... right and no longer is physically bothered. Finally, Dimmesdale shows the powerful effect of shame on one's emotion. While at the meeting at to decide whether or not Pearl should be taken away from Hester, Dimmesdale displays emotional shame. During the meeting his eyes are described at dark and trouble, expressing how guilty he is for troubling Hester with a child that he can not raise ... . Dimmesdale feels like a disgrace for his sin in God's eyes, but tries ... to form an emotional bond to Hester and Pearl. When Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale, he begins to ... ...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... as well as their weaknesses with symbolic names. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses evocative names to portray the characters' inner self and what they represent in the story. The most significant name belongs to the character Pearl. Hawthorne shows that this name has two meanings, but only one is used to describe the importance of Pearl's existence. "For so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive ... of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned luster that ... would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant Pearl' as being of great price...

• Word Count: 500
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Hester Prynne that eats away at him daily. These supernatural events that occur clearly add romanticism to this tragedy. Hawthorne also uses mysteries to betray romanticism. Roger Chillingworth begs Hester for the identity of her partner in crime; however, she swears his secrecy. She replies, "Never! Ye cannot take it off. And would I that I might endure his agony as well ... are used to create a mysterious atmosphere through the story. Finally, intuition is also used to add romanticism to this tragic novel. Pearl, is constantly questioning the meaning of the scarlet letter "A" on her m...

• Word Count: 522
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... if she had not married without love. She marries to Roger Prynne, who is much older than her, without courtship or affection of any kind. If she would have married for love, she would have been satisfied with her relationship and thus will not have commit adultery nor suffer "a pang, a sting, [and] an ever-recurring agony"(102) of her sin. Hawthorne ... love, Dimmesdale is pulled in to sin along with Hester. Since then, he is constantly tortured by his conscience for hiding it from the town. By committing the sin of hiding his wrongdoing from the town, Dimmesdale is an untrue man and "T...

• Word Count: 1004
• Approx Pages: 4

... 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 from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!" This quotation is how I see the 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 ... it would seem as if they were going to see the black, mysterious man that represents evil in th...

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

... scaffold scene is Dimmesdale's release of his burden, which accumulates through the story. Dimmesdale's torture is stretched throughout the story in all three scaffold scenes. Another significant obstacle for Dimmesdale is to gain Pearl's acceptance, which is accomplished in the last scaffold scene. The minister's final speech is at last delivered, and pearl shows her acceptance when she "kisse[s] his lips" (pg. 233). All other times that ... aware of this because he never gets along with children, yet Pearl takes kindly to him (although does not yet fully accept him). This knowledge of...

• Word Count: 598
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... . Many of these images show a turning point in the novel, as well. Dimmesdale, Pearl and Hester show the different instances where truth was brought out in society. In the beginning of the novel, there is a scene in which Hester was forced to stand on the scaffold and have everyone scorn her. She shows the scarlet A on her chest for all to see, and braves their criticism. Although Hester ... is one with a great sin, according to the Puritan society she ... born to early is this puritan society. Society suffered as Hester suffered for their hypocritical and ruthless punishment, even if t...

• Word Count: 623
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... is near a peninsula, because the setting doesn't play a major role in the story except when Hester and Pearl go into the forest, where Hester has a life-turning talk with Mr. Dimmesdale. The forest is like a dark and mysterious place where a dark creature, the "Black Man," lives. The time, however, cannot be changed because the story deals with the beliefs of people from the 1850's. For example people who committed adultery ... were killed for sinning, even the sinner's children were ... lets others know about her sin. Hester, throughout her life, believes that she has to live with the...

• Word Count: 781
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Prynn, however Randall Stewart has presented an argument that suggesur Dimmesdale as the Protagonist of the story. Hester Prynn is the character that the story focuses on, more then any other character. She is the mother of her only daughter, Pearl, who was conceived in sin with the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Arthur Dimmesdale is the reverend of the small puritan society, and Hester's partner in sin. This also makes ... story. His role is centered on his self-torture that he inflicts on himself because he hasn't the guts or "power" to confess. This story would not have even been formed ...

