Emotions Spill In Kate Chopin's The Scarlet Letter

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.

The place of isolation can become the place of revelation. The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of Hester Prynne's life after having a child, Pearl, while her husband, Roger Chillingworth, was away and having to live with an A on her chest for adultery. The father of the child, Arthur Dimmesdale, had to live with the guilt and beat himself because of it and the truth remained a secret to almost everyone, except Chillingworth, who planned to get revenge on him because of his sin. Chillingworth became evil and changed because he wanted revenge on Dimmesdale and the guilt made Dimmesdale feel sick. Dimmesdale died after he told everyone the truth and Pearl gained a sense of compassion when she saw him dying. Isolation has a powerful affect is a recurring theme in The Scarlet Letter displayed through Hester, Pearl and DImmesdale.

Within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, antagonist Hester Prynne is subjected to the opinions and treatment of 17th century’s Massachusetts Bay Colony as a result of her sinful act of adultery. In the Puritan colony, it was important to be faithful, both to thine spouse, and most importantly, to God. Hester’s adultery issued her public ridicule and shunning, and a physical reminder to be forever worn; an embroidered ‘A’ placed upon her bosom. The symbol served to alert all of her faithless act, “It had the affect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (page 74). Throughout the novel, Hester’s treatment is obvious, and she makes many efforts to not let her choice, and her illegitimate child Pearl, define her. She vows to never reveal the name of Pearl’s father, however it is later revealed that he is the ever-so-respected town Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester is more than aware of her exclusion from the groups of the colony, even though she was working to rebuild her name by working and keeping busy, “In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished, and as much alone as if she had inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs than the rest of human kind” (page 108). The judgmental community that Hester is a part of, ceases to affect her actions. She refuses to leave, and raises her daughter the best that she can- with love, respect, without revealing to Pearl what makes her different. The society sees Hester as corrupt, but does not call Pearl the same. Pearl’s name even represents purity, something she definitely was not born of. However, Pearl is able to grow up as normal as possible, though not a lot is said about her life and she does act a bit

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a novel that focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hawthorne revolves the theme around the four main characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth., and Pearl. Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ after committing adultery against her husband Roger Chillingworth, with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. As a result an odd child is born. Dimmesdale never admits that he is a father of the child, and is forced to suffer alone in guilt, while Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. Hawthorne is known for his incorporation of symbolism into his writing. One of the most complex and misunderstood symbols is Pearl. She is a unique character. Often known as the product of her

While reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is obvious that he uses a lot of symbolism throughout his writing to give the readers a deeper understanding of the Puritans and their views in these times. In this book, the community forces Hester Prynne to wear a scarlet letter on her chest to show her abashment for committing adultery and having a child, Pearl. However, Pearl is actually used as a symbol throughout this book to represent the physical embodiment of Hester’s sin, the repercussions of her breaking the law, and an unworldly being in the usual strict Puritan society.

Hester Prynne changed dramatically throughout the course of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter. Initially she was viewed as the antagonist and was a destructive character to those around her. After being confined in her cottage with Pearl, she began to develop a sense of who she needed to become in order to efficiently raise Pearl. Hester’s ability to do what was necessary for her improvement made her into a respectable role model for women to shadow. Hester chose to isolate she and Pearl to create a wave of self-improvement. Because of Hester’s mysterious, seductive, and rebellious actions, she demonstrated the characteristics of a byronic hero.

Nature is the basic characteristic into which something or someone is naturally presented. These characteristics are used in this novel as the scars into which no one is able to escape. Nature in The Scarlet Letter was used as a representation of many ideas and beliefs the puritan society tried to suppress. These representations came throughout the development of the novel as Hester’s escapement and can even be argued that Hawthorne used nature to show the violent and demonic sides of the puritan’s angst.

Symbolism is a technique used by all writers, and The Scarlet Letter is no exception. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is full of symbolism. Actually Hawthorne is one of the most prolific symbolist in American literature. Characters, events, relationships, feelings, and even weather are part of or are symbolism. Pearl is a complicated symbol of an act of love and passion. This child is not meant to be a realistic character but rather a symbol of Hester’s sin, blessing and scarlet letter. Pearl is the scarlet letter, a blessing and curse, and the love and passion of a dangerous relationship.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne opens in a Puritan settlement, where Hester Prynne is being publicly shunned for adultery, in which she has to stand in front of a crowd for overt punishment and wear a scarlet ‘A’ on her chest. She holds her child, Pearl, who symbolizes her inability to hide her own past and her sins from the judgment of her settlement. The novel progresses in a way that further defines her mental strength and ability to endure this judgment. However, Arthur Dimmesdale, the town’s pastor, demonstrates a differing method in which he deals with his own personal judgment and fear of alienation. As The Scarlet Letter advances, his mental strength corrupts with the help of Chillingworth’s methods of trickery and Dimmesdale’s

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells a story of a strong woman who learns from her mistakes and accepts her future in Puritan society. Meanwhile, another character experiences extreme guilt and suffers through his punishment. All through these hard times, their actions express their morbid and sorrow filled lives. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale show a morbidity of spirit in their emotions and their mannerisms.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner.

In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is a very important character and she symbolizes a lot. Pearl is also very smart. She figures out before many of the adults in the town, that Dimmesdale is her father. Pearl also has a big imagination. She when she plays alone, she can turn anything as simple as a stick or a rock into something aminated, and something she play with. This way of playing is very different from the way the other Puritan children played. Some of the townspeople called this witchcraft, and she was called witch-baby. Pearl was also very different from the other Puritan children in the way she acted. She did not follow the rules set for most Puritan children, and she did not act like them at all. Pearl does not fit in with the other children. Pearl is a blessing to Hester.

According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary “character” is, “a conventionalized graphic device placed on an object as an indication of ownership, origin or relationship.” (Character) The article “The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter” written by Nina Baym discusses how the scarlet letter is the most important character in the novel. She does this by showing where the letter is the strongest throughout the entire novel. Upon reading this article, Nina Baym is correct in her belief that the scarlet letter is the main character because of its recognizability, personification, and symbolism in The Scarlet Letter.

It is estimated that an average of 130,000,000 babies are born each year around the world. (Ross 2). These infants possess given names that have significances behind it such as a saint name, after another family member, or a trait that the word possesses. Correspondingly, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter characters develop entitlements to names that have specific meanings. Pearl Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale reinforce character names that possess deeper definitions. The names Pearl Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale, in The Scarlet Letter, depict their personality traits and amplifies how others view them.

The Short Story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin explores the emotions of Louise Mallard a woman with a heart disease. In the hour that the story is told, it ranges from showing Mrs. Mallard different reactions to learning of her husbands death to him surprisingly showing up alive and eventually her untimely death from a heart disease. Although only a brief period of time is shown, many emotions are revealed through the third person omniscient point of view. This point of view shows more than just the protagonists thoughts and is not limited to one person. It allows the readers to know something about Mrs. Mallard that she does not as the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already died. The readers can be more sympathetic towards Mrs. Mallard.