Isolation is bad(Haven’t found a quote yet” This concept is especially true in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, isolation is thoroughly utilized, in order to portray the lingering physical, social, and emotional consequences of a poor decision. While not the most commonly mentioned, the most glaringly apparent portrayal of physical isolation in the novel details the proximity of Hester 's house in relation to the center to town. Very shortly after her release from confinement, Hester relocates her quarters to a small house on the outskirts of town. This is a house that was abandoned due to poor soil for farming. Hester moves here with her daughter Pearl. Hester was pressured to move here due to a very hostile and judgemental …show more content…
Without Pearl, Hester had no one. The only slight respite from the resounding solitude Hester had was found in her daughter Pearl. She was the only person who prevented Hester’s isolation from becoming absolute. Towards the end of the novel, even this haven was taken from Hester, albeit briefly. Hester removed the A from her bosom and Pearls reaction was eye opening to Hester. Pearl had fits when she saw her mother without the always-present scarlet letter. Hester was unable to calm the child or make her obey. Finally, when Hester decided to adorn the malevolent letter once again, Pearl declares, “Now thou art my mother indeed!” (Hawthorne 208) This is very eye-opening for Hester. It is this experience that forces her to accept the fact that she is defined by the crimson letter. Without the A, Hester has no one, not even her own daughter. During this encounter, Hester becomes truly alone. She is isolated from society to such an extent that there is not one person who will accept her without the A. She has no identity associated with her without the acceptance of her sin. Her own daughter, to be with her physically, yet not accept her on a deeper lever is a great display of her social
There is nothing more pliable than the mind of a child, and because of the world that she lives in, Pearl has been forced into the deeper understanding of what eternally plasters her mother’s chest; this is even in infancy. “One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant’s eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her face the look of a much older child” (Hawthorne 79-80). Though it terrifies Hester, the fact that Pearl is able to identify that the letter exists is only the gateway to the growth of her knowledge of it. This comes into effect more prominently in the following years when she finally begins to comprehend the scarlet letter’s importance. Pearl realizes that because her mother wears the letter, people treat her differently. She does not know why or how, but she knows that it is not right. One person in particular who treats Hester differently is Dimmesdale. Though at the time she does not know her father, Pearl understands that the scarlet letter controls his life just as much as it does Hester’s, but he is not treated differently. Even so, her innocence takes over and questions why he does not have the same burden as Hester. A quote on page 127 can support this: “Pearl
Pearl is a symbol of Hester’s transgressions and even has similar qualities as the sin which she represents. Pearl’s life and behavior directly reflects the unacceptable and abnormal nature of Hester’s adulterous sin. Hester is plagued with more than just a letter “A”; she is given a child from her affair who is just as much a reminder of her sin as the scarlet letter. Ultimately Hester overcomes the shame associated the scarlet letter and creates a sense of family for herself and Pearl. This relationship is integral to the theme of this novel and the development of its characters.
To Hester, the world is beginning to revolve around the letter that perches on her bosom. Even when she designs clothes for Pearl, she mends a dress with “…a crimson velvet tunic of a peculiar cut…” (102) and adorns it “with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread.” (102). Hester begins to project the image of her sin onto Pearl, drawing a connection between the two. The townspeople do not see Hester for herself, but for the letter residing on her chest. When Hester and Pearl walk by the Puritan boys, they scream “…there is the woman of the scarlet letter…” (103). Also, when Hester looks into the armor, the scarlet letter and Pearl – who resembles the letter – are contorted. They appear bigger, as to overshadow
Hester is affected by isolation physically and emotionally. For example, in the book Hawthorn describes Hester and Peal in the woods in two very different ways, Pearl seems to catch the sunlight and it seems to dance around her but Hester when she nears the light it seems to run away from her. This shows that she has lost her beauty by being isolated and not taking care of herself. This is because she is isolated and seems to not care about anything but taking care of Pearl and not about herself. Hester was not only isolated but alienated as well because she would not reveal who the father of her child was. As a result she would pay for the si...
Isolation can be a somber subject. Whether it be self-inflicted or from the hands of others, isolation can be the make or break for anyone. In simpler terms, isolation could range anywhere from not fitting into being a complete outcast due to personal, physical, or environmental factors. It is not only introverted personalities or depression that can bring upon isolation. Extroverts and active individuals can develop it, but they tend to hide it around crowds of other people. In “Richard Cory,” “Miniver Cheevy,” The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “Not Waving but Drowning,” E.A. Robinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Stevie Smith illustrate the diverse themes of isolation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter has a very wide cast of characters, but settles upon three distinct main ones. These three characters are all very different, but still suffer from the same internal conflict regarding their relationships with one another. One theme can be associated with each individual character, but a single trait is common among all three. Love, fear, and revenge are all primary themes present in The Scarlet Letter, but no other emotion is as prevalent to the characters’ developments than their guilt. These themes give us a sense of how different, but also how similar, these characters are.
