Nathaniel Hawthorne creates thrilling stories through his creative and deliberate use of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter, Young Goodman Brown, and The Minister’s Black Veil. His stories are built on the reader’s interpretation of the characters and objects individually and uniquely. All components of his writing help construct a profound plot with complex characters and messages. Hawthorne is able to build The Scarlet Letter into more than just a story of a woman shamed for adultery. Young Goodman Brown serves as an example of Puritan society and the effects of going off the path. The Minister’s Black Veil provides a new perspective on the deep guilt of living in secret sin.
Physical symbolism has a tendency to be among the more obvious ways
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that writers can directly express the events or feelings in a story. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter “A” on Hester to represent her sin of adultery. In the Puritan society, the letter symbolizes a mark of punishment for the sin she committed. The letter is forced upon her when Hester’s sin of adultery is revealed in her pregnancy with her daughter, Pearl. Since the Puritan community needs to make her sin apparent to anyone who crosses paths with her, her scarlet letter must be visible at all times and cannot be taken off. Every time Hester glances at herself in the mirror, she is reminded of the sin she committed against God and the loneliness she feels due to the isolation from society. The letter “A” makes an appearance on the chest of Reverend Dimmesdale. Although it is not visible to society as Hester’s letter is, he engraves it on himself. His actions are motivated by his guilt that he cannot express or expose. Hester and Dimmesdale committed their sin with each other, but the guilt cumultates in Dimmesdale for the sake of his inability to confess. When Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, sees the letter on his wife, he is reminded of the sin committed against him. The letter representation instigates him to seek revenge on her sinful partner, Dimmesdale. The “A” becomes difficult for Hester to explain to her young daughter Pearl. Pearl questions the sewn letter on her mother’s chest and cannot understand the implications and isolation they face. Hawthorne uses Pearl as a living, breathing symbol that develops and changes as the story progresses. Since Pearl is born as the sin of Hester’s adultery, she begins by representing the consequences of Hester’s actions and the end of Hester’s respect from the community.
When Hester becomes pregnant with Pearl, she makes the decision to name her Pearl. The name Pearl is significant since Hester says “Pearl as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother’s only treasure.”(Hawthorne 61) Hester lost everything for the sake of Pearl on the grounds of her sin. Hester could see the scarlet letter in the mirror, her daughter every day, and questions regarding the letter from her daughter. As if Hester needed another physical indication of her mistake, Hawthorne creates Pearl’s character for a purpose. When Pearl is younger, Hester unknowingly places her sin on Pearl since she came from an adulterous companionship. Hester’s reluctance to reveal the father of Pearl is confusing for Pearl because she is a “gift from God” so why can the father not be known. Hester struggles with Pearl because of her isolation from society and her sin being visible to her every single day. Hester can escape and hide from the Puritan community, but she cannot hide from her daughter. Pearl was a burden to Hester in the beginning and it made it difficult for Hester to find …show more content…
joy. As the story progresses, Hester realizes the blessing that Pearl has been to her.
Without Pearl, Hester would have taken on her struggles alone and she probably would not have stayed positive and determined without the motivation of her daughter. While the scarlet letter “A” was meant to be the constant reminder of Hester’s sin, Pearl was the real symbol. If Hester had not been pregnant with Pearl, her sin of adultery never would have been known. Hester would have lived with her sin and having Pearl allowed her live her life out differently and learn because of the struggles she faced. Pearl become a physical embodiment of God’s grace to turn sin positively for lessons learned and hope for the future. “The instruction and training of children were considered heavy responsibilities, and parents prayed that children would become a source of glory to their Lord.” (Cutis) Although the people of the community were waiting for Hester to fail in her raising of Pearl, she took care and comfort in the knowledge she bestowed in Pearl .Hester has worked diligently to gain respect in the Puritan community so “A” is represented in the word “able”. Another event with “A” was after Governor Winthrop’s death. The letter appeared in the sky to represent the word “angel” which signifies the ever changing meaning of Hawthorne's
symbols. Hawthorne adopts the use of places as significant symbols in his stories. In all of the stories mentioned, Hawthorne employs the forest as a compelling indication of lessons to be learned. The forest is a place that is feared due to connotation associated with the witches and the Black Man. People are taken by the devil as a result of entering. A place of darkness, mystery, and evil where good people should never go. In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl cannot see the evil and despair in the forest. She plays and runs around without a care in the world. She plays with the animals and observes and picks up beautiful flowers. When Hester is in the forest, she is able to let her guard down by letting her hair down and becoming her real self. She feels this is a place where the Puritan community’s rules do not apply and people can express themselves freely. Hester meets Dimmesdale here for their meeting about leaving town together and never looking back. These events attribute to the idea of foolishness and naive coming from deviating from Puritan ideals. When Goodman Brown enters the forest, he is searching for more than his life has to offer him. He is curious in seeking wisdom and the unknown in the journey into the forest. He knows that the forest is the place where the devil lives and the journey into sin and evil begins. When Goodman Brown enters the forest, he meets a man with a staff. Hawthorne