Category: The Scarlet Letter

Sin is as old as Adam and Eve, moreover there is no world without sin. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Genesis 3:1-24 ) The Puritans adopt that theory and believe that every person is born as a sinner but God has chosen to save the elected few. This essay deals with the topic of sin in the life of Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Furthermore, how Hester develops through her punishment, the scarlet letter A. In contrast, the essay compares Hester´s transformation to the character development of Chillingworth, Hester´s husband, who appears as an innocent character. But his character alters when he finds out that Arthur Dimmesdale is Hester´s lover and starts to wreak vengeance on Dimmesdale. He does so by pretending to be a doctor and he makes sure that Dimmesdale doesn´t get better but worse when he gets physically sick as a consequence of his sin. Both characters, Hester and Chillingworth, are sinners, but the difference is the motivation of the sin: love compared to revenge.

Nathaniel Hawthorne started to write The Scarlet Letter when he got fired from his job after a change in politics. He worked for several years as Surveyor of the Salem Custom-House, also the name of the preface. Hence, Hawthorne had reasons for thinking about revenge and one can say he got some “measure of revenge on the Whigs who conspired against him, but the preface was written when the novel itself was nearly completed” (Person 466) In addition to that, Hawthorne’s great-great-grandfather was a judge in the infamous Salem witchcraft trial, where several people were executed. Hawthorne felt guilty for his family heritage. Undoubtedly, the sense of guilt is shared by many of his character: starting with Hester Prynne.

The novel begins with her being punished for committing adultery. The theme of sin is introduced by Hester’s public shaming and the scarlet letter. Hawthorne is an author known for his criticism of Puritanism. The critique is represented throughout the novel, starting in the first scene, where Hester is being punished in front of the prison at the scaffold. The puritans believe that sin needs not only to be punished, but the sinner has to be sought publicly. The scarlet letter therefore is a symbol for everyone else to see who Hester is, namely a sinner, as an example for someone who they don’t want to become. One can argue that the punishment serves the community more than the sinner as a symbol to make up for their depravation. Consequently, Hester’s life in Boston is quite hard. The townspeople avoid her and endure their stares, their whispers and their contempt. For them, Hester is the ultimate example of sin. Pearl, the child born out of wedlock, is also a symbol of the sin but also a critique of the Puritan lifestyle. Nina Baym sees Pearl as “Hester’s id, acting out her unconscious rebellion against the unfairness of Puritan justice (138)” (Last 363) The metaphor of Hester’s id goes back to the idea of Sigmund Freud. He structured the human psyche in three parts: the id, ego and superego. Freud describes the id as chaotic and having a primitive nature. These characteristics are also shown by Pearl.

Pearl is the reason Hester´s adultery were known. She is “a direct consequence of the sin” (Hawthorne 41) On the contrast, her mother Hester calls her Pearl as something pure and made from nature. The puritans believe in the original sin and describe Pearl as an “imp of evil, emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened infants.” (Hawthorne 31) That’s why they want to separate Pearl and her mother. But Hester does everything to keep her daughter, her happiness. By showing her rebellious spirit and by being allowed to keep her daughter, she beaks the puritan rule. Hester fights against the puritan society and their unfair laws. By saying, “Mother, (…), the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom” (Hawthorne 98), Pearl points out that the symbol of the puritan laws, the scarlet letter, is the reason the sun hides from her. The sunlight can be seen as happiness and the scarlet letter, the puritan punishment, is the reason that Hester can’t be happy. By following Puritan laws, it is hard for Hester to be happy. The hard laws and the plain lifestyle contrast the way of life of Hester and the view of Hawthorne.

The role of sin in Hester’s life is enormous. The consequences of her sin accompany her every day and as a consequence Hester needs to find a way to live with her sin which is tough due to the scarlet letter as a daily reminder. But also, Pearl makes her constantly aware of that scarlet letter even though she is too young to realize what the scarlet letter means. By reminding Hester everyday of her sin, Pearl is a kind of punishment and for Hester her torture. Pearl is a symbol for the scarlet letter. Hester says, “She is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved” (51) It is difficult “not to read Pearl allegorically, as the narrator repeatedly insists on her symbolic significance.” (Last 363) Her action of sin makes Hester who she is and influences her way of living. Hester not only lives with her sin but tries to make the best out of it, not only for her but also for her daughter to find back into the community. Hester starts to fashion “clothes for the poor and even feeds them from her meager supply, although frequently the only thanks she gets is a jibe.” (Sandeen 427) Despite that, Hester shows her good heart and helps everyone till she becomes “self-ordained a Sister of Mercy” (Hawthorne 75). “In such emergencies, Hester´s nature showed itself warm and rich; a well spring of human tenderness.” (82) Hester tries to make up for her sin and be a part of the community again. Her hard work starts to be rewarded and the people begin to change the way they look at Hester. The meaning of the letter ‘A’ becomes more ambiguous and shows a plurality of meaning. The original meaning of adultery changed to angel, able, artist.

To sum up, despite the scarlet letter A as a constant reminder and the townspeople who showed Hester their disrespect and reluctance, she never showed misbehavior, exactly the opposite. By helping other people and working hard, Hester´s character shifts from sinner to a person her daughter can look up to. Exactly the ambivalent development goes Chillingworth through.

Chillingworth is a “physician’ and ‘a man of skill in all Christian modes of physical science’ (19) Throughout the novel, Chillingworth changes from an innocent character to someone who is obsessed with revenge. A character who is introduced as being wronged and without sin, for now, starts to show his true self from the first appearance. After he sent his wife to the new world to wait for him until he finished some business, Chillingworth sees Hester again during her publicly shaming. Instead of being angry at her and having an emotional breakdown, he tells her to keep silent and not to tell anyone that he is her husband. Moreover, he forces her to stay in Boston. His intention is to be near Hester so he can watch her being punished and also to find out who the father of Pear is. Beyond that, Chillingworth wants Pearls father to pay the price for his sin. “It irks (him), nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side.”(14) If there is no justice, Chillingworth is willing to do anything to make justice himself and says, “I shall feel him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares.” (22) This shows his dark obsession which will drive the plot for the rest of the novel. His dark inner side is also shown by Hawthorne describing Chillingworth’s first appearance and building a symbol of evil revenge: “dropping down, as it were, out of the sky, or starting from the nether earth, had an aspect of mystery, which was easily heightened to the miraculous. (Hawthorne 53) Hawthorne describes Chillingworth as supernatural, someone who comes from the nether earth. The nether earth can be seen as the world of the dead. Thus, Hawthorne creates an evil image of Chillingworth. Though Chillingworth haven´t done anything wrong yet, his first appearance already shows his dark side which drives the plot of the novel.