the penalty of sin in The Scarlet Letter is not a termination of life, the evil
Pearl is Hester’s human form of her scarlet letter; both she and the scarlet letter constantly remind Hester of her sin of adultery. Pearl is the result of Hester’s adultery; therefore she has a strong connection with the scarlet letter. As a young girl, Pearl had always had a fascination and obsession with her mother’s scarlet letter. For example “In the forest scene when Hester takes off the Scarlet letter, Pearl becomes frantically disturbed and won’t quiet down until Hester has it back on her dress, as if by discarding the letter Hester has discarded Pearl,” (Johnson: A Literary Analysis of The Scarlet Letter, pg.1). The scarlet letter is a part of Hester, as is Pearl, if Hester removes the letter, she also disowns Pearl. The only way Pearl recognize her mother is when she has the letter on. Hester dresses Pearl in red so she can represent her scarlet letter. In the chapter, “The Governor’s Hall,” Pearl was described; “The child’s whole appearance reminded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom. It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!” (The Scarlet Letter, pg. 103 Johnson: Understanding The Scarlet Letter pg.1).
Hester throughout the Scarlet Letter has a variety of reactions to sin. At first the community shames and alienates Hester, this enables Hester to become a freethinker. Her loneliness lets her often ponder and question many aspects of the community. However, later in the story, Hester becomes a compassionate and maternal figure. She makes sure her choices won’t get Pearl taken away from her. When Hester makes decisions, she puts Pearl into consideration and this shows the readers Hester’s maternal figure come forth. Hester also shows a maternal figure towards her community. She does a lot of charity work by bringing food and clothes for the poor. Hester throughout the book feels guilty and gets used to blaming herself. For example, when Hesters sees Chillingworth she blames herself for causing Chillingsworth for becoming an evil man. Hester before she sinned with Dimmesdale had traces of compassion, defiance, and honesty but the scarlet letter brings it out in a greater extent. Hester ends up agreeing to run away with Dimmesdale and start a new life. However, things don't work out the way they expected and Hester leaves Boston for a short time but comes back and is seen as a bold figure in the community.Towards the end of the seven year time period, the women ignore her sin and comes to her for shelter against many inequalities they face. The scarlet letter’s meanin...
Alienation means being isolated from a group or society. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter Hester is really alienated from her society and culture and gets treated different than everyone else. In the puritan community they punish everyone harshly and different than anyone else. The sin of one individual is also considered to be the sin of everyone else. They all are isolated because of some shame that have been through.
“Measured by the prisoner's experience, however, it might reckoned a journey of some length; for, haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon.” (Hawthorne 38) Very early in this novel we can see that one of the main themes is going to be isolation. This quote summed up, basically says that everyone in the town has turned up to shame her, her being Hester Prynne, publicly and that she is surrounded and totally alone, isolated. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of this book has a bad history with the Puritan belief and writes against, and makes fun of it constantly in his works. He does this
In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester is isolated from society, because she committed adultery, put simply. This occurred after she married Roger Chillingworth, and he sent her to America, saying that he would follow shortly after. However, after waiting for two years, she had an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister in Boston, and soon after, gave birth to Pearl. Because she had an affair while waiting for her husband to arrive, who was assumed to be lost at sea, but really captured by Native Americans, she was charged with adultery. What made this situation worse,
As a living reminder of Hester’s extreme sin, Pearl is her constant companion. From the beginning Pearl has always been considered as an evil child. For Hester to take care of such a demanding child, put lots of stress onto her life. Hester at times was in a state of uncontrollable pressure. “Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan, ‘O Father in heaven- if Thou art still my Father- what is this being which I have brought into the world!’” (Hawthorne, 77).
A symbol is an object used to stand for something else. Symbolism has a hidden meaning lying within it; these meanings unite to form a more detailed theme. Symbolism is widely used in The Scarlet Letter to help the reader better understand the deep meanings Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays throughout his novel. He shows that sin, known or unknown to the community, isolates a person from their community and from God. Hawthorne also shows this by symbols in nature around the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.
Initially Pearl is the symbol of Hesters public punishment for her adultery. As the novel progresses and Pearl matures she symbolizes the deteriation of Hester's like by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter "A". Pearl in a sense wants her mother to live up to her sin and, she achieves this by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter. Another peice of evidence that shows how Pearl symbolizes the sin Hester has committed, is when the town government wants to take Pearl away from her Revrend Dimmsdale convinces the government that Pearl is a living reminder of her sin. This is essentialy true, Hester without Pearl is like having Hester without sin.