... themes in his book. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne unveils the tale of two lovers in a Puritan society: one a minister and the other a lowly embroiderer. They fall in love and create a child together out of wedlock. The society then rejects the mother, Hester Prynne, and forces her to wear a scarlet letter, the novel's namesake. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, stays quiet about this affair in fear that the society will similarly disown him ... she should, and asks the exact questions she should not. These questions shape Dimmesdale and Hester in their personal development, ...

• Word Count: 890
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography

... he is so terrified of everyone in the town finding out his secret that he is blind to any enemy within his own home. Chillingworth engages the minister in a conversation about why men keep secrets in their hearts, rather than reveal them immediately. Dimmesdale clutches his breast and struggles to avoid directly answering the questions Chillingworth poses. The two men are interrupted by Pearl ... and Hester walking through the cemetery outside. Pearl is jumping from gravestone to gravestone, and finally starts dancing upon a large, flat stone. When Hester tries to make her stop, she take...

• Word Count: 5572
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

... his very essence, Arthur 3 Dimmesdale illustrates Hawthorne's theme of a sin-stained conscience and redemption only through truth. The novel begins to seek into the heart and conscience of Arthur Dimmesdale when Roger Chillingworth questions him about his thoughts on sinners and their secrets. Feeling full well the distress of his own secret, Arthur proclaims that those who hold such "miserable secrets will yield them up ... truth, as well as of the traits of the human character, lead to this and decisive victory in the battle against himself. In the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale was an effe...

• Word Count: 2338
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 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

... punishment will thereby be made more effectual to Salvation, I charge the to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow sufferer!" (pg.63) Dimmesdale, while asking these questions to Hester, allows them to conceal their secret relationship from the townspeople and as well the strangers in the community. While being secluded on the scaffold, Hester comes across what seems to be familiar face in ... the crowd. She presents him as being a stranger in the novel, but yet when is placed in the prison for her crime, she comes in ... ones secret lover and father. Dimmesdale struggles th...

• Word Count: 1026
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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

... ; he swims in it, goes to sleep in it, and wakes to the new days to find it still about him. He belongs to it" it nourishes or starves him, or poisons him; it gives him the substance of his life." Community plays a large role in everyone's life; Pearl and Hester of The Scarlet Letter, LeAlan Jones, Lloyd Newman, Eric Morse and his killers, of Ghetto ... things. Public displays of a person's crime were common. Some may think that the simple task of wearing a scarlet letter is no big deal, but try to raise a child who questions almost everything while wearing the letter. Her town branded H...

• Word Count: 4111
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School