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Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

1007 Words5 Pages

What does it mean to be a feminist? A feminist is someone who believes in gender equality, and advocates for equal social, political, legal, and economic rights . The Scarlet Letter is a prime example of a feminist novel, as it demonstrates the unfairness of gender discrimination. The way Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Hester shows that she is a strong female character, as she strays away from gender norms of the time throughout the novel.
Hester Prynne is the main character of the novel. She is convicted of the sin of adultery and has a baby as a result of her sin. She is subjected to public humiliation. Throughout this, she stays strong and tries not to let it bother her too much. She retains her independence and does not let the sin define …show more content…

During the time period, girls were expected from a young age to conform to gender stereotypes. Pearl never does this, instead she connects with nature more than anyone in the novel. She also always had a strong attraction to the scarlet letter her mother wears. Pearl always questioned it, as seen when she asks if it is the reason Dimmesdale clutches his heart often. “‘Dost thou know, child, wherefore thy mother wears this letter?’ ‘Truly do I!’ answered Pearl, looking brightly into her mother's face. ‘It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!’” (Hawthorne, 161) She was upset when she saw her mother without it, but she never knew what it meant, never knew that it was a symbol of shame, and the reader knows that Pearl does not know what the scarlet letter identifies her mother, and that goes along with norms of the time period. The quote, “Hester looked steadily into her little face; but though there was that singular expression which she had so often remarked in her black eyes, she could not satisfy herself whether Pearl really attached any meaning to the symbol.” (Hawthorne, 161) shows that Pearl has retained her innocence and does not know any meaning to the letter, just that she has always seen her mother wear it and associates the symbol with her

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“On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A” (Hawthorne 50). The novel states this description of Prynne’s scarlet letter and how she has to put it on her gown, noticeable for everyone to see. Prynne is inwardly questioning herself whose child is Pearl “...child, what are thou? Cried the mother. Oh, I am your little Pearl… Art thou my child, in very truth?...

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the author develops little Pearl through symbols of flowers in order to properly portray the development of Pearl’s character, as her interactions with these natural elements constantly reveal Pearl’s unique qualities. The flowers, for instance, are symbols of Pearl’s unexpected entrance into the world and Hawthorne describes her as being a “little creature, whose innocent life [has] sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion” (Hawthorne 50). As Pearl is being compared to a delicate flower that was unexpectedly planted, it only makes sense that Hawthorne chooses to symbolize Pearl as a sign of abruptness.

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Dimmesdale, knowing that he is the father of Pearl, keeps it a secret for a very long time. Dimmesdale had burned an “A” on his chest. In the book he states “At last… I stand upon where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this woman, whose arm… sustains me, at this dreadful moment, from grovelling down upon my face! Lo, the scarlet letter which Hester wears! … it hath cast a lurid gleam of awe and horrible repugnance round about her.

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In All Quiet on the Western front, we are brought to the narrator of this reading, Paul Baumer. Paul Baumer is known as a protagonist someone who is compassionate and sensitive for a 19 year old young man who is battling in the war. Paul Baumer shows himself being compassionate towards his comrades in many different scenarios. For starters when Kemmerich is in the hospital and he is injured Paul goes with him and is trying to help him stay calm in his situation. Kemmerich is concerned that he is going to die so he won't make it back home and Paul continues to tell him not to “talk rubbish; Franz, in a couple of days you’ll see for yourself.

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Pearl is an unnatural newborn infant, as the town puts it. She was an “outcast” (85) to society, an “evil”(85) infant. Pearl had no right to walk among the other christened infants. When Pearl was at home in the cottage with Hester, she had a lot of materials. Pearl had some materials that were a

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In the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet “A” at all times because of her sin of adultery, to simulate wearing the letter, I decided to wear fake earrings. Similarly to how Hester is judged by others due to her letter, I also felt judged because of the earrings. While in public, I felt that people were constantly looking at my earrings and judging me based off of them. In almost every chapter, random members of Hester’s community assumed that due to the letter on her, that she was a terrible person. When I wore the earrings, I began to feel that everyone looking at them had made assumptions about me because I was a male wearing earrings.

