Pearl To The Scarlet Letter example essay topic

Chapter Five: Hester at Her NeedleSummaryHester is released from prison and finds a cottage in the woods, near the outskirts of the city, to set up her new life. Hawthorne comments on the fact that she does not avail herself of the opportunity to escape to a new life without shame in some other city. He remarks that often people are irresistibly drawn to live near the place where a great has occurred. He further comments that even if that is not the reason, Hester may have been inclined to remain in Boston because her secret lover still lived there. Hester's skill at needlework, earlier shown in the fine way that she displayed the scarlet letter, allows her to maintain a fairly stable lifestyle. However, her reputation as an outcast and loner causes a certain aura to be cast around her.

Thus, Hawthorne points out that young children often crept up to her house to spy on her while she worked. He also comments that in spite of her excellent needlework, she was never called upon to make a bridal gown due to her reputation. Hester spends her time working on the projects which bring in her income, and devotes the remainder of her work to creating garments for the poor. She lives simply with the sole exception being that she creates amazing dresses of fine fabrics for Pearl.

Hester's social life is virtually eliminated as a result of her shameful history. She is treated so poorly that often preachers will stop in the street and start to deliver a lecture as she walks by. Hester also begins to hate children, who unconsciously realize there is something different about her and thus start to follow her with 'shrill cries' through the city streets. One of the things which Hester starts to notice is that every once in a while she receives a sympathetic glance, and feels like she has a companion in her sin.

Hawthorne puts it, 'it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts. ' This is interesting because many of the people Hawthorne accuses of hypocrisy as regards the scarlet letter are, 'a venerable minister or magistrate,' people who are viewed as models of 'piety and justice. ' Analysis The fact that Hester stays in Boston is likely due to the fact that she is too ashamed to go anywhere else. With the humiliation of receiving the scarlet letter, her tenacity and will-power are destroyed, causing her to accept her fate and remain in Boston. The symbolism of the scarlet letter is expanded in this chapter.

Whereas at first it represented Hester's adultery and also her needlework skills, it now takes on two more meanings. Foremost, the letter begins to represent the hidden shame of the community. Thus preachers will stop in the street and give sermons when they see Hester. The letter therefore becomes an example of crime and acts a deterrent for others in the community. However, Hawthorne indicates that Hester is now able to see when other people sympathize with her. Thus the letter serves as a gateway into other people's secret crimes, and acts as a focal point for the shame of the entire community...

The letter can thus also be interpreted as a symbol of shame shared by everyone, rather than by Hester alone. The treatment of Hester almost reaches a low point in this chapter. She is cut off socially in the sense that she has no friends and lives in an isolated cottage. In addition, Hester becomes an outcast which even the children mock, causing her more pain. Hawthorne indicates that even though Hester spends time helping to make clothes for the poor, they treat her badly in spite of her good intentions. Her choice of habitation is crucial to the symbolism within the novel.

The forest represents love, or the wilderness where the strict morals of the Puritan community cannot apply. Thus, when Hester makes her home on the outskirts of the city, directly on the edge of the woods, she is putting herself in a place of limbo between the moral and the immoral universes. This is important because it shows that Hester does not live under the strict Puritanical moral code, but rather tries to live in both worlds simultaneously. The attentions Hester gives to designing Pearl's clothing is significant. Pearl should be viewed as a living extension of the scarlet letter. Thus Hester permits herself the extravagance of attiring Pearl in beautiful clothing much the way she decorated the letter upon her breast.

Pearl, even more than the letter, embodies the shame of Hester's adultery. Chapter Six: PearlSummaryHawthorne discusses the choice of the name Pearl. He indicates that Hester chose the name to represent something of great value- namely the cost of her virtue. Hester is afraid that nothing good can come from her sin, and thus she fears that Pearl will in some way be retribution for her sinful passion. Hester spends hours clothing Pearl in the richest garments she can find, even though Hawthorne comments that Pearl would appear just as beautiful in any garment. Hester's passion exists in the child's demeanor in the form of 'flightiness of temper... and even some of the very cloud-shapes of gloom and despondency that had brooded in her heart.

