ipl-logo

Forgiveness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

1141 Words5 Pages

In August of 2017, a father became childless. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Mark Heyer received a call saying his daughter had been killed by a driver speeding into a group of people protesting white supremacists. He, somehow, has found in his heart the ability to forgive this man for his awful sin. Many find his story shocking, but why? America falls severely behind in the area of forgiveness. People like Mr. Heyer, who forgive the “unforgivable”, come off as saints because the rest of the community does not hold the same capacity. The rarity of forgiveness in today’s world can also be seen through the Puritans in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s psychiatric novel The Scarlet Letter, but just as Mr. Heyer saw it fit to forgive, the reader sees …show more content…

Pearl, deeming to be the only one able to truly forgive, has a beautiful redemption. In Matthew 6:14, Jesus preaches “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” The only way to experience true and full redemption proves to be by forgiving others. Sin enslaves everyone, so no one has the right to judge another for sinning. Pearl can testify to that. Just as Dimmesdale finally admits his sin to the town, Pearl forgives him. Once she forgives him, “a spell is broken” (Hawthorne 175). Pearl, since birth, has had an extremely enraged temper. Explanations of this temper are plentiful, but a likely possibility proves to be punishment for the nature of her conception. After the “spell” has been undone, she leads a completely normal life because she has become fully “human”. Pearl responds correctly to the sin of others and reaps rewards accordingly. God honors Pearl for her Christ-like reaction. Redemption, for Pearl, came only as she forgave her distant father for not being involved in her life, unlike Hester who forgives Dimmesdale the night before. For both Dimmesdale and herself, Pearl was the final piece of redemption. Pearl’s admirable reaction to others sin causes her healing

Show More
Related
1091 Words | 5 Pages

This interaction between infant Pearl and Dimmesdale is significant because Pearl is described as a child who only shows affection towards her family (Hester). As Pearl ages, many Puritans conspire to separate her from her mother. Upon hearing this, Hester visits the governor’s hall to try and persuade him to allow Pearl to remain with her. Hester is ultimately allowed to keep Pearl, not because of her words, but because of the words spoken by Dimmesdale, who convinces Governor Bellingham and Reverend John Wilson. Afterwards, Pearl “stole softly towards him, and, taking his hand in the grasp of both her own, laid her cheek against it” (79).

Read More
602 Words | 3 Pages

Which reveals that God forgave Dimmesdale for his sins. Dimmesdale was then finally kissed by Pearl on the lips. Pearl’s role as consciousness was fulfilled. At the end of chapter 23, Hawthorne states; “"Shall we not meet again? "

Read More
1464 Words | 6 Pages

Pearl is a constant reminder of their sin, in which Hester holds onto public guilt, and Dimmesdale onto private guilt. Both Hester and Dimmesdale are destroyed by their guilty consciences, but Hester can redeem herself in the town. Dimmesdale continues to be brought down by sin. In the novel

Read More
765 Words | 4 Pages

This was the first part in the book when Dimmesdale went on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl. When all three of them were on the scaffold Pearl was described as “Pearl she a symbol, and the connecting link between the two”(139). When they were on the scaffold pearl connected Hester and Dimmesdale. As soon as Pearl held hands with both of them she felt as if she was no longer a product of sin because of Hester and Dimemsdasles actions. When the townspeople saw this they thought that Pearl was a magical human that brought together two people in a tough time.

Read More
481 Words | 2 Pages

Others who have not sinned may not be able to teach Pearl lessons such as these. Teaching Pearl these lessons for her to be wiser and better is Hester caring for Pearl. If she was not caring, Hester would not bother passing her lessons on to Pearl. All in all, Hester should be able to keep Pearl because Pearl is the only thing Hester has in life, Pearl is a blessing and a retribution, and Pearl saved Hester. Hester may not be the best mother, but Pearl will be able to learn from her mistakes to be wiser and better.

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Are they forgiven? Dalenberg 1 Should they be forgiven? There are many reasons On both sides whether they should be forgiven or not. Some say yes some no but which makes more sense and what answer has more info than the other.

