... to ask Chillingworth to stop torturing the poor man's soul. At a proximal time, she goes to the beach where the old man is gathering herbs for medicines. While Pearl is playing in the ocean, she pleads with him to stop torturing Dimmesdale's heart. She suggests that it would have been better for Dimmesdale's heart if he died and asks the doctor why he has not avenged ... mean, mother? and why dost thou wear it? and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?" Hester is surprised by her daughter's ability to connect the scarlet letter to the minister's ailment; in response, the ...

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

... that confined her hair; and down it fell upon her shoulders [t]here played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood" (Hawthorne, 160). For once during the seven years that the tale takes place Hester embraces her womanhood again, but this is cut short as Pearl cannot handle what she sees ... . The child "burst into a fit of passion, gesticulating violently, and throwing her small figure into the most extravagant contortions" (Hawthorne, 164). Hester proves her strength and love for her child again as sh...

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

... ." Dimmesdale finally gets into the permanent habit of placing his hand over his heart in pain, and agrees to meet with Chillingworth. The meeting immediately leads to the two men moving in together. Hawthorne comments that, "A man burdened with a secret should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician." The townspeople are for the most part thrilled with the way the relationship between the two men is working out ... she knows why her mother wears the letter. Pearl answers that, "It is for the same reason that minister keeps his hand over his heart." Pearl then demands that her moth...

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

... well as her own Reverend Dimmesdale cries out, "She will not speak!" and places his hand, for the first time, over his heart. This gesture will reappear and grow in significance during the course of the novel. However, this is also the same gesture that Hester Prynne makes when remembering the scarlet letter upon her own bosom. Hawthorne brilliantly connects Hester Prynne's openly displayed shame with Reverend ... . It is a position of choice, and that it is a result of his quest for affirmation from society is more gut wrenching than heart wrenching. When one examines the destruction of...

• Word Count: 2932
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... in the adulterous act at first. Her reason for not doing this can be debated; she did not want her love to be punished, she wanted him to get the strength to do it himself, or she knew that the punishment of the sin sitting and eating away at his heart would be enough. Either way the fact ... that she could not express her affection for Arthur was present in her apparel. Not only did Reverend ... scarlet letter but also he must have at least one heart attack due to the unneeded stress he has put on himself and that faith has increased ten folds. It is too much for one person to hold al...

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

... pale spectators. "Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from ... the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! On ... in "Young Goodman Brown". Hawthorne may have ...

• Word Count: 3188
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School