symbolism: A

In the novel the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is punished for sinfully committing adultery. She has to wear a scarlet letter everyday to punish her. At first everyone frowns upon her and she has to deal with all the disdainful looks towards her. They feel like she does not have a large enough punishment. The townspeople feel the “A” should be branded on her forehead. She is isolated for seven years. Her only hint of another person being around her is pearl. She is literally alone with nobody. She has punishment all in herself. Towards the end of the novel the scarlet letter becomes a sign of forgiveness. It also acts as a code of honor. It symbolizes all her charitable work in the past seven years. The once infamous scarlet letter is now a sign of her great doings. The People introduce her as “our Hester”. They see her as new again and they respect her once more. “"Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?" they would say to strangers.”It is our Hester, —the town's own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!"” This is when they are introducing her to new people and visitors. Though they forgive her, Hester does not. “The days of the far-off future would toil onward, still with the same burden for her to take up, and bear along with her, but never to fling down; for the accumulating days, and added years, would pile up their misery upon the heap of shame.” She will always have that shame within her.

SIN.

Sin is inevitable. It is in everyone. It is in every character in The Scarlett Letter. Hester, Pearl, Dimmsdale, and Chillingworth are all guilty of sin. Hester and Dimmsdale are guilty in the fact that they both committed adultery. Hester is hated and Dimmsdale goes virtually unknown. He got it easy. He only has to deal with the punishment and guilt he has thrown upon himself while Hester has to deal with public and private punishment. She has to wear the A and she punishes herself. She lives in isolation with only one person who does not look at her with a face of disapproval. That one person is another sign of her own sin. The baby is a gift from god and a punishment. She is all she has. “… a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion. How strange it seemed to the sad woman, as she watched the growth, and the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of his child! Her Pearl!”(Hawthorne, 82) Pearl may not be directly guilty of a sin, but she is the result of one. Also, she throws rocks at birds and disrespects people while going against society like her mother. Like I said, sin is inevitable. She will have her sins in life too. Dimmsdale is also a sinner. He is the master Dimmsdale. He is the Pasteur, a church leader. He is part of the ministry. He does wrong by committing adultery and by lying to his peoples. He is one of the biggest sinners in the novel. Oh right, Chillingworth. To me, he is the biggest sinner of them all. He is Hester’s husband. He hides that from the whole town to avoid shame. Along with that he leaves Hester to rot alone while society strips her of any difference she once had. He Leaves his wife to die. Not literally but you know, shes dying inside. That beautiful, elegant, luscious person is just a thing of the past. “She who has once been a woman, and ceased to be so, might at any moment become a woman again, if there were only the magic touch to effect the transfiguration”(Hawthorne, 148) Hester is both a sinner and a saint.

Pearl and Her Name.

Pearl is both a symbol and a character because she represents Hester's sin and she also represents gods love and forgiveness, Along with the good of the whole affair. Hester’s thing with Reverend Master Dimmsdale is seen as a horrible and shameful thing by the judges and townspeople. They give her mean looks and they barley give her the time of day. Her, the letter, and pearl are all reminder to her and the town of her wrong doing. “One token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another. (Hawthorne, 46)” Here she is walking in front of all the people holding pearl tight to her chest. It is kind of ironic because she is doing it out of affection and to try and cover the letter but pearl also proves Hester has done wrong. God has given her a child. Society is contradicting god in the way that it is trying to take away her child by following rules and conformity. If god is rewarding her with a precious beautiful baby, is it possible that this event is not a sin? Pearl is a precious thing to Hester. She is all she got and at the same time she is all her “troubles” but that does not matter to Hester because she doesn’t feel she has done wrong. “But sometimes, once in many days, or perchance in many months, she felt an eye—a human eye—upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half of her agony were shared. The next instant, back it all rushed again, with still a deeper throb of pain; for, in that brief interval, she had sinned anew. (Hawthorne, 77)” Here she sins again. From this I see that she does not care. Pearl is a symbol of sin to all others but Hester. In Hester’s eyes she is a gift from god, a beauty and her whole life. Her name even proves it. Pearl is Hester's pearl.

Hester is strong. She is a sinner and a prisoner. She is treated unjustly in my opinion. She is stripped of her humanity and made to serve the needs of the community. She has to wear that Scarlett letter and she is punished for being an adulterer. Every one around her is ignorant. They judge her based off of not herself but other people. They hardly look at just her situation. The townspeople see her as a girl whose mistakes and transgressions outweigh their own errors. She believes in her humanity rather than fighting it. Hester feels that Chillingworth is the “Black Man” because he is responsible for luring others into doing bad things. In other words: Sin. He was involved in Hester’s issue and that is just one example where Hester’s theory about him is proven right. I feel like Hester is going to stand up for what she believes in. ““Ask me not!” replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his face. “That thou shalt never know!”” ( Hawthorne,67). This quote shows that Hester will not budge. She believes what she believes and she is going to keep her mouth shut. So far in this book I see a girl, Hester, that is trying to hide but she secretly has very strong opinions about the things and the treatment towards her and others around her. I can see that she is strong and she is very wise.

My Heart

I typically use my heart. I make stupid impulsive decisions and I do not listen to anyone. In a way I am especially stubborn when it comes to decisions. I like to do things on my own and figure them out by myself. My heart is basically a big mass of bad decisions out of love. If I love someone enough I totally shut off my brain when it comes to them. I almost never use anything but my heart to make decisions. Unless, on that rare occasion I have a magic eight ball. I tend to forget all logical reasoning when it comes to my heart and what it wants to do. I guess that means I am emotional. Being this way, I get hurt a lot. Sometimes I unintentionally hurt other people. I hate when this happens and it happens a lot. Oftentimes I wish I did not have a heart at all. That way I would not be capable of making those really regretful impulsive decisions so often. And then I get to thinking that if I used my head all the time I would be like a robot. If we all used our heads, we all would be the same. We would all be robots. We would all be lifeless ordinaries. Life would be boring. So, even though sometimes listening to my heart gets me in trouble, I am still really glad I follow my heart. I even have a necklace with an owl on it and on the back it says “listen to your heart” because I strongly believe that if you listen to your heart you will reach your goals and follow your dreams.