Daughter Of Hester Prynne And Arthur Dimmesdale example essay topic

Novel Analysis Title: The Scarlet Letter Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne Setting: The novel takes place in Boston, Massachusetts in the middle of the seventeenth century. Main Characters: The main characters of the novel are Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Mistress Hibbins. Characterization: Hester Prynne: Hester Prynne, the main character, is the wearer of the Scarlet letter. The Scarlet letter "A" attached to her bosom signifies that Hester has committed adultery. Earlier in her life she married an elderly physician by the name of Roger Prynne who sent Hester to live in Boston and never fulfilled his promise of following behind her. While waiting for him to come, she has and affair and falls in love with the town minister, Reverend Dimmesdale and later bears a child.

Hester is a strong, persistent woman who lives the rest of her life with the burning of the Scarlet letter attached to her chest. Roger Chillingworth: Roger Chillingworth, the husband of Hester Prynne who was thought to be lost at sea, changes his name when he arrives in Boston so the people will not hang Hester. After discovering that his wife has had an affair, he is determined to punish the father of the child. He lives in Boston for several years waiting for the right moment to take revenge, but he never gets the chance. He wastes away a year after Dimmesdale dies.

Arthur Dimmesdale: Arthur Dimmesdale, the town minister, had an affair with Hester Prynne but does not make it known to the public. He lives with the Scarlet letter inscribed on his chest for seven years. He becomes very ill from what the people believe to be heart problems because he is constantly putting his hand over his heart, but it is actually the Scarlet letter which kills him. Pearl: Pearl is the daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur DImmesdale.

She is very moody and has a mischievous spirit. She is very quick to spot things that other people do not pick up on such as the relationship of her mother and Arthur Dimmesdale. The townspeople become concerned with her saying that she is not human and is the daughter of the Devil. She is very smart and always teases her mother by playing with the Scarlet Letter.

Mistress Hibbins: Mistress Hibbins, who the townspeople believe to be a witch because they accuse her of late night rides in the forest with the Devil, is a widow who lives with her brother, Governor Bellingham, is a grand house. Point of View: The narrator portrays an omniscient point of view because he describes and analyzes the characters of the story. He also is subjective because every once in a while he voices his on a matter that he finds interesting. Plot: The novel begins with a long story of how the book came to be written.

The narrator, who does not identify himself, was the surveyor of the custom-house is Salem, Massachusetts. He describes the place as abandoned and boring. One day he ventures up to an abandoned room on the second floor and finds and Scarlet Letter with a parchment attached to it with a story of the Scarlet Letter written two hundred years before the narrator's time. After getting fires from his customs post, he decides to write a fictional account of the Scarlet Letter based on the parchment attached to it.

The Scarlet Letter is the finished project. The story begins with Hester Prynne coming put of the jail with her daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the Scarlet Letter on her bosom in a Puritan town is Boston, Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. She has been accused of committing adultery, and has been given the punishment of wearing the Scarlet Letter for the rest of her life and has ro stand on a pedestal before the whole town while they condemn her. The town fathers try persistently to get the name of her lover, but she refuses to give it. She later sees her missing husband whom she thought was dead in the crowd watching her.

She is put back in jail for not revealing the name of her lover. Her husband, now known as Roger Chillingworth, comes to visit her in jail. He makes her promise to not reveal his identity and says that he will have revenge on the father of the child. After a few days she is released from jail, and returns to a cottage that she has made her home. Several years pass. Hester supports Pearl and herself by becoming a seamstress, and Pearl grows up to be a very mischievous but clever child.

A group of community officials attempt to take Pearl away from her mother, but after Arthur Dimmesdale, a young minister, speaks up for the child and mother, Hester is permitted to keep Pearl. Arthur Dimmesdale appears to be wasting away and suffers from mysterious heart problems. Chillingworth, who now claims to be a physician, moves in with and devotes his time to Dimmesdale. He suspects that there might be a connection between Dimmesdale and Hester. One afternoon while the minister is sleeping, Chillingworth sneaks in to Dimmesdale's bedroom and rips open his shirt and finds a terrible marking on the minister's bosom which we later find out is the Scarlet Letter. The Minister is constantly finding ways to punish himself.