When Dimmesdale get sick, it´s Chillingworth change to start his revenge and let Dimmesdale get his punishment. However, Dimmesdale´s punishment is to keep silent. He can´t handle the situation to keep such a secret and he not only gets psychically but physically sick. In other words, his hypocrisy drives him sick. Chillingworth pretends to be a doctor and starts taking care of Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale can basically feel Chillingworth’s dark side. When he first sees him, he is ‘overcome with terror.’ (79) He can´t help him but had to ask Hester for help: ‘Who is that man”, ‘I shiver at him! Dost thou know the man? I hate him, Hester!’ (79) Despite of Dimmesdale’s suffering, Hester can´t tell him anything due to her oat to Chillingworth. By not telling him anything, Hester protects Chillingworth´s new identity. His obsession with Dimmesdale and his revenge increases during the plot of the novel and Chillingworth becomes more and more a sinner. Although he wants to punish a sin, he sins as well. Starting with forcing Hester to be quiet, followed by the intention to hide behind a new character, a doctor, and concluding with treating Dimmesdale and make him feel worth. He intentionally gives him the wrong medicine, consequently there´s not only no change for him to get better but to get worse. “He now dug into the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold” (59) and uses his nature knowledge to torture Dimmesdale. Instead of choosing to kill him, quick and painless, he tortures him. He makes Dimmesdale regret his sin every day without even knowing who his punisher is. By punishing Dimmesdale every day, there is a parallel to the puritan method of punishing Hester with the scarlet letter A. She has to wear it every day on her bosom and Dimmesdale feels pain every day. Chillingworth not only tortures Dimmesdale, but also Hester because she has to watch her love getting worse and worse every day. Moreover, her husband is the reason why her love has to suffer, and she can´t tell him. Person states, that Chillingworth´s plan is to make “sure that Hester understands the likely consequences of his action and thus of her own -the power of her silence- before she commits herself. He threatens, should she give away his identity, to blast Dimmesdale´s reputation, even to kill him.”(144)

All in all, Chillingworth wants his wife and her lover to regret their love. His revenge is worth him Dimmesdale´s death. He would kill someone to punish his wife, to take revenge. By that he forgets that killing someone is a black sin and acts against the law of puritanism. But both sinners go through an ambivalent development of sin. Chillingworth becomes a sinner throughout the novel driven by his obsession with revenge. In comparison, Hester starts off as a character who is a sinner but throughout the novel all Hester had done was to make up for her sin. To compare the sin of both characters, one has to look at their motives. At one hand we have revenge. And on the other side there is love and passion. Hester fell in love with Dimmesdale. She never loved Chillingworth. Why they got married in the first place is unclear. Hester even tells him that she “felt no love, nor feigned any.“ (Hawthorne 22) Chillingworth, on his part, admits that he “had married Hester simply because he had wished to kindle „a household fire“ for his later years” (Sandeen 425). Both never really felt love, and what is a marriage without love? It is something like a contract. Hester therefore never committed adultery but quit a contract, if only looking at the inner perspective. Hester proves her love to Dimmesdale by wearing the scarlet letter. She had the chance not to wear it by telling the townspeople who the father of Pearl is. However, Hester decides rather to wear the scarlet letter than to reveal Dimmesdale. “If Hester is willing to endure ‘the torture of the scarlet letter,’ it is because she is still in love, not because she is penitent.’ (Sandeen 426) The power of Hester´s love is impressive. It lets her suffer as a price she has agreed on to pay for her guilt. But still, she takes the cost for love. Sandeen even argues, “Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter was writing his own version of the traditional story of passion.” (425) and even Hawthorne himself preferred to call his novel a romance. Everything what happens in The Scarlet Letter happens because of love and passion. Therefore, the force which moves through the story is called not sin or guilty passion but love. In contrast to love as one motive of committing a sin there is revenge. Chillingworth can´t stand Dimmesdale not being punished and decides to do it himself. He not only takes on a new identity as a doctor but also gives Dimmesdale wrong medicine every day. By that Chillingworth kills Dimmesdale every day: bit by bit. Compared to Dimmesdale and Hester, who use their nature knowledge to make up for their sin, Chillingworth uses nature to commit his sin. Both Arthur and Hester can regard the guilt of their adultery as less sinful than that of the vengeful husband. Dimmesdale admits only to relative guilt: ‘That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!’ Every wronged husband would be expected to punish his wife for loving someone else. It hurts to be betrayed but it doesn´t give someone the right to hurt back. Eye to eye is a principle of the bible, but the bible also tells us: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8) Only when you are without sin, then you can punish someone for committing a sin. But to keep in mind, when you start punishing someone, it’s possible that you start to sin as well and are not better but worse than the other person.

All in all, there is no world without sin. The bible showed us that one man brought sin into the world and no one is without sin. But by looking at the intention of the sin one can find out if the person is a good person or evil. In that way, Hester is not a bad person; however, she is a sinner. She sinned out of love and passion but also tried to make up for it by living a life the Puritans consider good. In contrast, Chillingworth had a bad intention: he wanted revenge so bad he even is willing to kill someone. He chose day by day to hurt someone in order to get his revenge. Something, Hester never did.

Works cited

1. Last, Suzan. “Hawthorne’s Feminine Voices: Reading ‘The Scarlet Letter’ as a Woman.” The Journal of Narrative Technique, vol. 27, no. 3, 1997, pp. 349 376. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30225475. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.
2. Person, Leland S. “Hester’s Revenge: The Power of Silence in The Scarlet Letter.” Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 43, no. 4, 1989, pp. 465–483. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3045035. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.
3. Sandeen, Ernest. “The Scarlet Letter as a Love Story.” PMLA, vol. 77, no. 4, 1962, pp. 425–435. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/460567. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.
4. Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter. Independently published, 2019) The English Standard Version Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha, Oxford UP, 2009.

All throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, the recurrence of key settings such as the town, the forest, and the scaffold help shape the plot. By repeating main scenes, the significance of these settings are stressed. Resilient to the constant adversity, main character Hester Prynne overcomes all challenges presented to her.

