... does, we can see the beauty of the relationship of a father and daughter finally able to love one another. At the last Scaffold scene in the novel is where we can clearly see the truth of Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale as a family. Towards the end Pearl grows to understand her mother and the major events that had taken place before and after her birth. Pearl, throughout the story, develops into a symbol - one that is ... always changing and affecting Hester, Dimmesdale and the whole situation. Pearl is a huge symbol; she is the true result of ... ...

• Word Count: 505
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... as it would be, she only reminds others of Hester's sin. Around strangers, and at certain times at home, this poor child becomes merely an "unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment." (p52) Pearl may be Hester's only hope of a "successful" life after she is convicted of adultery. "' I will not lose the child!(p64) '" Pearl says, "' thou knowest what is in my heart, and what are a mother's ... rights, and how much the stronger they are, when that mother has but her child and ... that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength." (p113) Pearl grows in her unde...

• Word Count: 765
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Symbol of Pearl In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, Pearl, is the human symbol of the sin of adultery in the fact that she leads her mother, Hester Prynne, and Arthur Dimmesdale to accept and admit to their sin. Pearl is the beautiful daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale. She is the living symbol of the scarlet letter and has unique traits that make her sometimes appear as a demon. Her love for nature and freedom, her spirit, her wildness ... will never let her mother forget about the "A', neither will Hester ever be able to look at Pearl and not think about how she was conceived w...

• Word Count: 1030
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... connections in the novel, brings attention to the "A" as a sign of their sin being broadcasted to the town. Simultaneously, they notice a lurking man in the distance who brings overwhelming feelings of terror and hate into Dimmesdale's heart. After recognizing the man as Chillingworth, they grow more suspicious of the "physician" and his intentions. Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold in unison with Pearl and Hester in chapter 23. This time, in the harshness of daylight. Aware of ... Pearl's fortitude and loyalty to Dimmesdale and themselves by remaining on the scaffold. Through preaching hi...

• Word Count: 587
• Approx Pages: 2

... waiting she becomes pregnant with her minister. In the Puritan days the punishment for adultery was to wear a big, scarlet colored "A" on the chest. Nathaniel Hawthorne creates the symbol of the letter "A" to have meaning more than just adulterer. As the novel unfolds, the letter "A" on Hester Prynne's bosom changes many times. In the beginning of the novel, the letter "A" that Hester wears is meant to symbolize the true meaning of that time. It can be interpreted ... she is an adulterer. As the novel progressed, Hawthorne changes the meaning. When Dimmesdale is standing on the scaffold...

• Word Count: 571
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , he is more symbol than human being. A symbol of God and what is holy. Except for Chillingworth, those around the minister wilfully ignore his obvious suffering, misinterpreting it as holiness. Unfortunately, Dimmesdale never fully recognizes the truth, never steps out of his cave. In total contrast to Hester he does not learns nothing from his experience and refuses to understand that he is after all human, and sin ... ,""resumed the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale. Never afterwards did it quit her bosom. But . . . the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted ...

• Word Count: 1049
• Approx Pages: 4

... important. In the first scene of the novel, there is a rose bush next to the door of Hester's prison. It is one piece of beauty in this dark, dull atmosphere. It symbolizes the ability of nature to endure and outlast man's activities, and the futility of symbolic interpretation. The narrator mentions several significances that it may have, but doesn't affirm or deny any of them. The prison itself is a symbol of alienation, foreshadowing the life of Hester after her release ... . (Fossum 13) The forest is symbolic of nature and contains aspects of both light and dark. During their time in...

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

... , since Puritan belief is that nothing good can come from sin. Hester proves this wrong however, because her Pearl is a great source of happiness and strength for her. In chapter one, after describing the prison surroundings, the narrator states, "finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one ... society, but to Hester it is a symbol of her passion and love for Dimmesdale and it reminds her of her strength. Towards the end of the story, society changes their perceptions of t...

• Word Count: 1487
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... evil, elf-child, born from sin. In the meantime there was a priest named Arthur Dimmesdale who was secretly living in shame; for he was the father to little Pearl. His fatherhood was kept a secret for fear of jeopardizing his priesthood, so Hester took all the blame from the public. Although Hester had to face public humiliation, Mr. Dimmesdale suffered with the symbol of shame burned into his chest never to ... was living at the church with him, turned out to be Hester's ex husband who knew of his sin. The old doctor who had become one of Dimmesdale's closest and most trusted friends w...

• Word Count: 566
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 ... ...

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

... , and why she is a symbol of strength. The city in which the novel takes place and the forest just beyond it represent good and evil. The city tries to reflect the "City on a Hill," a utopian town flowing with the human ideal for the city of God based upon His laws as read in the Bible. The people of the city attempt to be good in order to fit in to the city. Those who leave the city and go into ... both deal with the "A" (the sin) reveals their personal integrity, through Hester the "A" shows strength, and through Mr. Dimmesdale it shows weakness. There are many theories to explain the ...

• Word Count: 1820
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... out of seaweed. Pearl plays as a direct symbol of the scarlet letter, which is a way of penance. The feeling of guilt continues with Hester until disease sweeps through the town. No one was as devoted as Hester when the poor were struck by sickness. In times like these her Scarlet letter was not a signal for the start of mockery and ridicule. Instead, it was a talisman in the eyes of the sick. After the event of the disease, the letter became a symbol of Hester ... 's rich and warm personality. The public ... ...

• Word Count: 1253
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... do so, - they branded it afresh in Hester's soul; so that, oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand." (Pg 57) Hester admits Pearl is her torture in chapter 6, Hawthorne writes, "So infinite was the torture inflected by the intelligent touch of Pearl's baby-hand." (Pg 64) Not long after her punishment starts, Hester begins to help ... the needy by sewing clothing and helping them out in many other ways. After a few years of torture from the letter and from ... ...

