Hope In The Scarlet Letter Essay

During rough times, people usually abandon hope. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one would expect that Hester Prynne to give up. Hester suffered a lot during the book; however, we can see that she still has hope in many ways. One of the ways is that she is always with her daughter, Pearl. Another way is when we see a rose bush when the times are hard. The rose bush is present during hard times and in ways that give Hester a sense of hope and faith. A way to keep Hester alive and full of hope was seeing Pearl with her, living her life, and sometimes nature also helped. Overall the rose bush and Pearl are symbols created by Hawthorne in order to show that hope and faith are always present; even through sins and difficult
times.

Hawthorne uses the rosebush as a way to represent hope and faith. The rosebush appears in the middle of a sad, hopeless place in order to represent that there is still hope present throughout life. As Hawthorne says in the book, “A wild rose-bush…which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in… in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him” (Hawthorne, 46). Hawthorne explains that even though prison is a sad place where people feel constantly depressed and have the feeling that they are nothing in the world, faith is still present. The prisoners living there have rough lives, but watching the rose bush in the wall of the prison makes life a little easier. Another time Hester sees the rosebush was on her way to the scaffold. One of Hester’s punishments was to stand on the scaffold so that everyone could

see her as the sinner she was. While walking towards the scaffold, feeling sad and embarrassed, Hester saw the rosebush and her hope came back. She knew that if something as beautiful as a rosebush could grow in the middle of an ugly place, then she could have hope in the middle of a desperate life. The rosebush is a way nature tells them that there is life after prison, and there is hope after all.

The other symbol Hawthorne uses to represent hope is Pearl. Little Pearl was born in the midst of a tough situation; however, Pearl does not get intimidated by other people. She never changes the way she is and is true to herself, even if society wanted her to change. Pearl was born in a ‘family’ with many problems. She didn’t know her father, and her mother refused to talk about it. Nevertheless, Hester saw Pearl as a sign of hope. Pearl represented two things in Hester’s world: the struggles and adversities she faced while raising her and the idea that someday the father of her child would go with them and they could be a family. Hester had a lot of problems for having the baby, but still she thought that having her was the best thing that could’ve happened to her. Hawthorne explains that "She named the infant "Pearl," as being of great price--purchased with all she had--her mother's only treasure!" (Hawthorne, 82). In other words, Hester was actually glad to have Pearl in her life, and for the same reason, she called her Pearl. It was a great sacrifice to have Pearl, but still she is Hester’s treasure. Hope was still alive in Hester’s life because of the happiness Pearl brought to her. Pearl and Hester were always together. Hester even had fun with the silly actions and words of Pearl. When Pearl was older and had her own family, Hester sew clothes for Pearl’s babies. Townspeople saw Hester proud of having Pearl and as a sign of that, she sewed and gave small gifts to her grandchildren. Even the slightest sign of Pearl made Hester happy and grateful to have a daughter.

Pearl is an important hope symbol, mostly for Hester.
In Hester's mind, everything she did and everything she has to suffer, by wearing an ‘A’ all the time and the townspeople constantly talking about her, is worth it just for Pearl. Hester has loved Pearl unconditionally since the day she was born, and she does not care that Pearl was the outcome of a sin, she is her daughter and there is nothing better than to have Pearl with her at all times. Hester says “She is my happiness!... Pearl keeps me here in life!” (Hawthorne, 104). Pearl was everything for Hester. She gave Hester a reason to live and a reason to move on with her life. Hester loves Pearl no matter what. Her sin is not Pearl and she does not relate Pearl to a sin in any way. Hester actually sees Pearl as a blessing, rather than as a sin. Pearl encourages Hester to be a better person. Hester is always trying to be better in order for Pearl to be better when she grows up. For example, Mistress Hibbins once invited Hester to do witchcraft, but she rejected the offer for the good of Pearl and because she needed to be with Pearl. Hester could’ve gone with Mistress Hibbins to do witchcraft and act silly, but her duty as a mother was more important. It was more important for Hester to be a good example for her daughter, than to go crazy with her
friends.

The fact that Pearl was conceived out of a sin does not change the way Hester sees her. Something similar happens with the rose bush; they represent beauty amongst ugliness. Pearl and the rose bush are lights in the darkness. They are a representation of faith, hope, and that hard times can be overcome with just a little push. If you really want it and you have the motivation to do it, then anything is possible. A perfect example for this would be Hester getting over her sin and living life the way she can. She cannot have the same life as she would’ve had, but still she decides to make the most of it and enjoy it with her beautiful daughter. Hester decides to defeat her fear and fight her sins because of the rosebush and

the most important thing in her life, Pearl. Both the rose bush and Pearl helped Hester get through the hard times she had and gave her the faith and hope she needed in order to continue with her life.