This is demonstrated in the text “Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignomity in which she was enveloped” (40). The letter might be a sign of sin to Hester and the Puritan village, but Pearl sees it as something else entirely. The scarlet letter is both a part and a connection to her mother, for they both are the physical manifestations of Hester’s wrongdoing. After Hester takes of the letter, Pearl refuses to come to her. She refuses to recognize her mother, only coming to her after the “A” has returned to her mother’s bosom.
Because she lived in such a God driven and puritan town, the judicial system of the settlement had decided for her to acknowledge her sin by embroidering a vibrant scarlet letter “A” onto her dress to symbolize adultery. She was often ostracized from the rest of the town since she was forced to wear the crimson “A” everywhere she went. As well as the letter to remind her of the wrong she had done, the affair had left her with a fatherless daughter named Pearl. Later in the novel we discover the father is the Reverend of the town, the admirable Arthur Dimmesdale. Through pain, remorse and agony the novel reveals that it is better to tell a harmless lie then to confess a hurtful truth.
The Crucible When one commits a sin, they must first forgive or accept themselves before they expect others to forgive or accept them. This is a concept that had to be accepted by the characters Hester and John. Hester Prynne, from The Scarlet Letter, committed adultery with the town’s minister and had a child. John Proctor, from The Crucible, also committed adultery with a woman, Abigail Williams, while his wife was pregnant. While the differences between John Proctor and Hester Prynne are countless, there are still several striking similarities between the two.
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 is a greater punishment then Hester’s “A”. First, Pearl represents God's punishment by her mocking and nagging of Hester. This is shown throughout the novel she sometimes seemed to her mother as almost a witch baby (Hawthorne 88).Second, Pearl 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. This is proven when Hester 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).Thirdly, Pearl represents the sins of both Hester and Dimmesdale.
In The Scarlet Letter, the sin that has been committed is adultery where Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale conceive an illegitimate child, a daughter named Pearl. Throughout the story Hester is put on display and humiliated for her sin, while Dimmsdale is still thought to be the "almighty" minister. In similarity from The Crucible, sin is put on trial. The Crucible directly addresses the themes and ideas from Salem Witch Trials. The young girls and their leader Abigail are the core of sin and evil in the girls and the community.
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the colors red, black, and others to represent Hester’s emotions and the emotions of those around her. The most frequently employed color symbol by Hawthorne is Red. It represents many different unique things in the novel. Hester’s sin is judged by sin, not by actions. The red letter “A” that Hester was forced to wear on her chest for committing adultery was a major symbol.
Symbolism in the Scarlet Letter How would you feel if your wife or husband cheated on you? In ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many effective symbols are used which give the reader a deeper understanding of the plot. There are good examples of symbolism in this book. The first example is the scarlet ‘A’. Hester Prynne became pregnant during the absence of her husband she was accused and convicted of adultery.
The Puritans view this letter as a symbol of the adultery. The letter also put Hester through torture: "Of an impulse and passionate nature. She had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely wreaking itself in every variety of insult but there was a quality so much more terrible in the solemn mood of popular mind, that she longed rather to behold all those rigid countenances contorted with scornful merriment and herself the object"(54). This implies that Hester's sin of bearing a child without the presence of a husband will always be remembered. In the middle of the novel is a transition period where the letter "A" is viewed differently than before.
Hawthorne uses the imaginative and symbolic form of the romance to veil the impression of the serious themes in his novel. The young woman Hester Prynne is the main character in The Scarlet Letter. She is accused of adultery, and because she does not confess who the father of her illegitimate child is, she gets sentenced to wearing a scarlet letter on her breast as a sign and reminder for her and the Puritan community she lives in. Expelled from the community, she lives on the edge of the village as an outcast and has to find her own way. Other important characters in the novel are Hester´s daughter Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.
Hypocrisy, the Ungodly Sin Above all others The question of sin is a reoccurring theme in “The Scarlet letter”, where various sins, from Hestor’s adultery, to Dimmesdale’s cowardice, or Chillingworth’s revenge are put on display to be judged by the Puritan society, and also by the reader. In his novel, Hawthorne uses these smaller sins to display a deeper sin; the sin of Puritan hypocrisy. From the beginning of the book Hawthorne ridicules the Puritan society. As one of the first buildings in their new town, the Puritans build a prison. For a culture that is based strictly on the bible that teaches forgiveness, strangely the Puritans are quick to punish, and Hestor also becomes a victim of this.