The scaffold scenes provide a majority of the framework for the entire novel, while simultaneously being one of the most dramatically structured scenes. With the book holding a total of twenty-four chapters, the first scaffold scene starts in the beginning. In chapter two, one of the towns- people state, “… the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should come upon his congregation.” (25) This is ironic because he is the person whom has committed the crime with her. Hester and Pearl remain solitary, freely embarrassed on the scaffold, while Dimmesdale watches from the side, remaining with different leaders from the community. Sincerely and physically, he is isolated from her, yet she courageously bears her single misery. This first scene is also where Chillingworth watches from the side, and learns about his wife’s transgression. The second scaffold scene, taking place directly in the middle of the book in chapter twelve, contains nearly all the same components, except for it taking place at night. Dimmesdale has returned to the scaffold, seven years later, in hopes to confess his sins and to feel the pain Hester had. Hawthorne states, “Mr. Dimmesadale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain.” (67) In the same spot as Hester’s scarlet letter A, Dimmesdale is feeling an intense pain. He feels sorrow and remorse. His growing emotional pain has now become physical. Instead of featuring Hester’s misery, this scene centers around Dimmesdale’s blame and regret, which have driven him to the edge of madness. While in the chapters preceding they were separated, here Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale stand connected at the hip, framing an ‘electric chain.’ Nonetheless, Pearl demonstrates that Dimmesdale’s repentance isn’t finished when she asks as to whether he’ll remain on the platform with her and her mom in the light of day. The third scene at the scaffold begins with all characters together in broad daylight, with Hester portrayed as a sinner and Dimmesdale a saint, equivalent to the first scene. Different from the previous scenes, Dimmesdale is soon to pass. Understanding this is his last chance to admit before his passing, Dimmesdale discovers fearlessness to admit to his acts. The repetition of the scaffold scene shows the deep meaning and symbolism that the setting holds.

The forest represents freedom and all of nature, a force that does not seem to judge individuals according to the same set of corruptible rules as the town. People are known to report to the forest when in need of secrecy. But while the Puritans seem to be kind of terrified of the forest, the narrator isn’t. In fact, Hawthorne associates Nature with kindness and love from the very beginning of this story. Pearl, daughter of guilt and sin, was conceived in the woods. It was the place of love for Dimmesdale and Hester. Their love forbidden, the forest was the ideal place to meet. Later in the story in chapter seventeen, the two meet once again. Hawthorne states, “So strangely did they meet in the dim wood that it was like the first encounter in the world beyond the grave of two spirits who had been intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly shuddering in mutual dread, as not yet familiar with their state, nor wonted to the companionship of disembodied beings.” (85) The two have not been together in secrecy in a long time. They feel as if they are ghosts, reconnecting to their true former selves. The forest has allowed them to feel as they have a safe place to express feelings. Hester feels it is time to express what has been bothering her deep down to Dimmesdale, stating, “… he whom they call Roger Chillingworth!- he was my husband!” (87) In initial shock, Dimmesdale throws his hands up, feeling both betrayed and fooled. Later accepting and forgiving her, an idea to flee the country- just the three of them is thought of. The recurring scene of the forest shows the confidentiality and secrecy.

The setting of the town recurs throughout the story line. Starting in the beginning of the book, the townspeople have a harsh and close-minded view of Hester. They view her as nothing more than a sinner. Hawthorne states, “… she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon.” (22) Once released from prison, the entire town has came out to see Hester walk down the street. Surrounded by people, she stands alone. Later in the book, several years after, Hester has grown to be a huge benefit for her community. She is always there to help others. A supporting quote states, “None so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand… none so self-devoted as Hester.” (140) No other person is as devoted to help as Hester has. Her reputation in the community has changed drastically in result to her service and heart. The repetition of the town scene shows the views of the community over time, helping build the plot of the story.

Resilient to adversity, Hester Prynne overcomes numerous challenges throughout the book. The recurrence of key settings such as the townspeople, the forest and the scaffold help shape the plot. Repetition of scenes helps build a storyline and helps readers remember important settings.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Pearl evolves from a mere portrayal of Hester Prynne’s scandal to the accomplishment of Hester’s endurance of contempt from their Puritan community. Hester gives birth to Pearl out of wedlock, therefore branding them as unethical and disgraceful. Hester raises impish Pearl all while wearing the scarlet “A” on her chest as punishment. Pearl constantly reminds Hester of her sin. Multiple times throughout the novel, Pearl is referred to as the human form of the scarlet letter. However, Pearl is more than just a symbol. As the novel progresses, she evolves from a pure symbol, to a curious observer, to a sophisticated adult.

The very first description of Pearl illustrates how her life begins in darkness. Hawthore writes, “She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day; because its existence, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison.” This quote emphasizes how Pearl’s birth was abnormal because she was born in jail during Hester’s incarceration. She only knows darkness and shys away from the sunlight, portraying how she is a child of sin. Hester thinks that Pearl is an extension of the scarlet letter. Pearl tortures Hester with her imp-like nature and reminds her of her immorality. Hester says in regards to Pearl, “She is my happiness!—she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved.”

At seven years old, Pearl inquires her mother about the meaning behind the scarlet letter. Hester does not feel comfortable explaining the reason for the “A”, but Pearl pesters her repeatedly. The narrator comments on her curiosity, “Pearl’s inevitable tendency to hover about the enigma of the scarlet letter seemed an innate quality of her being. From the earliest epoch of her conscious life, she had entered upon this as her appointed mission.“ Pearl is very much intrigued by the letter, and her interpretation of the relation between the letter and Dimmesdale startles Hester. When Hester asks Pearl if she knows the meaning of the letter, she replies earnestly, “Truly do I! It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!” Pearl, although young, is able to make this educated observation of Dimmesdale. She notices his sin that he strives to keep concealed. Dimmesdale begins to feel threatened by Pearl because she challenges him. These scenes depict how Pearl’s nature transforms from devilish and immature to insightful and brave.

As the reader approaches the end of the novel, a decline of the mention of Pearl is evident. The reader is left to interpret the meanings behind the few references to her. During the third scaffold scene, Dimmesdale confesses his sin in front of the entire community, standing beside Pearl and Hester. After his confession, the narrator states, “Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled.” Pearl shows her forgiveness of Dimmesdale with her kiss, and she will never be her mother’s torturer again. She is finally relieved of her mischievous disposition and has the ability to become a proper woman.

In the conclusion of the novel, it is reasonable to conclude that Pearl’s life is notably stable. “So Pearl—the elf-child,—the demon offspring, as some people, up to that epoch, persisted in considering her—became the richest heiress of her day, in the New World. Not improbably, this circumstance wrought a very material change in the public estimation…”, says the narrator of Pearl’s prosperity. Pearl seized her revenge at life and no doubt made Hester proud. Her childhood knocked her down over and over again, but she managed to stay afloat and go above and beyond everyone’s expectations, which goes to show her persistent tenacity.

Tryon Edwards once said, “Sin with the multitude, and your responsibility and guilt are as great and as truly personal, as if you alone had done the wrong.” Everyone sins, and everyone has been guilty of sin. Guilt can even drive people insane. In The Scarlet Letter the three main characters, Reverend Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and Roger Chillingworth, are portrayed as sinners. However, some sins are greater than others, and Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates this through the different sins of the main characters.