• Word Count: 944
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... his body, mind and spirit. I believe Roger Chillingworth to be one of the most hated characters but also one of the most interesting characters in this book. Roger Chillingworth symbolizes the self-destructive power of revenge, as well as the natural evil found in every person. The biggest symbol of his malice is his physical deformity. We learn about this when Chillingworth is ... books to replace people. One book that was constantly talked about was the "Black Book" of the devil, which is compared to Chillingworth many times. Nothing was more remarkable than the change, which took pla...

• Word Count: 1004
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... ; on her second, she peers from her window into the darkness where the minister stands alone on the scaffold and Rothe 2 cries out in anguish; on her third, she hauls the minister as a fellow-communicant of Satan after he has met Hester in the forest and agreed to run off. The fourth scene is the longest, involving an interchange with Hester in which Mistress Hibbins claims fellowship not only with her and ... Dimmesdale. She is living manifestation of Hester's sin and a symbol of the product of the act of adultery, and an act of passion and love (Kaul 67). Hawthorne thinks of Pearl not ...

• Word Count: 1147
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... similarities are established. Pearl is "its [the scarlet letter's] symbol, its double, its agent: "it was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!"" (Baym 56). When Hester commits the sin of adultery, the punishment is wearing the scarlet letter. Pearl herself is living proof of sin, which is what the letter represents. Pearl's appearance replicates that of the letters: Hester dresses her in "the richest tissues" and stitches elaborate dresses ... . Pearl and Chillingworth don't interact much during the novel, but Pearl brings out the innocence in Chillin...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... reveal the temper of each character. The forest is a third way in which nature is used to help portray the states-of-mind of different characters. Hawthorne uses the romantic ideal of nature to represent the psychological and moral states of different characters. Hawthorne uses symbols of light and dark to depict the battle of good and evil among the characters of Hester, Pearl, and Chillingworth. The sun is used as a symbol of good nature and purity. Because of her ... on your bosom" (138). This is evidence that the scarlet letter is the cause of Hester's darkness. Later in the book, H...

• Word Count: 1017
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... was in search of. Arthur's embrace of his conscience and 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 effective character in illustrating the theme of conscience and redemption through truth. The Scarlet Letter is overflowing with symbolism. Understanding Hawthorne's symbols by themselves is key to understanding The Scarlet Letter as a novel. The Scarlet Letter "A" is the central symbol of the ... is emotional and spiritual, while Chillingworth's alienation is both physical...

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

... by their final disclosure shortly after death. There remains nothing honorable to show where this person lies, but rather mutant weeds that grew out of the blackness of the person's heart. The final resting place of the wrongdoer has now been separated from other graves as the sins are manifested by natural powers. The next area is symbols in the skies. Our first instance occurs during the second famous scaffold scene. Dimmesdale ... adulteress and keeping her socially isolated. Dimmesdale, however, hides his sin from people. Because of this, heaven here openly condemns him with natural ...

• Word Count: 1118
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... and incompetent. One day as he is exploring the vacant second story of the erection he discovers a red and gold piece of fabric in the shape of the letter "A." After he examines the material, he uncovers a manuscript wrapped in the cloth, which he later reads. Jonathan Pue, a customs surveyor, wrote the composition a hundred years before, about an account of events that happened in the mid-seventeenth century. The narrator reads it and subsequently decides to write a fictional ... some sort of symbol on his chest. "With a convulsive motion, he tore away the ministerial band from before ...

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

... denied; however, after a closer reading, this proves to be a novel about brilliantly interwoven characters written in a technically complex format. The symbolism of the prison, roses, the scaffold, the letter "A," contrasts between light and dark, and the forest throughout the novel are the undefined characters. An understanding of these symbols is vital to a complete comprehension of the complexity of the story; Hawthorne technique of using symbolism is brilliant and it helps the reader understand the whole concept. In The Scarlet Letter ... by her mother off the bush of wild roses tha...

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

... as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs and senses than the rest of human kind. (59) Every day Hester is "continually, and in a thousand ways" (60) reminded of her sin. The scarlet "A" that she wears is a symbol of her sin and when strangers looked upon the letter "they branded it afresh" (60) upon Hester's soul. Not only one ... heard of the scarlet letter These, after exhausting other modes of amusement, now thronged about Hester Prynne with rude and boorish intrusiveness and stood, fixed there by the centrifugal force o...

• Word Count: 1186
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , it represents something else entirely. Hester has complete ownership over this symbol emblazoned on her and forces society to recognize her as an independent woman. The letter "never after [] quit her bosom," and has, therefore, created a permanent position in Hester's life (Hawthorne 201). Many members of this society may have forgotten about or forgiven Hester's misgivings, but she does not hesitate to remind ... chosen to accept and face her past, and in doing so, obtains a sort of happy ending for herself. Even after all of the misfortunes she has endured as an outsider in the comm...

• Word Count: 1347
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... is born with their discovery of her adultery: "When this 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 - (46). By the very fact that this child, Pearl, is the product of her affair, the infant stands as the living symbol of her sin. The embrace that she gives ... her baby is, thus, her own embrace of her sin. ... to admit to his role in the adulterous affair. Examining Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth in the context of scaffold scene one, shows the seeds o...

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

... mine!" (21). Now taking on all blame she has given up "all her individuality. Now she would become the "general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion" (32). After the sin had been revealed Hester never again felt she was accepted by society. It seemed to her as though ... "every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished" (37) from the town. Hester was unable to walk through town without a stra...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School