... by the community. Because of her public shame and constant ridicule, Hester becomes an outcast to society. Her love for Arthur Dimmesdale, their minister, and the creation of Pearl, her daughter, has forced her to live in seclusion. The only times she even comes into the city is to sell her very well-crafted clothing. This in turn causes the Puritan ... another way. Although she questions Hester about the "A", she is not told the true meaning. Pearl suffers a loss of identity and her mother's refusal to tell the truth keeps her daughter in the dark, not knowing of her illicit birth and ...

• Word Count: 1366
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since" (Hawthorne 1411). In the final chapter, it is learned that Hester moves back to the town she fled with her daughter so many years prior. However, she again returns to the residence in the forest where she lived fulfilling her punishment. Since she does not live for profit, people, mostly women ... . Their mode of thinking was characterized by the habit of interpreting everything that they saw, everything that happened to them, as a message from God with specific import to them" (Baym 39). It is in this fashion that all of the Purita...

• Word Count: 1915
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. The Puritan community was a dark, strict society, feeling indifferent to the humanity of the woman standing before them on the scaffold, with her infant daughter against her chest. The beautifully embroidered letter does not glow in the eyes of the people. The letter shapes the way they look at Hester and the way they treat ... in the opening scaffold scene, Hawthorne remarks that "never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison" (39). The way Hawthorne chose to illust...

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

... and the Puritan cycle in American writing in many of his works. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories "The Minister's Black Veil," "The Birthmark," and "Rappaccini's Daughter," the common theme of pride were presented throughout these stories. In "The Minister Black Veil" was about a minister named Mr. Hooper who placed a black ... Prynne and Arthur Dimmsdale. The sin has a positive affect on Hester, enabling her to gain insight into the personalities of others, and providing her with a daughter who becomes her life while this same sin has had a negative affect on Arthur, causing him to...

• Word Count: 1373
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and the Puritan cycle in American writing in many of his works. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories "The Minister's Black Veil," "The Birthmark," and "Rappaccini's Daughter," the common theme of pride were presented throughout these stories. In "The Minister Black Veil" was about a minister named Mr. Hooper who placed a black ... Prynne and Arthur Dimmsdale. The sin has a positive affect on Hester, enabling her to gain insight into the personalities of others, and providing her with a daughter who becomes her life while this same sin has had a negative affect on Arthur, causing him to...

• Word Count: 1442
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Hester is made fun of and stared at with disgust, but still maintains the will power to look away and continue on with her life. Her daughter is also forced to suffer because of her decision. Not only do the elders of the community look down upon Hester and Pearl, so do ... the children. They have learned from their parents that Hester is a bad woman and that her daughter has also sprung from evil's web. "'Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness ... she hopes her soul will be purged (74). Not only do the townspeople asso...

• Word Count: 1678
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... to men in every aspect. Despite that, Hester has a strength that can rival a man's. She endured years of social rejection and derogatory treatment yet she maintains a strong front which her daughter and Dimmesdale can rely on. Hester has a lot of personal strength and she never gave up whenever Society tells her she cannot do because she is women. For instance, since ... she is a women she could not persuade the Governor to not take away Pearl. Instead, she had to beg another man, who had power, to save her daughter for her. Society does not let her show her strength or permit her to be...

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

... back into the emotions of guilt, sorrow, and embarrassment that the scarlet letter brought up. Some positive aspects of the scarlet letter would be insight into the future for her daughter. After having gone through a "public showing" of her personal life, Hester Prynne used the experience to make better choices for her and her ... daughter, Pearl. The scarlet letter pushed her to be independent, brave, and emotionally strong as a person – as a woman. Even though the scarlet letter pushed Hester Prynne to come to a point ... where she could endure all ugly stares and glances, she cou...

• Word Count: 1468
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

... segregation. She could not hide her sin due to the fact that she wore the "A " on her chest, but she tried to try to protect her daughter as much as possible from living an unhappy life. Hester's isolation from her sin expanded her knowledge of others in her community because she was forced to step ... her to lose passion and replace it with a sense of responsibility and duty. She now has to take responsibility for her actions and take care of her daughter and learn to adapt to the society with isolation. The callous sense about her develops as her isolation intensifies and a part of her ...