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In the Dark Romantic Novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the theme that being surrounded by a negative influence can change a person for the worse through his use of recurring motifs, notably, the Scarlet Letter and its effect on Hester. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest, the two speak privately and honestly to one another for the first time in 7 years. They both decide that they wish to leave the puritanical society which has caused them so much ignominy and pain. With the decision made, Hester decides to throw the scarlet letter next to the brook. Upon doing so, she realizes that “the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit … she had not know the weight until she felt the freedom” (Hawthorne 199).

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Her whole life she could possibly be seen as a devil and she could believe. That could leave her to do some bad things. Hesters adultery and wearing of the scarlet letter affects Pearl by not having a father figure. It is normal that when a child is born from an affair, the father is not present in that childs life. This is the case with Pearl.

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Feminism is the philosophy advocating equal political, economic, and social rights for women. The idea of feminism was not at all prevalent during the 1850s when Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was published. In spite of this, Hawthorne wrote one of the most influential feminist novels of his time: The Scarlet Letter. This novel was hailed as an important feminist novel because of the main character: Hester Prynne.

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This role of her being an antagonistic protagonist creates a paradox within the already complex and unusual child. The symbol of Pearl plays an important part in the novel The Scarlet Letter. She is a reminder of her mother 's sin and antagonist toward Hester, as well. She is the root of many other symbols in the book.

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Hester takes Pearl on a walk in the forest to resolve an internal conflict on whether or not she should inform Dimmesdale about Roger Chillingworth’s malicious intentions. Pearl and Hester have taken a seat next to a brook Hawthorne describes this situation has, “Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from the wellspring as mysterious, and had flowed through the scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom”(Hawthorne 183). Clearly, the brook is a symbol for how pearl comes from a father that remains mysterious to the public. As a result, the father whose perceived to be Dimmesdale tortures himself because, the guilt he feels for concealing the truth about his paternity is causing him to feel extreme sorrow in silence. Many of the characters in The Scarlet Letter are experiencing some kind of conflict in their lives which are expressed through symbols.

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908 Words | 4 Pages

Pearl is the only one in the novel who does not give Hester the cold-shoulder and tries to protect, even the younger children who do not understand give Hester the cold-shoulder or bother her shown on page ninety-two when the children of the Puritan Community irk, ““Behold verily, there is the women of the scarlet letter; and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!”... She screamed and shouted, too, with a terrific volume of sound, which doubtless caused the hearts of the fugitive to quake within them. The victory accomplished, Pearl returned quietly to her mother, and looked up smiling into her face.”. But also, Pearl is the only one keeping Hester alive, without her she would want to die proven on page one hundred five when Hester had a small quarrel with Mistress Hibbins and said, “I must tarry at home, and keep watch over my little Pearl.

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1108 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, most of the audience sees the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, as a symbol of early feminism. This novel takes place in a Puritan society, and their interpretation of the Bible is very strict. Along with their strict interpretation of the Bible, they have very stern norms on the roles of women, and during this time, women were still considered to be greatly inferior to men. Throughout the novel, the reader can see the way Hester is constantly judged for committing adultery, whereas the man she committed adultery with is not judged the same way; in fact, his identity is unknown at first. Hester Prynne is, in the words of John Updike, “is a mythic version of every woman’s attempt to integrate

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509 Words | 3 Pages

“Pearl took some eelgrass, and … imitated, on her own bosom, the decoration… on her mother’s : A letter “A”, but freshly green, instead of scarlet!”, a quote pulled from Chapter 15, is another attempt by Hawthorne to convey the contrasting ideal of Pearl’s innocence and purity to Hester’s sin. The green of this imitated scarlet letter worn by Pearl is associated with nature and purity, while the scarlet of Hester’s original letter is typically associated with passion and

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Hester Prynne, the Worst Sinner Three different people, all with different stories but all have something in common; they’re all sinners but the question is who is the biggest sinner? In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many characters are portrayed as sinners like Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth. But overall the biggest sinner in the story was Hester Prynne and there are many reasons for it. Obviously the reason for the scarlet letter, she was an adulteress. Hester caused many problems with people in the town including the most holy man Dimmesdale and a man that should've never been involved, Chillingworth.

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