In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, symbolizes the rose bush as Hester's strength, kindness, and forgiveness. The rose bush can illustrate rebellion, as Hester resisted the attempts of the puritan town to keep the people aligned. Hester will then recognize that going against the puritan laws will label her as a rebel and a mistake, but she will never truly be free or be fully redeemed in the eyes of the puritan community.
Throughout the novel Hester tries to redeem herself and her reputation in the community. However, Hester is not only marked in society by the scarlet letter, a representation of her sin, but also by Pearl. Hawthorne’s use of allusion when Pearl is described as “being of a great price” (79), depicts that even though Pearl comes to Hester at a great expense, having to sacrifice her integrity for her, she still considers Pearl as her greatest possion. Although, Pearl is a physical reminder of Hester’s sin, she represents hope just like the rose-bush. Hester will do anything for her child and identifies her as a rebel because not everyone will have the courage to reveal themselves how Hester did; therefore she is being punished for adultery, by glamorizing the letter “A” which offended the
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townspeople. Pearl can be seen like a rose from the rose-bush because she provides hope for those who are blamed; in this case, Pearl was a gift from God, according to Hester. This gift transcended any act of shame she might have done hope for Hester, allowing her to accept her reality and disregard the oppressive remarks society makes about her or thinks about her. Hester’s act of adultery also allowed her to discover her rebellious trait. As she portrays herself being very careless and unconcern of people's thoughts or opinions. How Hawthorne would say, ”she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude to pecially to wear all citizens,” (3). The bit of hope she was holding on to encouraged her confidence to grow, find the strength to not give up and fight on rebuilding her reputation. She entails that Pearl is a reminder of her defiance towards Puritan society. It is this same trait that leads her to commit the adulterous act. Hester also mentions that she is “illuminated by the morning radiance of a child’s disposition” (81), implying that Pearl is what makes her life pleasant; she won’t deny her as part of her true self. Pearl ends up bringing a “sweet moral blossom” for Hester as she gives her a reason to live. Aside from Hester recognizing her defiant side, she takes pride in it and creates her own identity rather than let society define her by her sin.
Hester acknowledges that she and Pearl stand together in the circle of seclusion, she also says that being away from people “had since begun to be soothed away by the softening influences of maternity” (84). Through the influences of maternity, Hester is able to destroy society’s attempt to identify her as an adulteress; she creates a new identity for herself as a maternal figure with the intention to not lose her daughter. As the novel progresses, it is evident that Hester is not only a maternal figure to Pearl, but also to society, as she becomes more compassionate with them despite the town’s
criticism. Hester’s sin, not only motivates her to keep living in spite of the hardship she goes through, but it also allows her to accept qualities about herself that she was unaware of. Hester’s ability to accept her reality, frailty and sins proves to reveal the true identity of Hester Prynne, not as a shameful outcast, but rather as an affectionate mother. Hester recognizes her frailty in Pearl and realizing that she can escape from her passionate nature. Life works in so many ways that even when you think the biggest mistake of your life can’t be undone, god shines a little bit of light in your life giving you a second chance to rebuild yourself and prove that anything is possible.
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.
Hester is a youthful, beautiful, proud woman who has committed an awful sin and a scandal that changes her life in a major way. She commits adultery with a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale, leader of the local Puritan church and Hester’s minister. The adultery committed results in a baby girl named Pearl. This child she clutches to her chest is the proof of her sin. This behavior is unacceptable. Hester is sent to prison and then punished. Hester is the only one who gets punished for this horrendous act, because no one knows who the man is that Hester has this scandalous affair with. Hester’s sin is confessed, and she lives with two constant reminders of that sin: the scarlet letter itself, and Pearl, the child conceived with Dimmesdale. Her punishment is that she must stand upon a scaffold receiving public humiliation for several hours each day, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, represe...
Pearl is first introduced as the young babe clutched to Hester's chest, as she stands before a crowd of puritans beholding her humiliation. Embarrassed of the glaring letter on her chest, Hester thinks to hold little Pearl in front of her scarlet mark; however, she resolves that “one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (P.37). It is here that we see for the first time that Pearl has been reduced to nothing more than a symbol of Hester's sin, synonymous with the scarlet letter. As Pearl grows, so does the obvious nature with which Hawthorne portrays her as the scarlet letter. Throughout the book, we see Pearl dressed in bright clothes,
Throughout the novel, Hawthorn gives many reasons that support both sides of the argument over the affects that both the scarlet letter and Hester have on eachother. Yet, when symbolism depicts the scarlet letter to be Pearl, the argument between Hester and the letter is best epitomized in the following quotation. "In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; and the result was a being, whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder…" (p.62) The quotation, if examined with the thought that "her" refers to the scarlet letter, depicts that although Hester's courage allows the letter to be seen as beautiful, there still remains a shadow of haunting disorder that the letter casts over Hester's life. Hester shapes her life so that it remains in fragile balance with the ominous shadow of the letter.
