Triads In The Scarlet Letter

Triads of Characters and Theme Author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter with a handful of characters and symbolic objects that truly influence the theme of this novel. Many important pairings and triads are involved through Chapter 8 of his novel, but perhaps the most important of the inventory of well connected triads is the one which relates to the theme of the novel. The triad of Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Pearl best helps the reader comprehend Hawthorne’s theme of sin. Hester Prynne, being the main character of the novel and having the punishment of wearing the scarlet letter A on her bosom, was convicted of adultery after she had conceived a little girl. Hester was originally sent to Boston and was supposed to wait for her husband to finish up affairs in Europe, but instead had an affair with none other than Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the highest figures in the

She was an outcast to society and would never be accepted because she was considered the child of sin. Hawthorne says, “...whose place was on that same dishonored bosom,...” (Ch 6, 77), this shows that not only is the scarlet letter symbolic to the adultery, but Pearl is also a lasting symbol of Hester’s sin. Chapter 6, Pearl, is entirely dedicated to the child and it is in this chapter the Pearl states, “ “He did not send me!” cried she positively. “I have no Heavenly Father!” (Ch 6, 85). It is as if Pearl not only knows that her father had sinned, yet this makes it seem like she is not even human. If she says that she does not have a Heavenly Father then who exactly is her father? She could possibly have figured out who her actual father was, however considering that the Reverend had sinned, Pearl meant that she was the offspring of not a father from Heaven but a father from Hell. This being considered, Pearl cannot help but to sin because she simply is the symbol of