' Pearl turns out to be unmanageable as a child, forcing Hester to let her do what she wants. Pearl has a particular mood where nothing Hester does can persuade the child to change her stance, and so eventually Hester ' [is] ultimately compelled to stand aside, and permit the child to be swayed by her own impulses. ' Pearl is compared to a witch in both the way she interacts with other children and in the way she plays. Having been scorned by the Puritans all her young life, Pearl is positively wrathful when other children approach her, going so far as to throw stones and scream at them. With toys, Pearl always plays games in which she destroys everything. Hawthorne points out that the first thing Pearl saw in her infancy was the scarlet letter.

As a baby she even reached up and touched the letter, causing her mother intense agony at the shame it generated in her. Pearl later played a game where she threw flowers at her mother and jumped around in glee every time she hit the scarlet letter. At one point Hester asks Pearl, 'Child, what art thou?' to which Pearl replies that she is Hester's little Pearl. Pearl eventually asks who sent her to Hester, to which Hester replies that the Heavenly Father sent her. Pearl responds with, 'He did not send me... I have no Heavenly Father!' Pearl then presses Hester to tell her who her father is, saying, 'Tell me!

Tell me! It is thou who must tell me!' Hester is unable to answer her question and remains silent, thinking about the fact that some Puritans think Pearl is the child of a demon. Analysis The description of Pearl in this chapter is intended to manifest Pearl as the living embodiment of her mother's sin. Thus the name Pearl itself is misleading. A pearl is a beautiful object found inside an ugly oyster, and at the same time contains a hard kernel of sand within it.

Thus Hawthorne is trying to point out that appearances are deceiving, and that Pearl is anything but a beautiful person. As was foreshadowed earlier, Pearl has become the living symbol of the scarlet letter. This is highlighted by the magnificent clothing Hester puts on her child, similarly to the way she decorated the scarlet letter. Pearl becomes the letter in another sense as well. Since childhood she has been mesmerized by the scarlet letter on her mother's breast, and enjoys playing with the letter. Thus she throws flowers at it and grabs for it even before she can speak.

Pearl's interactions with other people also lend credence to the view of her as nothing more than a living scarlet letter. She has no social skills and no interaction with other children, instead throwing stones at them and screaming insults. This creates a situation where Pearl's only reason for existence is to pry open the secret of her birth, and to cause her mother suffering. The chapter tellingly ends with Pearl demanding that her mother tell her who her true father is. This is foreshadowing a future event where Pearl will likely be the one to reveal her father. Hawthorne is also making a social commentary here, namely that Pearl needs both a father and mother to become a complete child.

Without a father, Hawthorne can only describe her as a 'witch' or as a child of the devil. Chapter Seven: The Governor's HallSummaryHester takes Pearl with her to the Governor's Hall in order to deliver some gloves which she has sown. Hester's main reason for going is to plead with Governor Bellingham to let her keep Pearl, whom the Governor felt would be better raised in a more Christian household. Hester has decorated Pearl in an outrageous 'crimson velvet tunic' which was then embroidered with gold thread.

Hawthorne comments that, 'the child's whole appearance... was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!' When the children in the town try to throw mud at her, Pearl chases them away and appears to resemble 'the scarlet fever' in her wrath. Hester arrives at the Governor's mansion and enters. The mansion contains pictures of the Bellingham ancestors and a new suit of armor for the Governor himself. Pearl plays games by looking into the armor and then goes to look at the garden, from which she demands a red rose. When the Governor approaches, Pearl falls excitedly falls silent. Analysis The concept of Pearl being a punishment for her mother's sin is reinforced in this chapter.

Hawthorne is very explicit about comparing Pearl to the scarlet letter, going so far as to write that, 'the child's whole appearance... was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life. ' The theme of Pearl as a living scarlet letter is continued throughout the chapter in several ways. When they arrive at the mansion, Pearl demands the sunlight from the frontispiece. Hester replies rather sadly, 'No, my little Pearl! Thou must gather thine own sunshine.

