... to a small cottage on the outskirts of town. Hester's daughter Pearl grows up into a capricious, precocious, and very observant child. Pearl delights in the scarlet letter and enjoys emphasizing the symbol on her mother's breast. In fact, it is said that when Pearl was a baby, the first feature she noticed ... of the transitory sunshine in the forest. Strangely, the sunshine seems to avoid Hester and "plays with Pearl."  The little girl next asks her mother to explain the relevance of the scarlet letter to the "Black Man," or Satan. Hester tells Pearl she had met the Black Man once and ...

• Word Count: 3653
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... different things such as crime and life, a simpler time with simple thoughts and people. 1.b. Discuss how the setting contributes to the believability of the novel. In The Scarlet Letter, the setting of Boston is surrounded by a, " vast and dismal forest" (68). The story could of taken place in a different place that has bodies ... objective? How does he go about achieving his objective? What obstacles get in his way? How does he overcome them? In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Arthur Dimmesdale, and old minister, deals with the pain caused by his sin and dies in the end. Throu...

• Word Count: 781
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• Grade Level: High School

... townspeople. They are all hypocrites for being the same people who go to church weekly repenting their sins. Hawthorne uses many symbols throughout The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne uses the colors red, black, and white to represent Hester's emotions and the emotions of those around her. The most ... frequently used color symbol by Hawthorne is red. Red most obviously represents Hester's sin, as shown by her scarlet letter. Her scarlet letter, like her sin, is something she must always deal with and is something she can never escape. Pearl the product of Hester ... is also called the names ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... , and was thus displayed to the surrounding multitude, at about the height of a man's shoulders about the street." (51) Another example is when she walks around the town displaying her scarlet letter, and being shunned by the people, especially the other women (nobody else knows what that feels like, having to wear the letter "A"). Mrs. Prynne is also separated from the ... , and even throw mud at her supports this quote. Pearl also experiences isolation and loneliness in the governor's hall. She has no place to turn when Governor Wilson calls her a " little bird of plumage- (102) Not onl...

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• Grade Level: High School

... the novel is very significant. Many symbols are underlying and hard to find, but symbols such as the letter "A" could not be more obvious. "The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! Those had been her teachers -- stern and wild ones -- ... and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss." The scarlet letter "A" is Hester Prynne's American Express card, she cannot leave home without it. With the exception of one occasion, Hester is true to her badge ... . It is on the armor breastplate in Governor Bellingham's gar...

• Word Count: 661
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• Grade Level: High School

... , such as Pearl. But in The Crucible, the children are viewed as evil, the adults are treated as spiritual superiors, sort of vice versa form The Scarlet Letter. In The Crucible, the forest is seen as a place of mystery and evil. This shows that the author viewed this place as a place of evil ... , Indians used to roam and practice their "magic" there. That view is not very different from Nathaniel Hawthorne's view on the forest in The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter does not see the forest in such a grim light as does The Crucible, but it does see the forest as a place where you expre...

• Word Count: 656
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• Grade Level: High School

... , who, seeking vainly elsewhere for the child's paternity, and observing some of her odd attributes, had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring- - page 95 of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Since Pearl had no known father, the townspeople gossiped freely of Hester and her Pearl. Because Dimmesdale was not revealed ... . Pearl would not have fit in, and Dimmesdale came to the rescue with a push from Hester to speak on her behalf. The whirlwind of a little pixie girl would have been yet again misplaced in the world if she were to have been raised in the church. Pea...

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• Grade Level: High School

... crucial scaffold scenes and many characters that are all related and tied together. The story is essentially about Hester Prynne who is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter as a symbol of her adultery. Hester's life is torn between two men, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister ... and guilt leads Dimmesdale to create the novel's second scaffold scene. In this scene Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold, clutching his naked breast which held the scarlet letter, permanently etched there. On the scaffold he screamed aloud, without power to restrain himself. He then e...

• Word Count: 1498
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... object of which Pearl seemed to become aware was the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom! One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant's eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter' and, putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling not doubtfully, ... SL Chapters 15-16). Does Pearl now know that Reverend Dimmesdale clutches a sin as deep as her mothers? In the final chapters of The Scarlet Letter, Pearl gains knowledge far beyond her years. She now has a solid understanding of who her father really is and what secret he so ... Hibbi...

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• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... By Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter is a story that shows a love that cannot be. "Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. It will not flee ... love that cannot be. The sunshine is the love of a man (Arthur Dimmesdale) and it does just what Pearl says - it runs and hides itself from the scarlet letter. This love must be hidden because of practical reasons; such as Roger Chillingworth who is her husband is still alive. He knows about his wife and Arthur ... them having an open relat...

• Word Count: 381
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... corroded his soul, leading to sickness and guilt. Later when he confesses, he was released from the painful and died peacefully. Important Passage: "Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. It will not flee ... the connection between sin and humanness. "Mother," said [Pearl], "was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?" "Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!" whispered her mother. "We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest." The passage expla...

• Word Count: 720
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• Grade Level: High School

... author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, addresses sin in the book quiet frequently, this essay addresses how Hawthorne really thought about sin and it's aspects like punishment. The Scarlet Letter is a novel that deals with the theme of sin. Throughout history, people have committed all types of sins, and whether they are major ... been punished. However, the severity of a punishment is very difficult to agree on. Some people feel that sinners should be harshly punished no matter how little the wrongdoing was. Others feel that a person's punishment should be based upon the severity of their crime. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... Puritan culture exhibits an unforgiving policy for those who do not do what Puritanism says is right and holy. The scaffold is a place in the Scarlet Letter in which Puritan punishment takes its course, through the scorn that the townspeople provide to the victim on the pillory. During Hester's first ... encounter with the pillory, just after she is released from prison bearing the scarlet A, her reception by the townspeople is defined as "Meagre, indeed, and cold, was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such ... and unforgiving nature in which they proceeded to treat ...

