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Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter

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English Scarlet Letter Essay - Caitlin Strout In the seventeenth century the puritan society had many expectations, women were seen as their husband 's property, they were expected to take care of the kids, clean the house and have and innocent persona. The children were expected to act very mature and listen to the adults. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes the novel The Scarlet Letter, that tells the story of about a women named Hester Prynne who lived in a strict puritan society, who was put on trial for commiting and adulterous act with the town minister Arthur Dimmesdale, and as a result from that act Hester had a child, Pearl. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter that will never allow Hester to forget her past nor allow the town to view her the same again. Though the town has isolated her, Hester is not completely alone, she has Pearl, who is meant to bring happiness to Hester. Although Pearl does bring happiness to Hester’s life and keeps her from getting lonely, Pearls purpose in the book is to be a challenge to the normality of the strict puritan society. Pearl helps push through the strict puritan expectation of everyone being innocent, by challenging Dimmesdale to come clean about his past. Arthur Dimmesdale is meant to be the epitome of innocence, he is the town minister and preaches purity. Although Dimmesdale preaches these topics, the town would be shocked to find out that he does not practice what he preaches and he had an affair with Hester Prynne. As a

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