describes the staff with great detail and attention to be symbolic. The man’s staff mirrors the black serpent twisted like a real snake. The staff conveys man’s innate nature to sin which connects to the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve’s temptation. Adam and Eve are tempted in the Garden of Eden by a serpent to eat special fruit from the tree of knowledge.Goodman Brown wandered into the forest which was forbidden in the Puritan community. He was curious and wanted the adventure but in turn, he sinned for the reason of gaining knowledge just like Adam and Eve. Hawthorne uses Goodman Brown wife Faith’s pink ribbons to serve as a meaningful figure. On their own, the ribbons are described as delicate and cheerful. The color of the ribbons is connected to the ideas of innocence and youth. Faith places pink ribbons “in her cap which portrays her purity” (Prezi?) When Goodman Brown is in the forest and begins believing everyone is evil, the pink ribbons appear. The thin, delicacy shows how superficial faith can be. Faith can be apparent when the innocence of life is all a person can see. When exposed to the sinfulness of the world, it begins to become difficult to have faith in something so naive. Another use of thin, delicate object is Hawthorne’s symbolism in The Minister’s Black Veil. The material and thinness of the veil is a symbol in itself of how superficial the Puritan society is. It appears as though everyone is righteous and without sin while that disguise is only skin deep and everyone in the community is struggling.Hooper wears the veil as a personal symbol of his hidden sin. Hooper wearing the veil goes against Puritan tradition which outrages the Puritan community who are immune to their own secluded rules. Internal conflict with himself causes him to wear the veil because of the guilt he feels inside. “ People who sin may know in their conscience they are sinning but pretend at least for that moment that they are not sinning or are unseen.”(Brady) It becomes a barrier between Hooper and his wife because when asked to lift it, he refuses. As a result of his refusal, Hooper’s wife leaves him. If the guilt of his hidden sins is removed, he would be able to lift his veil. Although the community speaks behind Hooper’s back, they fail to confront him personally on why he wears the veil. The community focuses on why he is wearing the veil to put attention somewhere else because of their own secret sins. When he is on his deathbed, he states that he cannot be called a monster for wearing the veil until everyone no longer has secret sin. Besides the veil being a physical symbol, Hooper has a significant representation of his guilt on his face. He has a sad smile that represents his guilt of not telling his congregation the reason he wears the veil. His smile is an indication that he realizes he should’ve told his congregation so they could understand. He lost his chance to tell them and now he smiles to help himself bear the weight of the guilt. The guilt follows Hawthorne’s characters until they confess to their sins and live out the struggle. A few of his characters display their sin for the public like on the scaffold. In the Puritan community, the scaffold is used as a place for sinful people to openly accept their punishment. It serves as a warning for others of the consequences of sinful behaviors. Hester is forced to stand on the scaffold with her daughter Pearl for the community to judge. Dimmesdale sees this place and acknowledges that he must go there in order to be saved from the devil. Hester finds him on the scaffold late at night which brings up the significance of the time of day that events occur in Hawthorne’s stories. Acts carried out during the day is what people want to portray to the world. Acts carried out during the night is what people are concealing away from the people of their community. Hawthorne uses the different forms of symbolism because “it acts as webbing between theme and story. Themes alone can sound preachy, and stories alone can sound shallow.”(Why You Should) He encompasses all the aspects of life from the time of the Puritans and life lessons into his short stories and novels.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter and the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates romantic elements, such as beauty, truth, innocence, and sin, in his criticism of Puritan societies. In both texts, Hawthorne argues that all people, even those in strictly religious societies with corrupted standards, are capable of sin. Hawthorne uses symbolism and light and dark imagery to convey his argument.
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.
Beginning with the very first words of The Scarlet Letter the reader is thrust into a bleak and unforgiving setting. “A thong of bearded men, in sad-colored garments,” that are said to be “intermixed with women,” come off as overpowering and all-encompassing; Hawthorne quickly and clearly establishes who will be holding the power in this story: the males (Hawthorne 45). And he goes even further with his use of imagery, painting an even more vivid picture in the reader’s mind. One imagines a sea of drab grays and browns, further reinforcing the unwelcoming feeling this atmosphere seems to inheren...
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,
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.
Hawthorne’s Romantic writing ability allures his readers into deep thought of the transforming characters creating himself as a phenomenon. His ability to transform Puritan society in a dark world “attracts readers not only for their storytelling qualities, but also for the moral and theological ambiguities Hawthorne presents so well” (Korb 303). In “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Romantic characteristics such as artificiality of the city, escape from reality, and the value of imagination.
Although Pearl is looked at as the result of Hester’s sin, she is a blessing to her mother as well. Her name, “Pearl,” is fitting because of what she means to Hester. For instance “Hester names her”Pearl” because she has come to great price, and Hester believed that Pearl is her only reason for living,” (Johnson: Understanding The Scarlet Letter pg.1). Pearl motivates her mother to keep on going when she is tempted to give up. In the novel, Mistress Hibbins asks Hester to join her in a witches gathering, but she declines saying if she had lost Pearl, she would have gone.