Hester Prynne is the first character that is introduced as a sinner. She sinned by committing adultery. She is put on the scaffold with her baby, Pearl, to be shamed by the community (Hawthorne 50). Later in the novel, she realizes that she, along with her daughter, will always be an outcast. She decides to move to the outskirts of Boston (79). After moving away the skill of being a seamstress is acquired. Her talent is needed among the people in her community. They ask her to sew many different things for them. However, she is not allowed to sew a bridal veil, for she committed adultery and went against her vows in marriage. She was married to Roger Chillingworth and committed her sin with Reverend Dimmesdale. She never really felt guilt for her sin. The scarlet letter and Pearl always reminded her of her sin. Hester believes that Pearl is a blessing and a curse. She says, “I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this! … this badge hath taught me–it daily teaches me–it is teaching me at this moment—lessons whereof my child may be the wiser and better, albeit they can profit nothing to myself” (107). She promises to teach Pearl the meaning of the scarlet letter. Also, the people in the community made her an outcast so that she was still reminded of her sin. Despite constantly being reminded of her sin, Hester never felt remorse for what she had committed. Her sin never impacted her. She should be forgiven because her act of sin was caused by passion. And since her sin was done purely out of passion, never to hurt anyone, I believe that her sin was the least great.

Later in the novel, we find out for sure what Reverend Dimmesdale’s sin is. He committed adultery with Hester, and he is the father of Pearl. Nobody in the community recognizes Dimmesdale as a sinner because he is a preacher. And for a very long time, he keeps his secret to himself. After a while, his guilt starts to eat him up inside. He can no longer keep his secret without being punished. He starts to punish himself by staying up all night, fasting, and whipping himself. “His inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and dead … He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself” (141). The tapestries in his room show David and Bathsheba, from the Bible, who also committed adultery(122). These are a constant reminder of his sin. His sermons get more and more powerful, and the congregation still does not realize that he is a sinner. At the end of the novel, Dimmesdale confesses on the scaffold. While he is in front of the whole community, he stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl and confesses his sin (247). The guilt that had been killing him for years finally kills him as he yells out that God is great and good (252). Dimmesdale shouts out, “God’s eye beheld it! The angles were forever pointing at it! The Devil knew it well, and fretted it continually with the touch of his burning finger! … God knows; and he is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions …” (250). Reverend Dimmesdale should be forgiven for the same reason that Hester should be. He committed his sin out of passion. He never had the intention to hurt anyone. In the end, the only person he hurt was himself. Dimmesdale’s guilt was the worst. He felt this guilt because he was the preacher that was supposed to tell the community to repent for all sins. He could not repent because he never exposed himself to the public until he confessed before death. I believe that Dimmesdale’s sin was slightly greater than Hester’s, even though it was not the same sin because he was never able to gain redemption.

While we are still trying to learn what Dimmesdale’s sin is, we learn what Chillingworth’s sin is. After Chillingworth realizes that Dimmesdale has a secret sin that he is hiding, he begins to take revenge on Dimmesdale. He promises to take care of Dimmesdale while he is sick. But he only tortures him through his medicine. He tries to make Dimmesdale tell him what his sin is by telling him about the weeds. Chillingworth found weeds in a cemetery that were growing out of a man’s heart. “Even in the graveyard here at hand … They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime” (127). He explained that the weeds grew there because of the guilt the dead man had from not confessing a sin. However, this analogy did not get Dimmesdale to confess his sin. Along with constantly causing Dimmesdale guilt for his sin, he also took revenge on him by hurting him. Chillingworth’s medicine never helped Dimmesdale. All he wanted to do was hurt Dimmesdale and make him miserable. He never had guilt because his intentions were always to hurt Dimmesdale. He only wanted revenge. He never seeks redemption until the end of the novel when he gives land to Pearl after he dies. I believe that Chillingworth is the worst sinner because his sin was committed to hurt another person.

Some sins are greater than others. Hester and Dimmesdale had the least great sin of adultery because it was committed out of passion. Roger Chillingworth’s sin was the worst because he intended to hurt another person. Everyone commits sins throughout their lives. Even though some people may not possess guilt with a sin, that does not mean that the sin is not great.

“The best way to learn to be an honest, responsible adult is to live with adults who act honestly and responsibly” (Jarrett Web). These words are announced by Claudia Jewett Jarrett, author of Adopting the Older Child. She is a popular author of books about how to raise difficult children. This quote connotes that children that do not develop with honest and responsible adults will likely not grow up to be honest and responsible themselves. Comparable issues are discussed in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne employs the character of Pearl to illustrate someone who does not possess an honest adult in her life. In the novel, an adulterous woman named Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. Her daughter, Pearl, possesses a strange personality and some people call her a demon-child. How can living without a father affect a child? Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates in his novel, The Scarlet Letter that a father is necessary for a child to succeed in society because a father will strengthen longstanding relationships and prevent criminal activity.

Firstly, Hawthorne says that a father is necessary for children in society because possessing a father will build lasting relationships. Because of this, a child without a father will often be shunned by many people in society. In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is cast away from all the other children. Pearl is the daughter of the adulterous Hester Prynne, and her father has not yet been identified. She does not play with the other children because she is “born an outcast from that world” (Hawthorne 145). However, if Pearl had possessed a legitimate father, she likely would have had a different experience with the other children. Her lack of a father has reduced her to an alien in society. Such an experience is common among fatherless children. A study by MacArthur research networks “find[s] that children…apart from their…fathers [tend to graduate high school less]…than children …with both…parents” (McLanahan 5). Around the world today, success is used to calculate the value of a person, and society will alienate a person if that person is homeless or needy. Fatherless children will struggle to develop relationships because their parents will spend less time with them. According to the Journal of Research on Adolescence, fatherless children will have less adult supervision. The authors have found that their “research has shown that they receive less supervision…than children living in two-parent homes” (Harper 4). When children do not communicate or develop a relationship with their parents, they will struggle to develop one with anyone else. Kids need to have parents to guide them, especially at a young age. Parents can help a child create relationships and an absent father will be detrimental to this crucial skill. Within the novel, Hester is afraid to leave Pearl alone (Hawthorne 133). This leads to a lack of sleep for Hester. If Pearl had an active father, he could have watched over Pearl while Hester sleeps. Hawthorne simply explains that fatherhood leads to permanent interactions among children.