Read More
1655 Words | 7 Pages

Each time Dimmsdale and Hester rejected Pearl from acceptance they also rejected her from her freedom. Hester and Dimmesdale's actions have caused their daughter to suffer a past an abundance worse than them. Chillingworth says, “ ‘Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee ,in the eyes of men and women, . . .child! And, that thou mayest live’ ”(61).

Read More
401 Words | 2 Pages

She is the result of Hester’s adultery and is, in her own way, a living embodiment of the letter. When Hester and Pearl are with Dimmsdale on the scaffold and for the three formed an electric chain, “there was witchcraft in little Pearl’s eyes, and her face, as she glanced upward at the minister, wore that naughty smile which made its expression frequently so elvish. She withdrew her hand from Mr. Dimmesdale’s and pointed across the street” (97). Since Pearl was conceived in sin, Hester worries that this may affect the type of child Pearl is. Hester’s neighbors can see only supernatural reasons for Pearl’s odd behavior: she’s an elf-child, a witch-child, or her father is the Black Man

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, Only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a million- fold the power of retribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first!’”

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

Pearl’s ability to demonstrate resilience, not only from the perpetual shame her and her mother face, but in regards to her rejection of the everbearing religious institution in her society, is truly remarkable. To some in the colony, the circumstances in which she was born is enough to consider her a demon child, and she is treated accordingly. While her and Hester are being harassed by a group of towns children during their journey to the Governor's mansion, Pearl decides to act “With a variety of threatening gestures… and put them all to flight” (69). This moment, in addition to substantiating the proposition of Pearl’s resilience to her family shame, demonstrates to the reader that Pearl possesses a considerable self-awareness of the impression her circumstances of birth have on the people of the town. Pearl, even being a little girl, has the ability make a crowd of hasslers disperse with merely a few hostile gestures.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Pearl’s estranged behavior is believed to be a result of the way she was conceived through sin, which is just another example of how Pearl is the physical representation and constant reminder of Hester’s sin. Towards the end of the book, Pearl is finally allowed to be a real human being once Dimmesdale confesses his sin. In Chapter 23, Hawthorne writes, “The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy…” (Hawthorne 142).

Read More
104 Words | 1 Pages

Established in the later parts of the novel Nathaniel Hawthorne exhibits that Pearl is becoming more of an adult and through her experiences she has procured knowledge becoming a more intelligent character. As Pearl converses with her mother she questions if “[Dimmesdale] [will] go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town” (Hawthorne 316). Pearl manages to comprehend that Hester had an affair with Dimmesdale before others in the colony. Pearl is also able to connect simple observations that she has made over time like that of Dimmesdale grasping his heart to that of the scarlet letter on Hester’s bosom.

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

(Chapter 6, page 63) “..as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was that same dishonored bosom, to connect her to her parent forever…”. Pearl is connected to Hester forever and will live with the same sin as Hester. By that, even though Pearl did nothing wrong

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

Pearl reinforces the separation between Hester and the town because of the sin Hester committed. The puritans of this town follow the bible strictly, and the bible calls for punishment of sins. The act of adultery, which both Hester and Dimmesdale are guilty of, is a sin. Hawthorne included Pearl to serve as a living breathing punishment for

Read More
666 Words | 3 Pages

Ethical issues will always be an issue in psychological research and in most cases there will always have to be some sort of trade off of ethics to get reliable results. Research such as that conducted by Milgram and Zimbardo brought this issue to light inside the psychological circles around the world and caused issues such as these to be brought into the public eye. It is because of such research that comities exist today to govern the content of such experiments. Several different issues were raised in Milgram and Zimbardos research in particular, the first and most obvious issue is one that is common in most, if not all psychological experiments; Deception and informed consent. In Milgrams experiment for example his participants were told that they would be involved with a study into the effects of punishment on learning, this effectively denied the participants giving informed consent as they did not know the true nature of the experiment.

Read More

More about Forgiveness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Related Topics

Open Document