• Word Count: 1003
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... love, for truth, for honor, or for justice." One work of literature that I feel truly does illuminate several of these great quests is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This work is based in a small, Puritan community where a woman named Hester Prynne dwells. This woman has committed the sin ... of adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet A upon her bosom to constantly remind her and the rest of the community of her terrible sin. The fruit of this sin however was her little daughter Pearl; a strange, but gentle child. People in the community though, ... regain their honor withi...

• Word Count: 566
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... unattended walk from the prison-door, began the daily custom." Chapter 5, page 56: " [would] behold her standing in the door-way, or laboring in her little garden, or coming forth along the pathway that led townward." Chapter 5, page 58: "Dames of elevated rank, likewise, whose doors she entered in the way of her ... no longer the same young women that she use to be. Hester is now on her own, alone in the world with a child, and a Scarlet letter on her chest telling the world what she has done and the sin that she has committed. The symbol door can also give mood to the story ... - Chap...

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• Grade Level: High School

... one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since " (147). The truth of Hester's scarlet letter changed; it no longer represented her weakness and evil, instead, she was now seen as a hardworking woman who is kind and humble. Larger part of ... forest and the edge of town. "Throwing his eyes anxiously in the direction of the voice, he indistinctly beheld a form under the trees [...] and so little relieved from the gray twilight into which the clouded sky and the heavy foliage had darkened the noontide, that he knew not whether it were a woman...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... get away after committing crime, in the end they get punished and pays for what they did and regrets it. The first scaffold scene in the scarlet letter focuses on Hester Prynne. The scene occurred in the morning sunlight. Hester on the scaffold with Pearl in her hand. Townspeople gathered to watch her ... of an Indian. When the governor ask Hester, "who is the father of the child?" and also that, "He would consider taking the scarlet letter off of Hester, Chillingworth gestured not to say anything about her husband and Hester didn't. It was a shameful experience for Hester. "Ooh, now it ...

• Word Count: 560
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• Grade Level: High School

... that led to the deadliest punishment - execution or corporal punishment. The letter A came to symbolize different things for each character. For Hester, the Scarlet Letter symbolizes her adultery and for Dimmesdale, it is a reminder of his hidden sin. The characters are given different punishments corresponding to their symbolisms ... punishment of hiding his guilt from the public. Hester became stronger from her punishment, but Dimmesdale becomes destructed from his sin. The Scarlet Letter portrays the idea that guilt is harsher and more destructive than public punishments. Hester is per...

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... the story in her features. The girl is the bad result of the adultery between her parents, who can be considered as the symbol of the sin and scarlet letter. "However, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another."(p12) Just because of this, Hester worries ... but she still treats Pearl as her only treasure and dresses her up every day. Hester dresses up Pearl to look nice just like she does to the scarlet letter itself. Pearl is Hester's misery, punishment but she is also her only happiness, as she is sent as a blessing and as retribution to remind H...

• Word Count: 830
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... really died? The character Roger Chillingworth (Prynne) had a great impact on the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, and the community as a whole, would have changed drastically he Chillingworth really died. This short story is just my opinion on what could have happened. To get a little background on the story, the story is taking place in a Puritan colony in New ... letter, "A" which stood for adulteress this way all in the Puritan society would know the sinful act that she has committed. There was a unique characteristic about the "A"; it was a deep scarle...

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• Grade Level: High School

... has committed a sin either knowingly or by accident. Some sins are committed out of love, like that of Hester and Dimmesdale in "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. While others commit the sin of hate just like Chillingworth. Hester was forced to bear the letter "A" (adultery) as ... "H" (hate) in order to transform myself into a better person and to gain more knowledge of things that I wouldn't be able to see for myself without my Scarlet Letter. Hate is such a strong word, but it is also a strong sin. Hate means to have evil thoughts or thoughts of inflicting pain on another pe...

• Word Count: 675
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• Grade Level: High School

... , and are well aware of the consequences that are placed upon the desperate souls who dare commit this unforgivable sin. The literary sensation "The Scarlet Letter" written in 1850, by Hawthorne was a descriptive novel that takes back the reader to time where Puritans governed the land and sin was ... was the good reverend Mr. Dimmesdale; a young clergyman, who was looked upon as a God, because of his sinless lifestyle and keen intellect. But little did the community know what contradictive ness, what dark secret Mr. Dimmesdale held deep within his soul. It was that same intellect, power...

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• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The scarlet letter, a book about a lady named Hester Prynne who lived in the New World, in Puritan Boston. She committed adultery, and gave birth to ... as she felt sorry: " But then the elf-child sighed, and gave up her sport; because it grieved her to have done harm to a little being that was as wild as the sea-breeze, or as wild as pearl herself." Now Pearl has changed so that she is showing her feelings, ... place she runs to the seamen " they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake of the sea foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the...

• Word Count: 612
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... , written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The ability to tell right from wrong is a quality valued and praised in every society of every time. This is also true in the Scarlet Letter. This ability to tell right from wrong, or making a decision that does not harm or offend anyone or their values is seen throughout the novel in the manifestation of ... their life, but it wasn't until they should've already known right from wrong. So this assumption that the ability to tell right from wrong is taught by society has little hold in the novel. Of course it plays a role in ones decisions, but only one...

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• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter: Essay (4) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is wholly symbolic. Almost every sentence has a deeper underlying meaning. Even the characters' names are a prelude into the personality of that character. The main characters are ... is the star, the light, and the hope, to countless fellow sinners. Pearl's name is obviously not a symbolic mystery. Pearl, like a pearl, is bought at a great price. "The infant; that little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion- (Hawthorne85). Pearl'...

• Word Count: 441
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School