• Word Count: 855
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... town knows what she has done and can be seen as an act of justification. Although the letter is supposed to bring shame to Hester, she sees the letter as a mark, which represents her for who she is. Throughout the first few scenes of the novel Hester is taken out of prison and forced to walk through a crowd to reach a scaffold, where she would be ... integrity, not caring about what others say or think. Showing a strong personality against the rude comments of the towns people, who say she has committed an act of the devil. Many saying that pearl is the "Devils child" and that Hester is...

• Word Count: 1035
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Roger Chillingworth get married even though they knew it was not going to be a truthful love relationship. Back then, women often married for stability, rather than love. Hester makes choices without using her insight or realizing the result of her actions. For example, Hester never loves Chillingworth but she marries him. She figures he would be a good companion because he is an educated ... man and he would be able to support her financially. Hester can not love her husband, and she can not remain faithful. She commits the sin of adultery with a minister, Arthur Dimmesdale and has a c...

• Word Count: 1002
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... hear his confession. This unmistakably is suggesting that he still does not want to admit his faults. Dimmesdale creates the mold for how Pearl and Hester live for the rest of the book. And what he created for them was a life of being scorned by society for many years without anyone else to turn to because he never visited or met with them. What makes things worse ... serves not only himself but also Hester and Pearl in an ill manner. The third and final scaffold occurrence finally puts Dimmesdale on the road to fidelity and responsibility, but he still displays his immorality and negli...

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

... , but his real intentions are revealed only to the reader. The underlying aspects of the characters in the book and their "twist of fate- will expose themselves in the novel. During the seven year span of the book, Chillingworth's kind fazade slowly becomes an evil obsession, the obsession being destroying his "closest friend,"" for Chillingworth suspects that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl. Chillingworth becomes a type of parasite, and one night ... letter's role in her life and is not afraid to hate Dimmesdale. She is true to herself and her emotions and allows people to make the de...

• Word Count: 995
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... becomes a greater sinner than the two other main characters, Hester and Chillingsworth, because he does not confess and take the blame for the sin that he committed. In The Scarlet Letter, Minister Dimmesdale has an affair with Hester Prynne, which results in the birth of the baby, Pearl, and leads to the deterioration of Hester's husband, Chillingsworth. For seven years the minister hides his secret while ... Hester lives with public shame. Dimmesdale lacks the courage to admit his guilt publicly, ... him coerced him to want to inflict vengeance on the man that seduced his wife and fat...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... by writing in very descriptive language and by describing exactly how Hester perceived each situation. "It was perceived, too, that while Hester never put forward even the humblest title to share the world's privileges---further than to breathe the common air, and earn daily bread for little Pearl and herself- (p. 144). Hester is humble because she has given up her sin, as is expressed in ... the simple, smooth, and plain language Hawthorne uses in this selection. When Dimmesdale is the reader's eyes however, the town becomes much more frenzied. The language is still descriptive, but is...

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

... yet ready to do so. His midnight trip to the scaffold provides him with a choice to make, and his decision is to stay in the realm of moral darkness, instead of the alternative that Pearl gives him. The last of the scenes on the scaffold is the most emotionally charged. The scaffold is the appropriate symbolic place for Dimmesdale to find closure. On election day, Dimmesdale ... breaks down after giving a speech on the scaffold. He calls to Hester "with a piercing earnestness" ... (230) to support him on the scaffold. The people recognize that "some ... ...

• Word Count: 891
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... his mind he physically abuses himself. Because of the guilt that Chillingworth has brought out of Dimmesdale, The Reverend becomes mentally unstable. He begins to have visions. In one of his visions he sees Hester and Pearl. Pearl first points to the scarlet letter on Hester's chest then she points to the reverend's chest. Although he knew that the visions were not real, he still had to ... deal with the guilt and shame that dwelled in his heart and mind. One night he had an idea ... and mounted it. His heart began to pain him so bad that he let out a loud scream. No one thought anythi...