• Word Count: 1733
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... is dead, Hester falls in love with the minister, Dimmesdale and the two committed the sin of adultery, which led to the birth of their daughter and sin, Pearl. The story is unraveled slowly around the three scaffold scenes, which are very significant throughout the novel. The first of three ... scaffold scenes features Hester Prynne and three-month-old daughter, Pearl. Hester is publicly punished for her sin by having to stand alone clutching her infant for three hours. Ironically, on this same day ... Dimmesdale wanted was the whole town to come see him standing there, a sinner. Howeve...

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

... Hester, Dimmesdale does not confess his sin until after it totally destroys him. He hides his adultery and fails to claim Pearl as his daughter; his punishment is guilt and self- condemnation, intensified by the torture of Chillingworth. As the shame over his cowardice increases, he suffers total ... inward destruction of her sin; Dimmesdale, a minister who openly represents Goodness, is the real Sinner, failing to confess and claim Pearl as his daughter and suffering both inward and outward deterioration from his double sinfulness.) The largest threat to Hester and Dimmesdale's secret is...

• Word Count: 1929
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... Puritan society. Although the Puritan society believes that Hester Prynne is immoral, the actions that she takes shows that she is actually very moral. Hester shows care towards Pearl, her daughter, which is a clear indication of the kindness in Hester's heart. "When the young woman- the mother of this child- stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her ... first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom;" (Hawthorne 50). This is an act of motherly affection, showing that Hester loves her daughter. By abandoning Pearl, Hester's life would definitely be easier; howev...

• Word Count: 1429
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... humiliation. She becomes a social outcast of the Puritan society and lives in isolation on the outskirts of town. Pearl, her lively and uncontrollable daughter, is the daily living proof of Hester's sin. With pride, she dresses her daughter in brightly colored clothing and holds her on head up high. She also concerns herself with doing acts of charity and kindnesses for other ... proudly walks through town with her head held high, the Puritans point at the "A" and scoff at its wearer. Hester is more pained by a second symbol of her adultery, her daughter Pearl, who becomes a living symb...

• Word Count: 1285
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... know [her] earthly one," only her "heavenly Father" show her determination to stay faithful and loyal to Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 63). A woman full of motherly love that she showers on her daughter, her love and concerns for her product makes her wonder if her offspring abnormal. She worries about her lack of self-control and her shunning playmates. Her appeal to the ... -lover that "God gave [her] the child" for her "happiness" and her "torture," in which for them to allow her to keep the elf child, shows the importance of the daughter in her life (104). As a woman with excellent values an...

• Word Count: 1594
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... form with his haunting tales of human loneliness, frustration, hypocrisy, eccentricity, and frailty. Among his most brilliant stories are "The Minister's Black Veil," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Young Goodman Brown," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "The Great Stone Face," and "Ethan Brand." Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is considered by many to be the greatest ccomplishment of an author hailed as the master of the ... no form of governing force, and society's restrictions do not apply. The forest proves to be the only place where Dimmesdale is able to meet with Hester and his growing ...

• Word Count: 2453
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... before the crowd on the scaffold. Because this punishment separated her from society and the townspeople who were once her friends, Hester is constrained to living a life alone with her daughter Pearl on the outskirts of town. Once an impetuous, passionate young woman, Hester begins to metamorphose into a responsible, contemplative mother. Hester becomes active in serving the needs of the poor ... self reflection in the years following her sentence. Wearing the symbol of the Scarlet Letter became an integral part of who Hester believed herself to be as a person. Her own daughter Pearl d...

• Word Count: 1295
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... truth about himself and those around him. A few aspects of the hero's quest include the following: the hero endures, the hero has a goal, and he has a guide. (Stillman 32,37,39) Goodman Brown endures in this story by continuing to go deeper and deeper into the forest no matter what the consequences may be. He does this because he has a goal ... ...

