Analysis Of Hester Prynne's Scarlet Letter

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Katelyn Barnes Tom Kellerman Bell: 3 2 October 2015 In the beginning of the novel, Hester Prynne exits the prison of the Puritan community of Boston, a large letter “A” clearly visible on her chest and a child in her arms. This is the first time the letter makes an appearance, and it is here where readers realize Hester has done something terribly wrong. The letter “A” sewn onto her clothes initially represents “adulterer”, but who exactly is the father of Pearl, the child Hester is holding, if her husband has been missing for two years? The townspeople would love to know the answer to that question, too, but it is only revealed to readers a few chapters into the story as being the unexpected Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale faces an …show more content…

Here it seems that the letter “A” on Dimmesdale’s chest may have different meanings to the people of Boston, because some saw it as a result of Chillingworth’s own anger towards Dimmesdale. The readers do not know if the letter is truly on Dimmesdale’s chest, and there are many accounts that report different explanations for its appearance there. While some people believe it represents Chillingworth’s revenge, there is also another theory in which Dimmesdale’s guilt is so strong that it eats away at him, and Heaven itself displayed the letter on his chest: “the awful symbol was the effect of the ever active tooth of remorse, gnawing from the inmost heart outwardly, and at last manifesting Heaven’s dreadful judgment by the visible presence of the letter” (211). In this theory, the letter represents Dimmesdale’s guilt once again, but readers never get a clear answer on what exactly the “A”

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