• Word Count: 735
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... 's downfall; he is unable to become penitent because he feels no remorse for his actions. The first thing Chillingworth sees when he comes to town is Hester's public shunning. After the shunning, Chillingworth visits Hester in jail and requests the father's name. Chillingworth vows to make the father pay for his sins. He finds the father when he " laid his hand upon his bosom, and thrust aside ... the vestment..." seeing a symbol on Dimmesdale's chest that constitutes the sin of the scarlet letter. Chillingworth is so caught up in jealousy and hatred because, leech that he is, he's sucke...

• Word Count: 695
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... this point, however, the letter is shallow in meaning, standing for the sin of Adultery. To resonate the "A" in the mind of the reader Hawthorne displays the letter in a variety of altered profiles. Besides being the beacon from Hester's breast the letter "A" is presented in several forms. It is on the armor breastplate in Governor Bellingham's garden, in the sky on the night of Dimmesdale's scaffold vigil, continually little Pearl is pictured to ... be the scarlet letter personified, and ... ...

• Word Count: 661
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... or shown in two very separate ways. Hester's guilt was open for all of the townspeople to see, while Dimmesdale's guilt was hidden from the public eye. Hester is recognized, before the public, as a sinner. She was presented with a scarlet A to wear upon her bosom for the rest of her life. The scarlet A was to remind the public, as well as Hester, of her guilt and sin. Hester ... could see, Hester and Dimmesdale had lived with their guilt in very separate and different ways. Towards the end of the novel, Hester was beginning to change her public image. they had begun to look upon the sca...

• Word Count: 748
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Man [and] this scarlet letter is his mark!" (182). Additionally, Hester is isolated from Pearl because Pearl does not seem to understand the emotional effect that the scarlet letter has on her mother. Ignorantly, she makes fun of her mother for wearing it, saying, " the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom." (180 ... ) Hester is not only isolated from Pearl, she is also kept at a distance from Arthur Dimmesdale as well. First of all, she is emotionally separated ... from him because she can not show her love for him. ...

• Word Count: 979
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 the society's feelings for the character. From the beginning of the novel and through a large portion of the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale is send as a person with high morals, and as a respectable person. He is seen as a person who has not ... . This attention to others needs, besides herself is seen as a "right" decision and she slowly loses her position as a malefactress. Pearl is seen as a demon to many of the town's people. The ch...

• Word Count: 721
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... that she is haughty and doesn't care what people think of her or that she even wronged in the first place. While the former part somewhat holds true throughout the book, she does care that she committed adultery and accepts her penance for it. Often in the book she is shown to be a sad, miserable soul, and though she does have opportunity to change that ... punishment worked so well that many people of the town refused to interpret the letter as it's original meaning, instead saying that it meant Able. Even at the end of the book when Chillingworth and Dimmesdale die, she still wears th...

• Word Count: 445
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... had to live with her sin while walking through the town and bear what the people of Boston would do to her. She had to waste her talent of a great seamstress and be paid, and except, very poorly or with food. Hester also had to take of Pearl without the help of a husband or anyone else for that matter. Hester and Arthur's lives both changed ... in the same sense that they had a man pursuing them their entire lives. This man, Roger Chillingworth was Hester's husband who let nobody know ... who he was. He did not help Hester with the raising of pearl and he would always torment her about...

• Word Count: 308
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... was. "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart!"(Hawthorne 70) Hester loved this man so much she felt that it was no need for her to bring him down with her. So she stood up on the scaffold with the baby in her arms " And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!" (Hawthorne 71) Hester realizes that if she confesses ... that was committed was terrible and will always have a place in their hearts but they can not dwell on it now. Pearl got to meet her father in those woods, but during the day that the Governor what honored Hester told Pearl to not speak or go up to...

• Word Count: 1114
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School