Eventually, the stress and pressure in Dimmesdale’s heart lead him to death. In comparison to Dimmesdale’s death, Hester’s ending is way different. Hester and Pearl leave Boston, but Hester eventually comes back to town without Pearl. Hester puts on the letter “A” again, and she starts to help people deal with their mental stress. “But, in the lapse of the toilsome, thoughtful, and self-devoted years that made up Hester's life, the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with
Not only does she have to raise a “devil child”, she has to do it by herself and with the scarlet letter bleeding through her chest while everyone is doubting her to actually raise Pearl right because the puritan village believe she will raise her to be just like her: “The child will be well cared for, far better than you care for her.” (Hawthorne 177). If she had people to talk to besides just her daughter Pearl who is only 7 years old those people would see how much of a strong women Hester is and realize that she can. But like the brave women Hester is she speaks up for herself when the governor and the ministers tell her otherwise. Hester she replied to their comments with “You know it's a mother's rights and how strong they are when they are when the mother has nothing but her child and this scarlet letter!”
Pearl does not fit in with the other child in the community. She is described to be devilish. Similar to her mother, Pearl is isolated as an individual in the community. She is aware of her isolation, and senses that the isolation of both her and her mother have a relation to the scarlet letter. As Pearl asks Hester to explain the scarlet letter, Hester thinks that Pearl is completely controlled by an evil spirit.
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.
Although, to Hester, Pearl’s “Peculiarity...should correspond with the guiltiness to which she owed her being” (85). Again, Hester thinks that if Pearl is abnormal it is due to her sin, and that she must deal with Pearl, to rid herself of her guilt. Not long after Hester is released from prison,
Hester dislikes the fact that the “scarlet letter” may be perceived as a sign of weakness, and instead learns to be empowered by the “A”. Ultimately, Hester actively made a positive impact on the community and proceeds to raise pearl, her child, without any assistance from Roger or Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester exemplifies her independence through her ability to maintain financial stability while raising her daughter and working. Hester eventually morphs the public's view of the scarlet letter into something positive. The narrator says, “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification.
In chapter 8 Hester Prynne’s decides to give the governor a visit after she has heard rumors that people want to deprive her of Pearl. The governor tells her “Were it not, thinkest thou, for thy little one’s temporal and eternal welfare, that she should be taken out of thy charge, and clad soberly, and disciplined strictly, and instructed in the truths of heaven and earth ?” (The Elf-Child and the Minister 75-76) Hester responds saying “She is my happiness! - she is my torture, nonetheless!
Pearl is a blessing to Hester. Pearl is a blessing in many ways. She is the only reason Hester is still on Earth. After Pearl and Hester leave Governor Bellingham’s mansion, where he wants to take Pearl out of Hester’s care, Hester talks to Mistress Hibbons about the devil. “Wilt thou go with us tonight?
When members of society do not conform, they are often treated differently. Those who are rebels, those who break the rules and do not fit into the status quo, become outcasts to society. These castaways are often avoided, ignored, and disrespected by societal figures. Modern society is easily said to have multiple different expectations for its affiliates, in relation to physical ideals, emotional processes, and intelligence levels. Societies’ essential goals for human life are everywhere; magazines, television, radio, the internet, and even on everyday streets.
This made Hester view her daughter Pearl as evil because she was born out of wedlock and the Puritans of the community made sure Hester knew the shame of Pearl’s origin. This also made Hester a stronger person because she realized that this was a lesson she could teach to Pearl so that she would not repeat what her mother did. When Hester came to this realization, she became a better woman for herself and
Even thus early had the child saved her from Satan’s snare.” This passage further supports the previous evidence, and it suggests that Pearl will continue to save Hester throughout the text. Although some may say that Hester, because she is not very caring, should not be able to keep Pearl, they are mistaken. Because of her crime, Hester is learning many lessons which she can pass on to Pearl. “ ‘this badge hath taught be,it daily teaches me,it is teaching me at this moment,lessons whereof my child may be the wiser and better…”’
Wherever Hester goes, people will know who she is, and what she had done. Hester's punishment was unjust because Hester was sent to prison for committing adultery. Hester was sentenced to wear the scarlet letter "A" for the rest of her life and Hester was forced to stand on the scaffold, so she could be publicly humiliated for her sin. Although,
The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”
The Scarlet Letter written by author Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American novel based on sin and the act of Adultery. This novel is based on the early days of the Massachusetts colony and shows how differently crimes are approached then from now. Hester Prynne commits the unfaithful crime of Adultery and not only does she have to serve for her punishment, but her daughter serves for it as well. Pearl, the symbol of an act of forbidden love and passion has to live with being the reminder of her mother 's misconduct for her entire life. Growing up in a small town with her reputation, it is hard for Pearl to have any kind of normality in her life.
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).