Pearl uses her mischievousness and utter curiosity to gain clues, or to depict other characters. Without Pearl’s opinion, Arthur Dimmesdale probably would not have agreed to confess his sin along with Hester. Pearl is never, throughout the entire novel, afraid to “spit it out”. Her mother constantly tries to shush her little girl due to her becoming embarrassed by her daughter’s random outbursts. Using her “fiendish” techniques, Pearl realizes the identity of her father fairly early in The Scarlet Letter which utilizes Dimmesdale to hear from Pearl to “take her and her mother’s hand” (Hawthorne 139,
The Puritan community outcasted Hester and Pearl. 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
Without the adultery between Hester and Dimmesdale, Pearl would not have ever been born and the story would not have ended or turned out the way it did in the end. Pearl had a big role. She was known by some as a demon child and by some others, a gift from the man above. Pearl finally became fully human once Dimmesdale admitted to his act of adultery and in the end he
When Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale meet in the woods, Hester attempts to rid her own life of the A by tearing it off. Pearl perceives this act as Hester trying to get rid of her only daughter. Pearl does not accept her mother’s abandonment and demands Hester to put the letter back on her chest. Because Hester’s letter remains on her chest, Pearl will always dwell in her mother’s life. When Hester finally places the A
Rossi1 Matthew Rossi Asha Appel English 4 11/15/14 Growing up Through the Actions of Others In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Pearl changes when different characters thoughts and believes are portrayed through voice or objects. This leads her to be very malleable to and be ever evolving. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale now play a key role in shaping Pearl from a product of sin into a god like child. Different characters affect Pearl because they allow her to see herself from different points of view. This allows pearl to change and adapt herself to fit in different scenes and parts of the story.
In that moment Chillingworth swears revenge, but not towards Hester, since he thinks that the scarlet letter and Pearl is punishment enough and that she has received what she deserves. Chillingworth wants revenge towards Hester´s lover and he won´t rest until he finds him. Roger tells Hester not to tell anyone that he is her husband, he doesn´t want people to know that Hester is his wife because people would think of him as the betrayed husband and he would live in shame. Chillingworth pretends to be a doctor, that way he won´t drag too much attention since the town is small and the people living in it don´t have access to good
Though as much as she wants to question Pearl being her daughter, she realize that Pearl is a living reminder of her “sin” she has committed. In the novel “the talk of the neighboring townspeople...had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring...ever since old Catholic times…
For as long as humans have existed, they have had struggles with happiness. The Scarlet Letter outlines one common human struggle with happiness. This passage from the Scarlet Letter takes place in the forest after Hester has gone to tell Dimmesdale, her former lover, about Chillingworth, her ex-husband. Chillingworth has been torturing Dimmesdale for the past 7 years, in order to punish him for committing adultery with Hester, Chillingworth’s wife. Hester did not tell Dimmesdale about this fact and at first he does not forgive her for not disclosing the truth.
Hester Prynne is the beautiful protagonist; she is married to Roger Chillingworth, an elderly scholar. Hester sailed to the colonies while Chillingworth was stayed in England to continue studying. While living alone, Hester had an affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and as a result Pearl was born. The entire colony knows of the sin that Hester committed but do not know that Dimmesdale is involved. Hester is publicly humiliated alone on the scaffold as punishment and is treated very poorly.
She cannot be defined by just one label, but both. She is a mother to Pearl, who is a child born from adultery. She is a caregiver, seamstress, a lover, and a counselor, but the Puritanical society Hester lives in constantly reminds her that she is just a whore. By subscribing to this label, Hester loses her identity in a way. The effect of being an outsider due to the letter causes her to become a shell of her former self.