... 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 about her mother was the scarlet letter on her breast. Pearl is a symbol in the story; she is Hester's salvation, pride, and joy, and also ... scarlet letter, has made a green "A" at the beach and placed it on her dress. Unusually bright, the child begins to ask acute and observant questions: "What does the letter mean, mother? and why dost thou wear it? and wh...

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

... guilty passion. It was this guilty passion that immediately drew Pearl to the scarlet, "A," on Hester's bosom. "But the first 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 ... celebration, Pearl dances as she waits for the procession of Reverend Dimmesdale. She is eager to know about the procession and asks Hester whether the minister will acknowled...

• Word Count: 845
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... in The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is the living proof of the adultery between Hester and Dimmesdale making her the living scarlet letter. Pearl also symbolizes punishment for Hester. First of all the name Pearl means of great price the way Hester's life was ruined was the ultimate price that Hester paid for Pearl. With Pearl, Hester's life was ruined with constant nagging about odd questions about the scarlet letter. Pearl would also harass her mother over the scarlet "A" which ... she wore, and would make her own "A" to wear, sometimes she played games with her mother's, trying to hit it wi...

• Word Count: 493
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... the consequences of her mistake, so she is exposed to public judgment and forced to wear the scarlet letter. However, it is Dimmesdale's guilty conscience and struggle to rise above the sin that makes the essence of the narrative. The argument for Dimmesdale as a protagonist lies in the answers to the following questions. Does Dimmesdale's character change throughout the story? Does he have an antagonist and a helper? Do his actions bring about the ... climax of the story? Finally, does he solve the ... gravely one to another: -"Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; ...

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

... authors let their readers make their own decisions about the events or characters in the story. The ambiguousness of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves many of the actions, events, and issues involving the characters up to the reader's own assumption. One of the issues posed by Hawthorne during the story is that of responsibility. Hawthorne illustrates that the lack of responsibility is harmful and should be ... an adulterer eventually kills him. Hawthorne's story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... strong believers of this mortal sin, 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 not tolerated, especially the hellish sin called adultery. Anyone who commits this unspeakable crime ... him, except it tempt him-yea, compel him, as it were-to add hypocrisy to sin?" (p. 1369) Dimmesdale stood up there and tore into Hester with these questio...

• Word Count: 1126
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", life is centered around a rigid, pure society in which one is unable to show his or her deepest thoughts and secrets. Every human being needs the opportunity to express how they truly feel, or the emotion is bottled up until it explodes. Unfortunately, Puritan society did not permit this expression, so characters had to use different ways to relieve themselves ... without tripping over one commandment or another. Come to me, and be free." Hester takes advantage of this, when Dimmesdale appears. She talks to him about subjects which would never be...

• Word Count: 1015
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... like or become the constant walking reminder of the letter in which she wears upon her chest. Hester shows how she is trying to conform to the Puritan way of thinking and seeing Pearl as a symbol of the guilt she should feel and how she should see what Pearl really is(Baym 93). Hester is frustrated when everyday Pearl questions the Scarlet letter upon her mother's ... bosom. In making Pearl's garment Hester cleverly makes the child's A in green threading instead of the harsh scarlet color that she herself bears upon her bosom (Hoffman 39). But throughout the continues questions Hester n...

• Word Count: 767
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Hester wonders this, Pearl persists in asking about the meaning of the letter and about the minister's chest-clutching. Hester realizes the child is too young to know the meaning of the letter and thinks, "If this be the price of the child's sympathy, I cannot pay it!- Hester deviates Pearl's questions by replying that she knows nothing of the minister's heart and that she wears the scarlet letter for the sake of the gold thread. Pearl soon loses her ... earnestness that was present before, though she would not stop asking the questions. On their walk home, during ... ...

• Word Count: 609
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Boston. Another factor in Dimmesdale's illness is his lack in ability to discuss his sin with anyone. Even Hester does not speak with him about the situation for seven years after Pearl is born. After the two speak about the predicament and decide to leave for England, Dimmesdale is so relieved that he might be able to escape his sin that he thinks five evil ... thoughts, which for the puritans is as bad as sinning itself. Unlike the sins of Hester and Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth's secret sin is more severe. While the sins of the other characters were sins ... is able to ask Dimmes...

• Word Count: 897
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... of social rejection or emotional distance. Almost like treating a certain person as though they don't exist. The act of Shunning is viewed in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter when the protagonist Hester Prynne commits adultery in the puritan society. The type of shunning that is done by the townspeople against Hester in centuries past by communities is based off of what were considered immoral to society during this ... Ray Rice committed different acts of scandal that their situations are similar. The question that comes to mind when thinking about the idea of public shunning i...

• Word Count: 1654
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate