The Scarlet Letter

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Recommended: critical analysis of scarlet letter

At first, the Scarlet Letter placed on Hester's dress was meant to show shame or dishonor. But now, represents the outcome of Hester and Dimmesdale's sin. The judgment caused by the Scarlet Letter results in how she looks at society and how society looks at Hester. Pearl is not an ordinary character, she is an intriguing symbol. A symbol is something that stands for, or represents something else. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester gives her daughter the name Pearl because she is worth a lot to her, a great price, as she hopes for the good to come out of her committed adultery. To Hester she is all that matters in her life; to everyone else she is the unsolved mystery that is keeping the criminal in Hester alive. Pearl becomes the answer to the question Hawthorne poses through Hester. Peal bridges the gap between society and nature.

The scarlet letter resembles a part of her mother in the eyes of Pearl. Pearl has never seen her without it, so to her it feels as if a piece is missing if Hester tries to take it off. When Hester attempts to take it off, Pearl became very upset. Pearl is the living embodiment of the Scarlet Letter. If the "A" is not attached to Hester, Pearl feels separation from her mom. Hester is always carefully dressing Pearl to bear a resemblance to the letter showing her acceptance. Pearl is always there to remind her mother of the crime she in some ways regrets. The Scarlet Letter is on the chest of Hester to keep her and Pearl together. "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 at it, smiling, not doubtfully, but with a dec...

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...l Hawthorne comes to a close. Through the whole novel the reader is on a journey with Pearl to see what she has caused and what she has become by the end of the story. He successfully used a symbol significantly to help with understanding of the novel. In this case, he used characters to assist the readers. He uses one character as in Pearl in particular to be the consequence of everything to take place. "A new grave was delved, near an old and sunken one, in that burial-ground beside which King's Chapel has since been built. It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both."

Works Cited

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/section7.rhtml

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/study.html

wendylscott.wikispaces.com/file/view/Pearl+and+Dimmesdale.do

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