward throughout the novel.

Throughout history, one recurring theme has been the harsh judgement of society against those who stand out. Although in certain periods and different societies, public shaming seems to have been more severe, it is, in all actuality, equally cruel today, yet in different forms. Despite this, keeping one 's sins a secret and away from societal judgement seems to have more of a negative effect on oneself, often causing poor mental and physical health, than confessing and facing consequences. In The Scarlet Letter, author, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores how one is affected, both physically and mentally, when his/her appearance doesn 't match his/her reality through the main characters of the novel, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. In their 1600 's Puritan society, Hawthorne depicts the differences between Hester and Dimmesdale’s public versus private shaming for their committed sin of adultery, reflected through how both forms of ignominy affect their characters mental and physical health. Although Hester and Dimmesdale are the main characters that struggle with the difficulty of their appearance matching their reality, there are others that contribute to their conflicts. These characters are known as Pearl, Hester’s daughter who is being portrayed as “God’s messenger” to teach her to be her true self, and Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s long lost husband who torments Dimmesdale, also teaching him to be his true self by challenging him confess his sin throughout the novel. In

Hester’s righteous battle against the villagers in defending her name does nothing more than display her courage and respectability. Throughout the novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne manages to implement various symbols in order to add meaning and understanding of certain aspects of the novel. In the novel, many symbols, such as the “Black Man,” are conflicted in the idea of meaning between the Puritans of the society and Hawthorne, but at the same time, some uses of symbolism represent similar ideas, as conveyed by the author. Hawthorne’s uses of symbolism represent the same religious idea as in comparison between Hawthorne and the Puritans, but some contrast the Puritan beliefs and rather are presented to foreshadow

Life can be proven to be extremely difficult at many different points; whether people are just finding their place in the world, or they are finally settling down after decades of toil and strain. In the words of American Dramatist Tennessee Williams, “Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you’ll know you’re dead.” This quote relates how everyone in the world is constantly suffering in some way, shape, or form and in the Scarlet Letter the situation is no different. The entire novel is based upon simple mistakes made by an array of individuals, and the repercussions of those choices that cause different forms of suffering. Throughout this fictional work, one individual sticks out as one who’s true faith has been tested through suffering, and this individual is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. His constant suffering throughout the entire book is shown through; the beginning of his practices of vigils, the dilapidation of his health, and Roger Chillingworth’s deep desire for revenge. Along with these aspects, Dimmesdale’s loss of his formal, pious structure have been shown clearly through his complete shift in mindset, making him the character that suffers most throughout this novel.

Although Hawthorne goes back two hundred years to create a romantic setting for his famous novel The Scarlet Letter, he also envisions a hopeful future for women in which “sacred love should make [them] happy” (166). However, our present setting tells us a different story. We are presented with the problem of “slut shaming”: a subtle, yet deadly transfiguration of a woman’s passion and “sacred love” into moral frailty and opprobrium. As a male, I do not have the same authority to speak on this topic as someone who has experienced it firsthand would. I am a part of the problem, but so is our patriarchal society, and if everyone is part of the problem, then who should begin the inevitable discourse? The Scarlet Letter embodies the idea of exaggerated ignominy placed upon women who desire just to be a normal woman: someone of passion and caring. One would expect that with the one hundred and fifty years Hawthorne alots us to appreciate and respect a woman’s “sacred love,” we would have at least made strides to do so. Yet, it seems our society today has only embraced the shame that Hawthorne tried so hard to dismantle.