The townspeople often despised Pearl, due to her being a representation of her mother's sin. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes Pearl as being a real life image as adultery. Hester is constantly reminded of her sin, just by seeing and raising Pearl everyday. Though Hester is reminded about her sin, she takes on the task of being a mother of Pearl. Hester loved Pearl, even though she had to go through a lot to keep her.
The hypocrisy of 1600s Puritan society was often disguised behind a facade of moral righteousness. Puritans claimed to use public shaming as a way to better the morals of society and lead people to repent; however, it was highly hypocritical as the Puritans found pure entertainment in the downfall of others and completely neglected sinners rather than educating them. Puritan society thrived off of gossip and rumors, which goes against many biblical morals. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a 19th century transcendentalist, tells the story of how 1600s colonial Puritan society reacts to a woman who commits the sin of adultery in the 1850 The Scarlet Letter. In an excerpt from Chapter 13, the transcendentalist ideals of Nathaniel Hawthorne are reflected through
Throughout the passage from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester’s baby, Pearl, to illuminate the theme of beauty in a dark place. Once released from prison, Hester, an adulterer, becomes a public spectacle. Through this hard time, Hester has her daughter Pearl to soothe her and to bring her strength and hope for a better future. By using vivid imagery and juxtaposition, Hawthorne depicts Pearl as Hester’s happiness, light, and beauty during a sad and lonely time. While in Prison, Hester is all alone and depressed.
The oxymoron of death and celebration often occurred in Puritan societies as Puritans viewed public punishment and executions as joyful entertainment. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the concept of guilt and how it negatively affects the human soul. As he reveals a dark and gloomy Puritan society, Hawthorne introduces Hester Prynne, mother of young Pearl, who has recently committed adultery and is being publicly shamed for her punishment. Betwixt and hidden beneath this conflict, is Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s partner in crime, who struggles with the guilt of his sin. As the town begins to forgive Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale’s distraught soul causes his physical and mental health to decline.
In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces the main character Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful member of a Puritan society being punished for her sin of love, not lust. The opening chapters introduce the reader to gossips who deem her original punishment, death, too harsh and contrary to Puritan beliefs that unborn babies should be given a chance at life. Instead, Hester and her child are to be alienated and shunned. In addition she is to wear the letter ‘A’ (which stands for ‘adultery’) on her chest which will forever display her as a symbol of shame for her sin. Though a very resilient figure who soon overcomes this pain, Hester’s isolation takes a negative toll on her life.
Originally it is meant to shame her for her sin of adultery but instead it is made to attract attention to it. Hester feels proud of the A and it scares the townspeople because they do not know how someone who has sinned can live with it so easily. They fear that she may be acquainted with the Devil they do not want any part of it so they decide to exile her and Pearl to punish her and to keep them from her sinning ways. Puritans always associated sinning with Satan and burning in hell for eternity. Yet they believed in predetermination, where someone's fate was chosen before they were born, but they believed that if a person did something bad that God would not appreciate them they would've condemned to burn in hell for that action.
“In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another…” (p 45). One of the most significant scenes is in Chapter nineteen, when Hester lets down her hair and removes the scarlet letter, causing Pearl to “burst into a fit of passion” (p 180) Pearl was so upset that Hester removed her scarlet letter, because she felt as if she removed a part of herself. Pearl knows what the scarlet letter means, and that it is somehow associated with her. No matter how much Hester wants to cover up her sin, Pearl prevents her
The“Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne has become an american phenomenon. In the “Scarlet Letter” the main character, Hester, is charged with adultery. The people of the puritan faith put Hester through harsh punishments. The puritans believed that they had to purify the christian faith. Hester's punishment was too Harsh because pearl could have been harmed, Hester’s husband was lost, and this mistake will follow Hester for the rest of her life.
When Pearl looks at her mother’s reflection in a convex mirror, she claims to exclusively see the A: “the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it” (95). Hawthorne clearly illustrates how Pearl and the public choose to see Hester merely as her sin. Even numerous years later, Hawthorne suggest that the townspeople still cannot view Hester
Pearl, Hester’s daughter, is eventually tossed into the shame and judgement that is placed upon Hester, and for this reason, they are both outcasts in their society. The town sees that Pearl is a daughter of sin and an outcast, so they they call her names and taunt her publicly. On one of Pearl and Hester’s outings, children from town yell, “Moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them,” (Hawthorne 91). Yet again, she and her daughter are being publicly ridiculed for a crime that isn’t dispensing any harm to anyone around them.
The Puritan society openly scorns her for her sin. Hester Prynne, portrayed as a symbol of sin within the puritan society, is an illustration of solidity through her determination, seclusion with the scarlet letter, and hard work ethic. Through all of the mocking and humiliation caused by the colony’s response to Hester’s sin, Hester continues to show strength for Pearl’s sake. “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; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as
A three month old baby and her estranged mother become the symbol for reverends and clergymen to point at and exploit as a lesson for those who think about committing a violation against the church and law. In the novel the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl and Hester Prynne live their dreary life in Boston, Massachusetts, portrayed as the embodiment of sin and wrongdoing because Pearl was not conceived under wedlock and her mother committed adultery on her thought-to-be-dead husband. For seven prolonged years, the two live in a world of shame and despair brought on by the constant ridicule of the town. The town, all the while, has no knowledge that the father of the sin made child is the influential Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.
This shows that she is wanting to protect Pearl and remove the idea of what she did with Dimmesdale. She is making sure Pearl never makes the same mistakes she made. Later in the chapter Hester is trying to make sure Pearl stays with her, she mentions the scarlet letter when it says “Nevertheless, this badge hath taught me, it daily teaches me… lessons whereof my child may be wiser and better albeit they can profit nothing to myself.” (Hawthorne 102). They recognize the scarlet letter as a badge and a “stain”, but Hester is saying that she will be able to teach Pearl better because she has learned from what this badge has taught her and her experience from it.
Hester looked, by way of humoring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions”(Hawthorne 98). Despite being shamed by society, Pearl’s only fear is Hester’s rejection of the scarlet letter. To the townspeople, “poor little Pearl was a demon offspring”(Hawthorne 91). Pearl’s strong and passionate individuality serves as a reminder to the townsfolk of the harm they caused. She may seem and act like a demon, but she just has a wild and free spirit.
In the story of the Scarlet Letter, young girl Pearl Prynne is a person who at times is sporadic and random in her behavior. Despite this, she is both intelligent and inquisitive. She poses a beautiful appearance and in no way appears abnormal in her looks. However, Hester (Pearl’s mom) sees her daughter as an embodiment of evil. Pearl’s strange behavior has Hester questioning Pearl’s conception and birth.
