I feel that Pearl is upset that Hester has removed the scarlet letter from her dress because that is what she grew up with, and it was apart of her mother's identity. Without the scarlet letter, Pearl feels that Hester is not herself and can’t be the person she once was without it.…
Hawthorne uses Hester’s needlework to portray her self-perception. “Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue” (p.56). Hawthorne employs irony to give emphasis to Hester’s situation. Despite the beautiful garments she made, she still chose to dress in the most simple materials. Hester was self-loathing at this point and was doing this as an act of penance, sacrificing her joy as punishment for her sins. To further show her remorse she continued to wear ornate Scarlett letter A on the breast of her attire, because despite the simplicity of the rest of her dress, it represented her crime adultery and wore it as a sign of shame.…
When Hester returns to Boston, she is still wearing the letter. People don’t believe their eyes. This is because Hester is not accompanied by Pearl. Pearl directly represents that letter and the end of the novel proves it. It has grown with Pearl and changed her too. As Wagenkenecht quotes John A. Andola in Characters in The Scarlet Letter, “‘Without her mother’s sin Pearl could not exist, nor could she exist without her mother’s love, both of which are symbolized in the scarlet A and in Pearl herself.’” (69) The ultimate symbolism in The Scarlet Letter is that Pearl is the scarlet A.…
There are many maladies in this world to which the fragile human body can fall victim. Be it from disease or from physical injury, the end result is the same if the ailment is left unattended for too long. However, what happens when this sickness emerges from the darkest corner of the human soul and begins to agonizingly consume the fibers of one’s being day by day? When the parasite is an insatiable guilt which causes sensations so tortuous and vile that they can drive a man to the brink of insanity, and perhaps even into the waiting claws of death? Such horrid feelings, especially when contained, possess an unfathomably immense danger with grave consequences. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale’s deteriorating…
The Shame “Shame is nothing more than denial of the truth.” – M. Funkhouser. Everyone agrees that…
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, Pearl undergoes a dramatic transformation from a devilish infant to a sagely child. Born into a society full of judgment and hypocrisy, Pearl, a bastard child, is unable to escape her predetermined role. Pearl lacks a traditional family; her mother is the sole provider, a direct attack on Puritan standards designating this young family as outsiders. Furthermore, Pearl, unlike her peers, establishes a reputation for being strange because she does not adhere to conventional norms. Despite her apparent shortcomings, Pearl is more perceptive and compassionate than members of her community. Predestined by stringent, oppressive Puritan standards, Pearl is outwardly…
“Guilt is through the spirit and Pain is the body.” Everyone is sinful or guilty in a way, whether it is lying or doing adultery. It is mistakes that are caused by people. Because you will have to be guilty first in order to suffer the pain that was caused by their sin. Mr. Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne had to suffer his own sin and can’t find a way to confess to the society, no one understands what is he going through. Hester has to suffer from her own sin with everyone be disgusted by her, wish to not have any relationship with her. This is the same with John Proctor in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He had to suffer a sin of his own, due to the affair between him and Abigail Williams. Therefore he has to face…
In The Scarlet Letter, a novel by author Nathaniel Hawthorne, rugged individualism is a reoccurring theme with certain characters throughout the text. Rugged individualism expresses the idea of someone doing what is believed to be right for themselves despite the consequences that may be placed on the person or the people around this person. In The Scarlet Letter, there are multiple events in which rugged individualism takes place, but the two characters that show the most rugged individualism throughout the novel are the main character Hester Prynne, and Roger Chillingworth.…
Nathaniel Hawthorne communicates through his novel The Scarlet Letter that some dogmatic attempts by society to label a person by his or her actions in the past will fail. Subjectivity across the community and throughout time changes the meaning of a symbol society implements to control an idea. The scarlet letter “A” Hester Prynne wears exemplifies this. The town wants the object to arouse feelings of ignominy towards Hester; however, not everyone who meets Hester interprets it the same way. The town originally regards the letters as a signification of ignominy, but this interpretation soon switches to ability, and, finally, to honor as Hester’s action prevail in the subjectivity across time. Subjectivity also leads the scarlet letter to hold different meanings for Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and even for the governor’s butler.…
Hawthorne's viewpoint of Pearl seems to be exceptionally adoring as he claims that her "beauty shined through the gorgeous robes" (Ch. 6) and there was a "circle of radiance" (Ch. 6) that shone about her. As more of Pearl is revealed, Hawthorne's tone changes to a violent and threatening tone as he states that Pearl showed off a "variety of threatening gestures" (Ch. 7) and with much force she "screamed and shouted" (Ch. 7) at her enemies.…
The scarlet letter brings with it the punishing mockery and humiliation from her fellow Puritans, so continuing to bear this mark requires a great amount of strength. Hawthorne wrote Hester’s character to seem beautiful yet powerful in that she believes her own sinful ways cannot be redeemed or reconciled without proper punishment. Until Hester believes that she has renounced her sinful ways and learned from her mistakes, she will not allow herself or anyone in the town to remove the letter. During her discourse with Roger Chillingworth regarding the removal of the scarlet letter, Hester responds, “It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge...Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport” (153). Hester believes that it is not in her own power or the power of the town to remove the scarlet letter from her bosom. Although the letter can be physically removed, it cannot be removed by God until Hester becomes worthy of its removal. Hester also discusses the removal of the scarlet letter when she faces public humiliation for her crimes near the beginning of her story. Near the end of the novel, when Hester returns from Europe to Boston without Pearl, Hester still continues to wear the letter. Hawthorne describes this event when he writes, “But her hesitation was only for an instant, though long enough to display a scarlet letter on her breast. And Hester Prynne had returned, and taken up her long-forsaken shame” (233) Although Hester has already completed her punishment of bearing the shame of the scarlet letter, she still continues to wear the letter after returning. This not only characterizes Hester as a determined woman, but also shows how the scarlet letter has become a part…
Shame and guilt, as demonstrated above, are products of society, and the experience of these emotions is subject to the society that the individual was raised and/or currently resides in, as shown by the accounts of Puritan society. Likewise, these emotions and the experiences thereof are subject to where the individual exists within such societies, especially in regards to profession and gender, as shown by the narratives of The Scarlet Letter. Perhaps even morality, the base of emotions such as shame, is subjective to society, because it is, in the words of Paul Gilbert in his article on shame and guilt, this competency of social morals and emotions “that give rise to the human capacities for shame and guilt and make their forms so open to…
In the beginning of the book, the crowd showed a cold vibe that gave the idea of the strictness in a Puritan society. Hester was shunned and forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for committing adultery. It was described as, “a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical” (47). Throughout the story the main idea was how the Puritanism traditions were fading. For example the people start to take the scarlet letter less seriously than they did before. Hester does not seem to be looked at in the same kind of way that she was before. People somewhat look up to Hester for being so strong and proud of her letter.…
Hester Prynne's scarlet letter is a symbol of the beauty in being true to one’s self. Her “A” is a badge she must to wear to shame her for her sin. One would think that removing the badge would come as a blessing to Hester. However, in chapter 14, Chillingworth tells Hester, “It was debated whether or not with safety to common weal, yonder scarlet letter might be taken off your bosom,” to which Hester calmly replies, “It lies not in the pleasure of magistrates to take off this badge…” (122; Ch 14). Hester wants to decide her own identity rather than allow others to choose it for her. Removing the letter would show that the letter was a symbol of shame to her and would exemplify society's power over her. Hester is shameful of her scarlet letter but would never let society know. Because the wears the…