• Word Count: 1815
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... the same person without it. Again, by wearing the "A" after she was asked to remove it, angered the community. The last and biggest way Hester inflicted revenge was through her daughter, Pearl. Everywhere Hester went, Pearl was right beside her. Pearl was just a smaller version of the scarlet letter. Even though Dimmesdale seemed to suffer more than anyone else in the ... in public, Dimmesdale abandoned her. For the next couple of years he does not even make an effort to see her, let alone give her any financial help for their daughter. Minister Dimmesdale continued giving his excellent...

• Word Count: 1589
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... . Hester is to stand as a warning to others tempted as she was (Hawthorne 13). Hester becomes a social outcast and lives on the outskirts of town. Pearly, her lively and uncontrollable daughter is the daily living proof of her sin. Man had marked this woman's sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach ... race and descent of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in heaven.(Hawthorne 14). Hester is a woman full of motherly love that she showers on Pearl. Hester dresses her daughter with pride and holds her head up high. He...

• Word Count: 1373
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ! Hester comforted and counseled them" (Hawthorne 185). What this transformation means, according to Brown is: Hester Prynne becomes an angelic practitioner of good works and adviser to women, and her daughter Pearl, we are told, is now able to "grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever to do battle with the world, but be a woman in it." The return ... " woman is. A "good" woman is obedient and pious, and she would acknowledge her sexual desires. According to Egan: The figure of the wife ideally contains the biological female, the obedient daughter (and perhaps sister), the faithful ...

• Word Count: 1505
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... [grows] by the prison-door" (103). In the "Conclusion", she "might have mingled her wild blood with the lineage of the devoutest Puritan," and she becomes an affectionate and supportive daughter, proving that! a sinful act can unexpectedly result in purity and goodness. Another example of the redeeming effects of sin is Dimmesdale's response to Chillingworth's torture. "But for [his] aid, [Dimmesdale ... his life, Chillingworth allows the minister to confess before his death (157). In The Scarlet Letter, therefore, sin ironically leads to the purity of youth and of public confession. He...

• Word Count: 1485
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... is still the consequence that causes Hester to become isolated from the world around her and it manages to happen without her noticing. Hester's ultimate consequence of sin is her daughter Pearl. With Pearl, Hester has to assume full responsibility, because she is responsible for the proper upbringing of this child. Hester loves Pearl because she is her ... daughter, but she is also a symbol of Hester's sin (Ziff 38). This is very difficult for Hester because she sees a child that she loves and then she sees the outcome of ... ...

• Word Count: 1828
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... in seventeenth-century Boston, during a Puritan settlement. It takes place in Salem and Concord, Massachusetts; late 1840. A young woman, Hester Pryne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, a scholar much ... his sermons are thus masterpieces of eloquence and persuasiveness. His commitments to his congregation are in constant conflict with his feelings of sinfulness and need to confess. D. Pearl, Hester's ...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... into place. After Hester committed her sin and wore the letter around her neck, the beauty began to fade away. Puritans began to criticize her and say Pearl was the daughter of the devil. The children of the Puritans would run away from her and throw mud at them. Priests would make Hester the topic of their sermons. The preachers would ... about and she wanted Dimsdale to be with her and confess so she would not be alone anymore. The figure of the wife ideally contains the biological female, the obedient daughter, the faithful mate, the responsible mother, and the believing Christian, a...

• Word Count: 1408
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... is taken before her Puritan town from the prison. On her bosom she bears the scarlet A for "adultery" and in her arms she holds the creation of her sin, her daughter Pearl. She ascends the steps of the scaffold alone, and stands where all eyes are upon her and the flaming letter upon her breast. It is here that for the ... unyieldingly. It is now presented to the reader that Arthur cannot earn salvation by keeping this secret hidden from the world, that he must publicly acknowledge his crime, acknowledge his daughter and lover if he is to seek atonement for his sin. Once upon the scaffo...

• Word Count: 1460
• Approx Pages: 6