Thesis For The Scarlet Letter

Since Dimmesdale tries to balance making a relationship with Pearl, and trying to figure out his own sin, it becomes challenging for him to do so, because he cannot acknowledge Pearl in public, which is all that she asking for. He starts to develop a sense of fear towards her because she believes that he does not fulfill the father figure she needs. Since Dimmesdale will not come out and take action for Pearl, Hester tries everything in her will to keep from the government finding a better home for Pearl, because Hester treasures her more than

Pearl rushes Hester into leaving the cemetery because she thinks, “come away, or yonder Old Black man will catch you.”(p.122)

Hester argued that pearl should remain in her care, for god was teaching her to be righteous through her daughter. The men refused to listen to hester’s argument because not only is she a woman, and women were inferior to men in that time, but also because she is a sinner. Hester begged Mr. dimmesdale to vouch for her and only then did the men listen; this goes to show you that in this society women’s words were ignored and seen as worthless.

In this chapter, Hawthorne's descriptions of Pearl reinforce her mysterious and ethereal nature. She is so closely linked with nature that in the forest the sunlight plays with her, and forest creatures approach her and recognize "a kindred wildness in the human child."The natural world enables Hester and Dimmesdale to rediscover themselves and their love. The unity they feel when they are together is natural. When they meet in the forest seven years after their affair, it is as though the condemnation of the town and its laws never existed. Hester removes the Scarlet Letter A, and with the symbol gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh. The burden of shame and anguish left her spirit. . The ancient woods infuse the couple with peace and strength.

Dimmesdale however, hides the truth of Peral and lives his life full of guilt and sin. Pearl, like the pearls found in clams are “born’’ or made into darkness which are made a lot of pressure. Pearl is Hester’s punishment so everytime Hester looks at Pearl she feels guilty of her. Hawthorne says, “Heart-smitten at this bewildering and baffling spell that so often came between herself and her sole treasure, whom she had bought so dear and who was all her world, Hester sometimes burst into passionate tears”(Hawthorne 89).

As the chapters went on Hester began to change due to the letter on her chest. The emotions she feels due to the letter directly correlate with the shadows and sunlight. With the letter on her chest Hester’s moods lean on the darker side, Pearl once explained that, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself.” (165). The sunshine represents the good and the innocent, like Pearl. The light runs away from Hester

He adds agony, torment, crucial solitude, and secluded affection into Hester’s life. This is looked upon as an attack, and the “crisis” (Harris, Rooks, and Stegall) in her life. One day walking out of prison, with a daughter and having to deal with the humiliation of having sex outside of marriage. She was scorned and mocked by many townspeople. This is why Hawthorne sends Dimmesdale, a protector, to watch over Hester and Pearl to keep them from harm, especially from the townspeople.

An important part of this novel is placed in the forest. The forest is where Hester and Dimmesdale meet and talk privately for the first time since the sin was committed. The forest symbolizes an escape from rules and enters a place where chaos and magic is. This is where Pearl is free from society and the isolation she experiences because of the rule and judgement in the town. Hester and Pearl as they are walking through the forest notice gleams of sunshine shining through the clouds above them. Pearl thinks the sunlight is hiding from Hester because of her sin and the letter she wears on her chest. Pearl, being an innocent young girl, runs after the sunlight seeking to catch it, the light disappears from Hester. The light that does not follow Hester represents that her sin follows her everywhere even in the forest. Pearl says to Hester,

Hester experiences moments of misery as Pearl personifies the sin that haunts them. Viewed as the bane of Hester’s purity, Pearl is an “emblem and product of sin”. The “little Puritans” look down upon Hester and Pearl who meet their “intolerable”, “public gaze”(TSL 83). Similar to the scarlet letter itself, when they are seen the townspeople are expected to reflect on the consequences of sin. Instead, they utter callous remarks that forbid Hester from forgetting or moving on from her misdeed. Portraying the image of discontent, Hester and Pearl stand “together in the same circle of seclusion”(TSL 84). Hester is aware of her sin and accepts that she must live out her punishment in hopes of redemption. However, floating in “seclusion” with Pearl leaves room for the overcoming presence of guilt that continues to loom over Hester. As she witnesses not just herself but Pearl be frowned upon, the shame she feels is multiplied. Studying Pearl, and noticing that she “never created a friend” leads Hester to place the blame on only herself for the misfortune that she has caused Pearl. She is unable to shield the repercussions of her sin from “her sole treasure”(TSL 85,82). Moreover, Hester feels “inexplicable” sadness, she cries out in “agony” for the confusion she feels(TSL 84-85). Not making sense of Pearl’s hostile playing habits and her wild nature frustrates Hester. Pearl mimics “ a little elf” when she dances by herself, holding a “peculiar” look in her eyes(TSL 86). Hester observes the effect that the adverse society that they live in has on Pearl. She has been robbed of a normal childhood. With regards to the absence of sympathy and acceptance, Pearl is “only capable of being loved”(TSL 100). In

From an early age, she fixates on the emblem. Pearl's innocent, or perhaps intuitive, comments about the letter raise crucial questions about its meaning. Similarly, she inquires about the relationships between those around her—most importantly, the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale—and offers perceptive critiques of them. Pearl provides the text's harshest, and most penetrating, judgment of Dimmesdale's failure to admit to his adultery. Once her father's identity is revealed, Pearl is no longer needed in this symbolic capacity; at Dimmesdale's death she becomes fully "human," leaving behind her otherworldliness and her preternatural

In the forest scene, Pearl alienates herself from her Mother and entertains the consequences of her mother’s folly. The absence of Hester’s scarlet letter, produced by the arrival of Dimmesdale, seems to portray a feeling of “dreary change” (184) on little Pearl, in which her mother feels a true sense of freedom. This conflict of feeling toward the brooch causes the frustration and estrangement between the two. Showing her isolation, “Pearl had reached the margin of the brook, and stood on the other side, gazing silently at Hester...” (181), Pearl fears her Mother’s failure to abide by a most important and unspoken role: never take the letter off. In doing this, she hesitates to cross the brook and approach her elders, unnerved at the consequences

In The Scarlet Letter a young woman named Hester is criticized and mocked for having a young girl from an adulterous act with a sneaky pastor. The young girl will be named Pearl (named Pearl for having cost a great price). Throughout the novel as the characters develop and change the plot of the story develops into a riveting climax and an end no one could have imagined. Within the novel there are five major scenes that build up to the dramatic ending of The Scarlet Letter. The scenes in order are the first time Heaster showed her face and stood on the scafell after she was released from prison, when Heaster and Pearl met with the main men of the village to discuss Pearls fate, when Dimmesdale (the young pastor) stands on the scaffold at

Later, Hester was released from the prison. She lived in the cottage in the woods out of the city with her daughter, Pearl. She made a living by her needlework but she never being treated well from the society because of her reputation and the letter “A” on her breast. Pearl grew up wild, and wrathful child. She

Hester and her daughter Pearl move to the outskirts of town. There, Pearl grows up nurtured by the forest and free of social influence. We can draw the conclusion that Pearl is the embodiment of Hester’s A and that her voice is one of a much older wisdom, that can only speak the absolute truth. Hester is burdened by the fact that she is unable to be completely truthful as she is hiding the identity of not one, but two men. While she

But before this happened, society has really hated her for committing the biggest sin, as known as her daughter Pearl. Prynne’s husband is ashamed therefore Hester takes the blame and goes through many difficulties in life. Once everything starts getting into action Hester becomes a strong independent women, not for herself, but for her daughter Pearl. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester represents social feminist ideas of a sinner, an object, a victim, and an independent woman.