On the other hand, Hawthorne claims that a father is necessary because a father will prevent his child from getting in trouble with the law. Children without fathers will tend to become criminals. In the novel, Pearl is disobedient to her mother. When “her mother kept beckoning to her,… the child stamped her foot with an even more demanding… gesture.” Pearl is not in legal trouble at this young point in her life, but jail could likely come later if she keeps this attitude. Children without fathers are poor followers of the law. It may begin with disobeying a mother, but when they are older they might disobey police officers. Additional research has proven that child delinquency is related to a lack of a father. “Research shows a link between father absence and delinquency or crime, both official and unofficial” (McLanahan 4) The world today severely needs fathers. Also, children without active fathers tend to be uncontrollable to their mother. For example, in the novel, Hester and Pearl are at the governor’s house. “Upon seeing the rose bushes, Pearl demanded a rose [and would not be quieted]” (Hawthorne 167). Young Pearl is obnoxious and uncontrollable to her mother. If Pearl had an active father, that father would be able to discipline her and control her. A respected research group finds that fatherless children are uncontrollable in a different way. Patricia Draper, author of “Father Absence and Reproductive Strategy,” writes that “females [without fathers] will engage in sexual activity earlier” (Draper 4). Parents generally do not like their children having sexual relations before they are old enough, but fatherless girls are more likely to. Fathers will help their child learn to live by the law, and sometimes a mother can struggle to do that on her own, as Nathaniel Hawthorne explains.

Through a positive influence, a father will lead his child to justice and relationships as the reader can see in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. Firstly, a father assists the child in building solid relationships. Also, fathers can both prevent alienation and supervise the young progeny. Young children possess a great need for fathers today. Fatherhood also keeps children on the correct side of the law. Children without fathers are far more likely to go to jail, as well as more likely to be uncontrollable and disobedient. Fatherlessness is affecting the crime scene of the modern era. People do not understand how important fathers are to society. A father produces great qualities in a child and prevents the awful qualities from surfacing. Fathers don’t get enough credit for what they do. In the words of Eucharista Ward, “As [children] grow up, they may look forward to maturity so they too can find such love” (Ward Web)

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a piece of fiction that illustrates an environment heavily luring religious themes that can portray a character’s morality and actions with such reasoning behind them. With the constant usage of sin, Hawthorne implements many mutual dilemmas for Puritan society and their outlook on the protagonists of the plot.

Hawthorne suggests that sin is not a simple, black-or-white, either/or proposition. Sin is messy and complicated, but all too often we humans fear what we can’t fully understand, define, or control.

This quote defines how the text tells about the author’s purpose of incorporating sin within the main story. Having Hester wear a letter on her chest, “A”, to symbolize the amount of sin being weighed on her own morale is one of the first introductions of sin giving by Hawthorne. Hester wears the letter to give the viewpoint of her humiliating stature and she continues to wear it to show that it has embedded itself into her character. The Puritans made Hester wear the symbol as a punishment for her own wrong-doing that is adultery upon in that society is in Chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter. This made her quite the audience as stated in this Chapter 2 quote.

But it drew all eyes to the embroidered scarlet letter, which so transformed its wearer that people who had known Hester Prynne felt they were seeing her for the first time. The letter had the effect of a spell, removing her from ordinary humanity and placing her in a world by herself.

This explains how the Letter illustrates Hester in a new light from the perspective of Puritan society.

Hawthorne wrote in the Puritan philosophy in which every circumstance must be under the judgment of the lord or God. Puritans will try to convert any social norms into a situation that must abide by their core religious values, which is where Roger Chillingworth makes his presence known. Roger’s character was anonymous with the plot during the early stages of the Scarlet Letter as he was the reason they put Hester on the pedestal for the letter A. Roger is not a Puritan by any means as stated with his affairs with Hester’s adultery claim. He remains distant from Hester for her sake and his sake as well wanting to indulge himself in personal favors and revenge against the very people he despised. Roger’s mind deteriorates into a blood-lusting man who sought the sin he views in others.

He forgives Hester for her infidelity. Revenge, however, creeps into his heart and wraps him. Despite this, Chillingworth keeps the appearance of virtue on the outside. The people of the town refer to him as ‘an absolute miracle’ because of the medical aid he can give their beloved minister, Reverend Dimmesdale.

Dimmesdale is another protagonist of this story in which he puts himself between Hester and her scorned daughter Pearl as they feel the sin crawling upon their backs, while he indulges and tangles with the madness the two has brought upon him. With all these factors at play, he also knew what Roger was scheming when he met back up with Hester.

“The sinful snare into which Dimmesdale has fallen is his awareness of his own hypocrisy. He presumes to be the moral light of the entire town, an example for all to follow. Yet he cannot find the courage to admit his truth. He feels himself a coward because he can’t bear to lose his social standing or to face a worse punishment to follow.”

This quote symbolizes the aftermath of sin being a factor within Dimmesdale own psyche as he believes what he is doing is normal when this whole time he’s been doing exactly what he wishes not to do and all Dimmesdale can do is blame anyone but himself.

Another key factor of sin portrayal in the Scarlet Letter is the character of Pearl. The puritans despise Pearl as they consider her a reject because of being conceived from Hester after her accusation of adultery. Several themes of her prowess are the darkened sky or how there is a “black man” in the forest symbolizing other sources of sin within society.

The irony of public appearance and private knowledge are themes throughout this story. The only escape from public scrutiny is the forest. They catch the lovers up in a web of lies and deception. They can safely meet and discuss Chillingworth’s identity and their plan of escape in the forest, haunt of the Black Man.

Puritan society trusts Dimmesdale and they do not believe he has any involvement with Hester’s situation. Only those involved with Hester would know about Dimmesdale’s true intentions in public. If he claims that he is innocent and is at peace with his own conscience then he would be at peace with making terms to the public which is an example of Hawthorne’s storytelling by explaining the fact that no matter what any official says is false or true, most of the society will believe what they say. The standards of modern society can see this psychology as any powerful leader can make claims that the public cannot seem to be false.

Hawthorne wanted to incorporate a dark theme to this story as he believes that a nineteenth-century based religious topic would involve multiple layers of dramatic tones buried within this mysterious and ominous plotline. While intentional or not, Hawthorne has introduced many aspects of sin throughout this classic piece of fiction. This story not only illustrates life in Salem during the nineteenth century but to express how much society differs today and how similar some concepts remain to this day.

Bibliography

1. LitCharts. “Sin Theme Analysis.” LitCharts, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-scarlet-letter/themes/sin.
2. Study.com, Study.com, https://study.com/academy/lesson/sin-in-the-scarlet-letter.html.

We all have a best friend, and that person is your best friend because you are so much alike. You spend every minute with that person getting to know then and after spending time with them, you start becoming like them. If they hurt you, you forgive them. However, the puritans were cruel when it came to sin, its punishment, and forgiveness. They established this belief that when you committed a crime that would define who you are now. When you dedicate your time to being around your friends, you become like them. Much like this concept, in The Scarlet Letter, the theme of sin and identity are so closely associated that their sin became their identity.