Hawthorne uses Pearl to work on the consciences of both her mother Hester and her father Arthur Dimmesdale. He uses her to work on Hester’s conscience throughout the novel by little comments made or actions taken by Pearl that appear to be mean or spiteful towards her mother. For example, Pearl laughs and points at her mother’s scarlet letter as if making fun of it or to make Hester feel bad about it. Hawthorne also uses Pearl’s perceptiveness to point out very straight forwardly, her mother’s sin of adultery. Pearl has almost a supernatural sense, that comes from her youth and freewill for seeing things as they really are and pointing them out to her mother. Pearl is a living version of her mother's scarlet letter. She is the consequence of sin and an everyday reminder to her through her actions and being.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel with much symbolism. Throughout the novel several characters represent other ideas. One of the most complex and misunderstood characters in the novel is Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne. Pearl, throughout the story, develops into a dynamic symbol – one that is always changing. Although Pearl changes, she always symbolizes evil. Pearl symbolizes evil in the story by representing God’s punishment of Hester’s sin, symbolizing the guilt and the scarlet letter that controls her behavior, and defying Puritan laws by being cheerful and associating with nature. Pearl represents God’s punishment by her mocking and nagging of Hester. Throughout the novel she sometimes seemed to her mother as almost a witch baby (Matthiessen 104). She is a baffling mixture of strong emotions with a fierce temper and a capacity for evil. With Pearl, Hester’s life became one of constant nagging, and no joy. The child could not be made amenable to rules. Hester even remarks to herself, “Oh Father in heaven – if thou art still my father – what is this being which I have brought into the world” (Hawthorne 89)? Pearl would harass her mother Piyasena/Pine 2
Pearl plays as a mirror of Hester and of her guilt and sin. She is almost like another scarlet letter. She shows Hester’s outer guilt and shame. When people look at Pearl they are reminded of Hester’s sin. Just as the book describes the scarlet letter to be beautiful and immaculate, Hester dresses Pearl in the same way. She dresses her with fancy and extrinsic dresses. It would seem as if Hester is trying to cover up her sin a shame with something else. She tries to have people look at Pearl as a beautiful, living, genuine girl, rather than a mistake brought on by a sin. Pearl also acts a mirror to Hester herself. Just as Hester, Pearl is beautiful, determined, confident, and, most importantly, passionate. Pearl seems to be the part of Hester that she was before she was punished. The part of her that left with her purity, to be replaced with the guilt of her sin. “But she named the infant ‘Pearl,’ as being of great price,-purchased with all she had-her mother’s only treasure.” (pg. 81) This line describe why Pearl received her name. Hester named her Pearl because she saw her to have great value. Pearl was Hester’s greatest thing she owned. Pearl was as expensive as taking away Hester’s old passion, so Hester found her happiness in Pearl. Her d...
Throughout Hawthorne’s story, Pearl’s association with her mother, Hester, strengthens her significance in the society. Her dealings with her own mother continue to evolve into more and more interesting interactions. For example when Hester and Pearl are in conversation in the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester slowly begins to see more into her own daughters unique observations. Apparently Pearl, still a young child, can identify Hester’s significant relationship between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Pearl exclaims “I Have No Heavenly Father” (Hawthorne VI), in response to Hester and her conversation regarding Pearl’s very origin. Pearl constantly reminds Hester of her sin but at the same time Pearl also brings Hester joy which shows Hester’s new thinking of how no one can be purely evil. The society looks upon Pearl’s intuitivenes...
To Hawthorne there are many problems in Puritan society. He exposes their transgressions of secret sin and hypocrisy. Hawthorne was haunted by his Puritan past, as he saw all the sins and immoral acts that the society committed. He expresses that everyone sins, no matter how holy or pious they may appear. Hawthorne points out their unrighteousness despite the Puritans claim to be pious. He sees no benefits in being involved in the society. Hawthorne expresses his negative views on Puritanism through his three works, "Young Goodman Brown," "The Ministers Black Veil," and The Scarlet Letter.
Pearl, while an extremely pure at heart child, came into existence as the result of Hester's impure and sinful act of adultery. Therefore, Hawthorne uses Pearl to depict the conflict sin versus purity. Pearl, on one hand, is the picture of innocence and purity. She is almost a part of nature, playing and finding company in the wild things of the woods. She also provides the only joy for Hester, while they live in isolation. Very perceptive, perhaps more so than her mother and other adults, Pearl asks innocent questions about the world around her, concerning herself especially with the scarlet letter on her mother's bosom and her father. Pearl, while very innocent and pure at heart is also a living reminder of Hester's adultery and sin.
Hester committed a sin and unlike most people, she accepts her sin. She has a daughter that resulted from the sin. She named her daughter Pearl because she is her everything, and Pearl means the finest example of something. Hester shows