... He decides to take revenge on Dimmesdale. Chillingworth had suspected Dimmesdale of being Pearl's father for a long time but he knows it for sure at the end of chapter 10, when he finds the minister fallen asleep in his room and sees the scratch on the form of the letter A. "The physician advanced directly in front of his patient, laid his hand upon his bossom, and thrust aside ... to prevent contact with those sinners, "As the two wayfares came within the precincts of the town, the children of the puritans looked up from their play, - or what passed for play with those sombre little urc...

• Word Count: 1627
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , but why there are two different words to describe males and females in this realm is another essay. The reason why I feel empowered by Hester after reading The Scarlet Letter comes from the chapter titled "The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter". As Dimmesdale is walking along in the procession after he has given his election sermon he stops at Hester and Pearl and bids them come stand ... , but one symbol that is not overdone and is actually under considered is that of Hester as a heroine. The Scarlet Letter was brilliantly written, and without knowing it Hawthorne is still influencing ...

• Word Count: 3565
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... how sin isolates people. In the first chapter we see a plant which stands out, "But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered with its delicate gems" (Hawthorne). This rosebush is like Hester, for it too stands out as wild and different. She wears her scarlet letter among the solemnly dressed Puritans as this rosebush wears its scarlet blossoms amidst a small plot ... to another, as if telling the sad story of the pair that sat beneath, or constrained to forebode evil to come" (Hawthorne). Their sorrow is so intense even the natural worl...

• Word Count: 1118
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... causes her own emotional isolation. "It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and inclosing her in a sphere by herself." (40) However, the people's attitude does change. It goes through various roller-coasters of positive and negative meanings throughout the course of the novel. The symbolism of the scarlet letter is expanded in Chapter Five, Hester at Her Needle. Whereas at ... meanings. The letter begins to represent the hidden shame of the community. This shame is shown through Hester's reactions around the community, like when she almost co...

• Word Count: 1352
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... multitude of ways. First, the rosebush outside the prison; in the first chapter, it is used as a symbol of hope, or maybe a symbol of redemption. It represents a glimmer of happiness outside the grim, ugly walls and heavy oaken door of the prison. Later in the book, when asked of where she came by the governor, Pearl says she was "plucked off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison ... the father of her baby was during the first scaffold scene. Perhaps the most complex symbol in the book is the most obvious and prevalent one, the books namesake, The Scarlet Letter itself. At its f...

• Word Count: 777
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... It's Many Ways The author of The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne, has different views of how one doesn't have to hold sin inside of them forever. At the start of this novel, Hawthorne chooses to begin his novel with a prison. This is an appropriate symbol for the punishment that the protagonists will suffer. The Scarlet Letter deals with the adultery sin of Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the revenge of Roger Chillingsworth, and the towns people's ... the more irresistibly, the darker the singe that saddens it." Chapter 5, Page 73. In the end of the novel he is ruined on...

• Word Count: 811
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School