From the very beginning of the story, Hester’s identity is assigned to her in the form of the scarlet letter. First and foremost the scarlet letter stands for her sin. The community publicly shames her and forces her to wear the letter. They used the letter to represent “the figure, the body, and the reality of sin.” The Puritan community publicly punishes her for adultery and distinctly labels her as an adultress. Similarly, in the world today, people who habitually steal become known as stealers. Although Hawthorne proves that when you sin you become known for that sin, he puts too much emphasis on sin engulfing your identity. And at first, Hester allows this to happen. She accepts this label and moves on with her life while continuing to protect the father of her child. Even while the Puritan society continually judges and shames her, she never argues about their accusations. Her acceptance of their judgement shows that Hester used the letter to show a part of who she is. Despite having many opportunities to let go of the scarlet letter, Hester takes it to her grave. She never let go of the letter that had, for so long, defined who she was.

As the story progresses, the A develops a new meaning from the Puritan community and from Hester; it now means “able”. As we see throughout the chapters Hester begins to reach out into her community and help the people. Hester took what was supposed to be this badge of shame and worked hard to change people’s opinion of her. The Puritans said she was so sympathetic and helpful that “many refused to recognize the A for its original meaning. They said that it stood for ‘able.’” Their perception of Hester had changed so much, that now she was given a form of respect among the community. She chose to embrace the scarlet letter and give it new meaning. In our culture today, people still make judgements about others based on their sins or their past, but our past does not have to define who we are. But in the end, Hester never lets go of the scarlet letter even though she has the right to. She holds onto it and makes it a part of her life. The scarlet letter had been with her for so long that it is now a part of her identity, and without it she doesn’t really know who she is.

However, Dimmesdale has a different situation. His sin becomes a secret sin so no one knows his real identity until the end of the story. Throughout the novel, Dimmesdale struggles to accept himself, and his secret sin consumes his thoughts. In the story it points out that Dimmesdale has burned the A onto his chest to suffer for his sins, but he covers it up so no one sees. This proves that even though he thought he could hide his sin, it would always be a part of who he was. Everyone at some point in their life has hidden something from other people, sometimes out of shame and sometimes out of fear. It is clear that Dimmesdale does long to lift this weight off of him. In a conversation with the minister, he says, “they go about among their fellow-creatures, looking pure as new-fallen snow; while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity of which they cannot rid themselves.” In saying this, he reveals that the fear of rejection is preventing him from speaking the truth about his sin. He builds his identity around a society that publicly punishes those who sin. His position as a public religious figure in the community makes this especially difficult because he sees himself as a sinner. This conflict within himself causes him to hide his wrongdoings so that he will still be accepted by the community.

As Dimmesdale continues to cover his sin, it starts to consume his life. Much like when we hold back a secret, it starts to take over our thoughts and how we want to be perceived. He beats himself and fasts “not to purify his body and make it a fitter vessel for holy inspiration. He fasted as an act of penance, until his knees trembled beneath him.” His fasting is not associated with worship, instead it is an act of punishment. Dimmesdale went through all this suffering and pain to keep a secret so the people’s perception of him would be that of praise and adoration.

The theme of identity is abundantly illustrated throughout The Scarlet Letter. We see in Hester’s life that her identity is a massive part of who she is. She is shown to be an adultress and a sinner, but as the story progresses she is established in a new light. Dimmesdale’s situation with his identity is a little different. He hides his true identity when he keeps his sin hidden. Through all of this we see that the sin consumes their lives and ultimately reveals their true identity.

One factor that Pearl exhibits is her family background which is parallel to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s. Hawthorne’s ancestor, John Hathorne was a judge from the Salem Witch Trials. The ancestral ties with Salem heavily impacted Hawthorne as he was ashamed of his family. Similarly, Pearl, like Hawthorne, was born into disgrace as Hester Prynne bore her as a result of adultery. Throughout the novel, Pearl is perceived as the living crimson “A”. Society describes Pearl as , “a demon offspring; such as, ever since old Catholic times, had occasionally been seen on earth, through the agency of their mothers’ sin, and to promote some foul and wicked purpose” (Hawthorne ch 6). Society identifies Pearl through the sin of her mother and start to formulate theories about Pearl. Likewise, one can infer that Hawthorne changed the spelling of his last name so that he was not identified through the sins of his ancestors. Additionally, Pearl and Hawthorne were raised in the same conditions. Hawthorne’s father passed away when Hawthrone was only four and caused his mother to raise him alone. Hawthorne’s mother, “withdrew to her upstairs bedroom, coming out only rarely during the remaining forty years of her life” (Wang 58). Identically, Pearl’s mother Hester, “live[s] a solitarily life on the outskirts of town” (Wang 58) due to her sin. Pearl and Hawthorne are raised in the same state as their mothers live in complete isolation.

As Pearl exhibits the same factors of Hawthorne’s family background, she also portrays similar social backgrounds as Hawthorne. Hawthorne longed for the American dream, the freedom and independence that America imparts. This can be demonstrated through Pearl and her characteristics. Throughout the novel, Pearl can be seen as an independent and fearless girl. When the Puritan children insult Pearl and Hester, Pearl does not fear “But Pearl, who was a dauntless child, after frowning, stamping her foot, and shaking her little hand with a variety of threatening gestures, suddenly made a rush at the knot of her enemies, and put them all to flight” (Hawthorne ch 7). This quote illustrates Pearl’s bravery and lack of fear which contributes to the factor of Hawthorne’s independence desire. The other half, freedom, can be shown through Pearl’s actions. Pearl does not like to be restrained, “she melted with the wild, sported herself into the water, made a boat with birch bark, caught the besieged little marine organisms, and quickened her paces to run after the sea birds” (Wang 59). Behind each action, Pearl longs for freedom. This comes into full circle to Hawthorne’s desire for the American Dream. Hawthorne’s desire for independence and freedom is reflected through Pearl’s traits and actions.

Not only is Hawthorne’s social background presented in the novel but also his religious background. Hawthorne was always a religious person however, presented contraditcal features. For example, Hawthorne was “suspicious of all doctrines or sects, he thought of himself as a Christian, but never went to church” (Donohue, 1985). This hypocritical side of Hawthorne is displayed through Pearl. Similar to Hawthorne, Pearl is hypocritical towards Purtian beliefs. Throughout the novel, Pearl can be seen breaking Puritan standards.

Work Cited

1. Donohue, C. (1985). The New England Source of The Scarlet Letter. In S. Bradley et al. (Eds.), The Scarlet Letter: AN Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. New York: W.W.Norton and Company.