Meanwhile, Hester's charitable deeds have caused less people to harass and condemn her. Some people start to believe that the "A" stands for able. One night, on their way home from a deathbed, Hester and Pearl see a Dimmesdale on top of the scaffold. They join him and link hands together. Pearl asks him if this means that he will stand in front of the townspeople with them, but he says no. They are startled a meteor that has marked a dull "A" in the night sky right above them.

After seeing that Dimmesdale's condition is becoming much worse, Hester goes to Chillingworth and pleads with him to stop adding to the minister's self-torment. He refuses. Hester arranges to meet Dimmesdale in the forest to reveal her husband's identity. The two lovers and decide to flee to England where they can become a family.

Hester removes the Scarlet letter and calls Pearl over to tell her of their plans. Pearl does not recognize her mother without the letter, and does not come to her mother until she puts the Letter back on. The day before they plan to leave, Dimmesdale gives an excellent speech to the townspeople. Meanwhile, Hester is told that Chillingworth has also requested to come aboard to England with them. Dimmesdale sees Hester and Pearl standing in front of the scaffold and pulls them up onto the scaffold with him. He confesses publicly that he is the father of Pearl and exposes the scarlet letter on his chest.

He falls dead right after Pearl kisses him. Chillingworth, frustrated in his revenge, dies a year later. Hester and Pearl disappear from the town. Many years later, Hester returns without Pearl and moves back into her cottage. It is come to believe that Pearl married a European and established a family of her own. When Hester dies, she is buried net to Dimmesdale, and the two share a gravestone which bears an "A".

Subplot: The subplot of the story is the description of Pearl's characteristics and her behavior as she grows up. Conflict: One internal conflict that Hester faces is when she could not be free of the letter because her daughter would not recognize her without it. She suffered the rest of her life for the love of her daughter. Another internal conflict is when she is forced to swear to keep her husband's identity from the man she loves. An example of an external conflict was that Hester had to keep her Husband from hurting Dimmesdale. She struggled to keep her promise to him but in the end had to reveal his identity to warn Dimmesdale.

Rising Action / Tension: The rising action is that Dimmesdale stands silent watching Hester suffer for a sin that he helped to commit while his conscience nags at him and affects his health. Meanwhile, Chillingworth poses as Dimmesdale's physician but is actually testing his suspicions that Dimmesdale is Hester's lover which cuts into Dimmesdale's feelings of shame. Climax: The climax of the story is when Dimmesdale sees the dull "A" in the night sky and realizes that he must reveal his secret to the public. Another climax is at the end when Dimmesdale admits his sin.

Resolution: The Resolution is that Dimmesdale finally admits his sin which causes so much anguish that he falls dead, and Hester and Pearl leave town. Foreshadowing: There wasn't much foreshadowing but instead the events of the story strengthened their meaning. Symbolism: The rosebush next to the prison door symbolizes nature's ability to outlast man's activities. The Scarlet Letter is meant is be a symbol of shame, but instead becomes a symbol of Hester's identity. The meteor was a symbol to Dimmesdale that he should wear a mark of shame just as Hester does.

Pearl is a living symbol of her mother's Scarlet Letter. Irony: One ironic occurrence in the story was that Dimmesdale, who gave Hester a long lecture as to why she should turn in the other sinner, turns out to be the other sinner, and what is more ironic is that he refuses to reveal his sin to the public after telling Hester why it would be the right thing to do. Theme: The theme of the novel is sin and knowledge. If you live with the knowledge of committing a sin for too long, it causes you so much anxiety and guilt which makes you ill and can even kill you. Another theme is the nature of evil.

Through the novel, the "Black Man" is connected to Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Mistress Hibbins..