Although Hester and Pearl are isolated for a while after their punishment (85), the Puritan society’s view of her changes in chapter 13. In chapter 13, Hester is shown to have become a servant of the community, and, rather than scorning her, the community praises her as holy (134). Even the symbol that embodies her punishment, the scarlet letter A, transforms into a symbol of her holiness, being interpreted by the people as meaning “Able” (134). In chapter 24, the story’s conclusion, Hester mentors young women, furthering the idea that she brings redemption from her sin by using her lessons to help others
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).
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.
This, as Arthur Dimmesdale almost prophetically expresses in the early scenes of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, was the role of Pearl, the elfish child borne of his and Hester Prynne's guilty passion. Like Paul's thorn in the flesh, Pearl would bring trouble, heartache, and frustration to Hester, but serve a constructive purpose lying far beyond the daily provocations of her childish impishness. While in many respects a tormentor to Hester, Pearl was also her savior, while a reminder of her guilt, a promoter of honesty and true Virtue; and while an embodiment of Hester's worst qualities, a vision of a better life for Hester and for herself.
Pearl is said to symbolize the result of sin but her character as a child have placed an innocent view of her contribution to the story. As any mother would accept their child she have accepted her “… torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!”(Hawthorne 38). Hester “represent the violation of social contract” (Egan1), because of her simple imperfection of “struggles to meet the social demands.
"On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter 'A'" (51). That one simple letter set into the bodice of a young woman named Hester Prynne, tells a story of heartache, pride, strength and triumph in the book elegantly written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850). Hawthorne's novel provides many types of symbolism. One of such is the symbolism of a red rose bush growing outside the gates of the town prison.
In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is the main character who commits the sin of adultery and bears a child. Most readers pay attention to Hester because of her sinful act and the hardships she endures. Her hardships are very important, but the fact about how her daughter, Pearl, has to go through them with her is also crucial to the story’s plot. Pearl is a very complex and important aspect to the story. Even though her mother committed a sinful act of adultery, Pearl still looks up to her mother with love and grace. Pearl recognizes characters and their significance in her and her mother’s life. There are some points in the story where Pearl is considered a child of the Devil simply because she is the result of a sin. Pearl continuously finds ways to defy the image of being an evil child. Throughout the story, Pearl illustrates an “elf-like” intelligence and a maturity that children do not normally have. Pearl gives her mother the hope she needs to carry on in her life with her head held high and the ability to wear the scarlet letter, “A”, with confidence.
The Use of Symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a few key symbols to represent major themes in the book. The most obvious and well known, as it is in the title, is the scarlet letter Hester is forced to wear. Three other symbols are the scaffold, the sun, and the forest. To begin with, the most important and influential symbol in the entire book is the infamous scarlet letter, hence the title, The Scarlet Letter. In the second chapter, Hester walks out of the prison, wearing the infamous scarlet letter ‘A’.
In the beginning of the book, Hawthorne paints the picture of a female named Hester who has sinned. Not only is she publicly ostracized for having an affair while unmarried, but her major repercussion, her daughter, receives her punishment as well because she derives directly from sin. It is through these tribulations that Hawthorne exemplifies Hester and Pearl, no matter how young, as strong, independent females. These characteristics were not easily applied to females during this time. Hawthorne’s ability to show Hester collected and under control to the crowd, although she may have felt otherwise inside, while she exits the prison and while she is on the scaffold, exhibits her as a strong woman. The fact that Hester exits the prison “by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will”, and the fact that while on the scaffold, under pressure, Hester refuses to give the name of the father of her child, also proves her strength and compassion. She states, “Never!....It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, many of the characters suffer from the tolls of sin, but none as horribly as Hester's daughter Pearl. She alone suffers from sin that is not hers, but rather that of her mother's. From the day she is conceived, Pearl is portrayed as an offspring of vice. She is introduced into the discerning, pitiless domain of the Puritan religion from inside a jail; a place untouched by light, as is the depth of her mother's sin. The austere Puritan ways punish Hester through banishment from the community and the church, simultaneously punishing Pearl in the process. This isolation leads to an unspoken detachment and animosity between her and the other Puritan children. Thus we see how Pearl is conceived through sin, and how she suffers when her mother and the community situate this deed upon her like the scarlet letter on her mother's bosom.
Through the majority of the novel, Hester faces the hardships resulting from the scarlet letter. The first challenge is stepping onto the scaffold with her child, Pearl. This humiliation is only the beginning of the torment to come. Hawthorne exaggerates the cynical crowd and how, “...that SCARLET LETTER...taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself” (46). Hester’s ostracism can be correlated with the father and son from The Road. Both entities were isolated from the rest of society. “On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world” (51). Different circumstances will differentiate the two, but they faced similar situations; no one was there to assist them. In Hester’s case, the seclusion only begins with disapproving glances and constant gossip. She begins her journey with this scarlet letter symbolically referencing to adultery. Hester creates the best of the sign and the letter was, “...surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread...It was so artistically done…” (46). Hester counters the punishment and creates something beautiful. This idea is also relevant to the birth of Pearl. She was born due to a sin, but is recognized as a beautiful child. Still, Hester has many other obstacles, in the form of