Symbolism is a type of literary device that allows complex ideas to be explored and conveyed in a clear way for readers. As a result, it can have an impactful influence on the themes of a story. One author that utilizes this to enhance the themes of their novel is Nathaniel Hawthorne in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Through numerous encounters with symbolic objects, Hawthorne establishes a contrast between Puritan ideology and reality. While Puritan society often used symbols as a way to show God’s approval in their society, the symbol’s interpretation by the main characters and the knowledge of the readers provides a different perspective. The result is a better understanding of previous events and characters in the novel through repeated interpretations by the characters.

The dissonance created through the symbols is used by the author to improve a critique of the Puritans. Hawthorne is a descendant of the Puritans of Massachusetts with his grandfathers being a judge of the Salem Witch Trials. He was mortified yet fascinated with his family’s history and The Scarlet Letter is his attempt to explain his thoughts about the Puritans. In one of the book’s earliest scenes, he reveals his opinion of Puritans society when Hester is publicly humiliated. Even though the people are gathered as if they are witnessing the death of a notorious criminal, the strictness of early Puritans makes is so even minor offenses are treated “with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself” (52). To enhance his critique, the author introduces the scarlet letter which represents Hester’s sins and serves as a constant reminder for the rest of her life.

An immediate effect of the brooch is that brands Hester as an adulterer and prolongs her humiliation. Because the letter is easily recognizable, it ostracizes Hester and allows the Puritans to identify her and treat her harshly. For example, as Hester and Pearl walked to Governor Bellingham’s mansion in chapter seven, the children call Hester “the woman of the scarlet letter” before throwing mud at them (105). Alongside that, parents taught their children to dislike the Hester, sermons would be made about her if she was present, the unfortunate would scoff at her attempts to help them, and so on. Even outsiders tend to single out Hester because of the brooch’s flashy nature and the rumors surrounding it.

The letter is so effective that it still isolates Hester years later and ultimately it becomes her legacy. By chapter thirteen, Hester has helped the community for seven years and has done so without fussing that they start to interpret the letter A as for “able” (168). However, as demonstrated in chapter twenty-two, the letter still separates her from the rest of the community. During Dimmesdale’s sermon, bored townspeople come over to watch Hester along with curious outsiders. An Indian even believed that Hester was an important person because she is “the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge” (257). In chapter five as she is walking to her home, she thinks that her sins “would be her only monument” which comes true in the form of the scarlet letter. When Dimmesdale dies, the letter becomes a legend when Hester is buried in the final chapter, her headstone reads “On a field, sable, the letter A, gules” (274). The effect and persistence of the scarlet letter in tormenting Hester demonstrates how the Puritans are able to continually punish Hester for an offense she committed long ago and how they will never fully forgive her for it.

Hawthorne also often uses symbolic people and events to display the oblivion and hypocrisy of the Puritans. For example, it is revealed that Dimmesdale, the devout minister of the community, was the father of Pearl. However, the people are unaware of the affair and the people continue to look up to and pray for him. This fact is made especially clear in another symbolic event in the book. In chapter twelve, Dimmesdale witnesses a red meteor that has the form of the letter A. The reader can assume Dimmesdale interpreted the event as a sign of his crime because Hawthorne writes that a person who believed that God would communicate to them using the vast night sky would be a person who is “rendered morbidly self-contemplative by long, intense, and secret pain” and is now imagining signs(161). This is contrasted with the Sexton who interprets it “to stand for Angel” in the same chapter because he associates it with Governor Winthrop’s death (164).

While both view the meteor in different contexts, the author seems to use this to mock the Puritans. While the sexton sees the A, the context of the story clearly implies it to represent the scarlet letter. This fact is made clear when the narrator explains “Pestilence was known to have been foreboded by a shower of crimson light” which was quickly explained after the meteor was shown in chapter twelve (160). This comparison is made even more clear when Chillingworth comments that “A bodily disease” could just be a sign of “some ailment in the spiritual part” when he is asking Dimmesdale about his symptoms in chapter ten (141). The effect is that it emphasizes and makes fun of how ignorant the Puritans are of Dimmesdale’s affair after it is revealed to the reader.

The author also uses another prominent Puritan to reveal the hypocrisy of their society. Governor Bellingham was based on the real historical figure Richard Bellingham and serves, along with John Wilson, as a strict, devout leader of the community. Even though he is a leader of the Puritan community, he seems to violate some of the values of Puritanism. When Hester goes to Bellingham’s home, it is described as a lavish mansion designed after the “wealthy gentlemen in his native England” even though Puritans are supposed to live simple lives with few material possessions. This quote is even more ironic because one of the reasons Puritans originally went to the New World was to escape the corruption of the Old World and Church and to establish a society that worships God the correct way. However, his association with Mistress Hibbins is one of his most hypocritical actions.

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses an array of symbols to reveal the flaws of Puritan society. However, the symbols he used to do this most often were Pearl and nature. Throughout the novel, Pearl acts as a symbol of truth that continually antagonizes the Puritans for their narrowmindedness and the adulterers for their crime. A scene that displays this effectively is in chapter nineteen in which the narrator describes Pearl as a visible symbol “in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to hide” (216). Pearl also serves to be a symbol of the scarlet letter to Hester with her constant questions and conversations about the brooch torturing her mother. She even forces her mother to don the letter once again in chapter nineteen even though it pains her mother and acts like a “withering spell” (220). What makes Pearl unique to the community is her peculiar attitude. When her mother describes her, she is described as an elf and while most Puritans were described to be somber and strict, Pearl is described to be fearless and lives outside of the constraints of Puritanism. These differences allows Pearl to become an effective foil to the community by

Nature is another common symbol Hawthorne uses throughout the novel. To the main characters and reader, the woods are described to be an impartial place that serves as a refuge for the two sinners. It is the setting for crucial events in the story like Hester taking off her letter, the reveal that Chillingworth is Hester’s old husband, and the plan to England. Pearl is also described to have some connection with the woods because she is able to play in and both her and wild animals seem to have mutual respect for eachother. A scene that exemplifies her connection to the wilderness is in chapter nineteen when she stands across a brook and looks at Hester and Dimmesdale. The author describes the seen to be almost heavenly saying that she looks “more refined and spiritualized than the reality” and even Hester and Dimmesdale feels the difference with Hester feeling isolated from Pearl in the scene and Dimmesdale commenting that the “brook is the boundary between two worlds” or “she is an elfish spirit.”

However, to the Puritans, they literally demonize the woods. Mistress Hibbins throughout the story says that the woods are a place that the Black Man or the Devil roams and where people come to give their souls and become witches. It is ironic how even though she is described to be a tempting, witch-like figure that she is still able to live within the community. This is made more humorous because she lives with her brother-in-law Governor Bellingham who is a strict figure in the Puritan community. Even though the Puritans seem to attempt to maintain social structure by blocking out the outside, traces of wilderness and by symbolic extension the truth is still shown throughout the community. A rosebush grows near the prison door where it provides beauty to the prisoners. Another situation is when Pearl throws a burr at Dimmesdale in chapter ten and it lands on Dimmesdale’s chest which almost serves as a symbolic reveal of the truth.

The common thread between all the symbols in the novel is that it helps amplify the ideas that Hawthorne tries to convey. The responses from the characters to the symbols helps the readers understand previous events in the story while establishing a contrast between the Puritans and the truth. Scenarios like the meteor show how the Puritans are ignorant of the truth and Dimmesdale’s death reveals how the Puritans are able to ignore facts in order to uphold order. While the Puritans want to live a pure life and uphold order, ultimately sin is a natural part of a person. As Nathanial Hawthorne once wrote “Life is made up of marble and mud.”

Have you ever reminisced about a bad doing that you had committed? If so how did you deal with it? How did others around you react and treat you afterwards? In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses the character Pearl as a representation of the sin that Hester had committed. Due to her actions the townspeople looked upon her with disgust and shamed her for her wrong doings. Hawthorne attempts to show how the guilt one has, and carries with themselves, can be a never ending punishment.

Who is Pearl? Pearl is one of the most important characters in the book The Scarlet Letter. She is a living symbol of her mother’s shame and triumph, and the outcome of the sin her mother Hester committed. Pearl is an important character because she defines Hester’s identity and purpose, and gives Hester a companion to love. Throughout the novel it’s important to remember that Pearl also symbolizes evil. The way she symbolizes evil is because she was born through the sin and therefore represents the punishment that God inflicted onto Hester’s adulterous act. At a point the narrator describes Pearl as “The Scarlet Letter endowed with life” like the letter Hester wears. Pearl is the public consequence of Hester’s very private sin, and she is very watchful of her mother. In many number of places she’s always quick to remind Hester to wear The Scarlet Letter, they go to the forest Hester removes the A and Pearl makes her put it back on, she’s there to constantly remind her mother of her sin.

When someone does something wrong there is always a consequence to the doing, and sometimes that consequence can stick with you for a lifetime. Imagine a punishment where you’re having to walk around your own town everyday with a letter that represents the sin you’ve committed. How embarrassing and shameful would someone feel. Now imagine having a tiny person in your life that is an actual living representation of the sin you’ve committed, and well that was the case for Hester. Restating what was presented earlier in this paper, Pearl reminds Hester of her transgression, the act that has left her in a current state of alienation. Although Pearl is a big reminder of what her mother committed she’s also Hester’s greatest treasure,and she loves her no matter what she symbolizes, because Pearl is all she has. Throughout the novel Nathaniel Hawthorne makes it very clear that Hester Prynne loves her daughter, Pearl,very much, and she’s very much aware of the gifts that Pearl has such as beauty, grace, and intelligence. Hester is also aware of her daughters imperfections in personality and mindset due to the fact that the punishment of her mother, had caused her to be continually and painfully aware that Pearl was conceived sin. Of course no child is ever perfect, but Hester blames the heightened emotions that she had experienced during the pregnancy for Pearl’s fluctuating moods and sometimes disobedience.

What’s significant about Pearl’s temperament? Her temperament is reflective of her origin. Pearl is the product of a broken rule and will not obey rules herself. She was born out of a passion that got carried away, hence her wild and unruly nature. Hawthorne uses her as an example of what the outcome of one’s sin can become. Her mother committed a sin and broke the rules, no surprise that her daughter that was the product of the doing is following in that example. Not all children end up the same as their parents or committee their same mistakes. Although there is a high possibility of it, and keeping in mind that it’s what they have come to know by watching them. For Pearl, her mother’s whole identity revolves around The Scarlet Letter. Hester and the symbol of her adultery are linked in pearls mind, as Pearl herself is the living embodiment of Hester’s transgression. Pearls personality in The Scarlet Letter is the token of her mother’s adultery. She’s the being that made her mother’s sin known to the townspeople. Hester has been condemned to wear both pearl and The Scarlet Letter ‘A’ and are careless reminders of this transgression.

Who does Pearl symbolize? With the sin that was brought upon Hester, there had to be another person involved as well, Pearl’s father. Pearl also symbolizes the connection between Hester and Dimmesdale. Hawthorne uses her as the living version of The Scarlet Letter and the physical consequence of sexual sin. So not only is she the representation of the sin her mother committed but also her father. Pearl is shunned from society, all the townspeople look at her and her mother with such disgust because of her mother’s actions. Acting as a constant reminder of Hester’s sin. Hawthorne uses vivid descriptions to characterize Pearl. For example she’s first described as an infant “whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion.’ (Hawthorne 81) and it’s true she was just a child that had nothing to do with the sinful actions her parents had made. However the actions she later on showed of disobedience is now something that is on herself. In The Scarlet Letter Pearl is called and elf child, the term ‘elf’ responds to the possibility that, since she is a child born out of ‘the luxuriance of a guilty passion’, the sins of her mother and father have somewhat permeated Pearl’s existence giving it an air of evil. Does pearl change throughout The Scarlet Letter? Yes, Pearl finally becomes sort of a normal person after thins. There isn’t and symbol, just her and she develops feelings that she never had before. She no longer feels bound to torture her mothererratic behavior or child like obsessions with The Scarlet Letter.

Apart from the sad story of Hester Prynne and Pearl, there is a much deeper meaning to the novel. Hawthorne’s purpose for writing The Scarlet Letter was to reveal the life of hypocrisy of the Puritan communities back in those days. Hawthorne used Pearl as a very important part of the story to show the consequences of our sins. Pearl was the living The Scarlet Letter, the token of her mother’s sin. Pearl was not only the sin that was conceived he was also hope for her mother, Pearl is something that Hester holds onto for strength and to be able to keep going. Hester and pearl went through so much when they lived in their town, they were looked upon as with disgrace and worthless. Just imagining having to go through this humiliation everyday, and having to take all this disrespect from everyone, it makes sense how Pearl was her only sense of hope and motivation to keep going. Like stated before people are quick to call others out on their mistakes that they committed but not to recognize that they themselves have problems too, in Matthew 7:1-2 it says “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you”. So many people over look the facts that we’ve all committed and are committing sins. The Scarlet Letter, is a great example of how people are hypocrites, and rather judge others mistress of themselves. Hawthorne shows through The Scarlet Letter that the guilt one carries with themselves can be a never ending punishment, one that is very painful.