I have none to give thee!' Inside the mansion, Pearl looks around and sees the shiny metal of the Governor's suit of armor. She then calls her mother's attention to the fact that the scarlet letter is grotesquely magnified by the convex shape of the armor, causing it to appear gigantic. Hester feels that Pearl must be, 'an imp who was seeking to mold itself into Pearl's shape. ' Hester then convinces Pearl to come look at the garden, where Pearl immediately demands a red rose. This hearkens directly back to the first chapter, where Pearl and the rose blossoms become connected for the first time. The rose blossom serves as a 'moral blossom' within the story according to Hawthorne.

Thus the fact that Pearl is not given the rose at this point indicates that the moral of the story has not yet become obvious, and that like Pearl, the reader will have to wait. It also directly connects the rose blossom and Pearl in the physical sense for the first time. Chapter Eight: The Elf-Child and the MinisterSummaryGovernor Bellingham, accompanied by the Reverend John Wilson, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, enters the hall of his mansion. He first sees Pearl, dressed lavishly in her scarlet outfit, standing in front of him. Pearl introduces herself and tells them her name, at which point John Wilson states, 'Ruby, rather... or Red Rose, at the very least, judging from thy hue.

' The men then see Hester Prynne in the background. Governor Bellingham tells her that he thinks it would be better for the child if Pearl were removed from her mother's care. Hester responds that she can teach the child what she has learned from the scarlet letter, at which point Bellingham sternly indicates that the letter is precisely the reason they want to remove Pearl from her care. As a test of Pear's education, John Wilson is asked to examine Pearl. He asks her who her maker is, to which Pearl replies that she was plucked off the rose bush that grows by the prison door.

The Governor is so shocked by her reply that he is immediately prepared to take Pearl away from Hester. Hester grabs Pearl and screams that she will die before the men are allowed to take away her daughter. Finally, in and act of desperation, she turns to Arthur Dimmesdale and pleads with him to speak on her behalf. He comes forward with his hand over his heart and argues that God has obviously given Pearl to Hester for some divine reason, and that it would meddle with the ways of the Lord to take Pearl away from her. He then indicates that Pearl is punishment for Hester as well, evidenced by the 'garb of the poor child, so forcibly reminding us of that red symbol which sears [Hester's] bosom. ' Bellingham agrees with Dimmesdale's arguments and decides to let matters stand as they currently are.

Pearl then goes to Dimmesdale and presses her cheek against his hand, showing a tenderness which is unusual for her demeanor. Hester takes her and leaves. As Hester is walking home, the sister of Governor Bellingham, Mistress Hibbins, opens her window and calls out to her. Mistress Hibbins is a witch who steals into the forest late at night to play with the Black Man.

She asks Hester to accompany her, but Hester replies that she has to get Pearl home. She then adds that had they taken Pearl away from her, she would have been willing to go into the woods that night. Higgins says, 'We shall have thee there anon!' Analysis Much of this chapter is dedicated to drawing stronger parallels between Pearl, the scarlet letter, and the red rose. Thus Pearl is called a 'Red Rose' by Wilson when he first sees her. Even stronger is Pearl's response to Wilson's question concerning who made her, where she says that she was plucked off of the rose bush outside the prison door. This directly tells the reader that Pearl is the person to reveal the moral element of the story, for she embodies the morality which she will later reveal.

Hester's appeal to Arthur Dimmesdale marks a turning point in the novel. It is the first time she has relied on her relationship with the minister for support, and makes the other men aware that Dimmesdale knows Hester better than they thought. Dimmesdale steps forward with his hand over his heart, again hiding the scarlet letter which he feels upon his breast. This also ties back to Chillingworth's comment that he will recognize Pearl's true father by 'reading' his heart. Dimmesdale then correctly compares Pearl to the scarlet letter upon her mother's bosom, and manages to keep the mother and daughter together. Pearl's response is unique at this juncture, in that she takes the minister's hand and places her cheek against it.

This simple gesture is full of meaning, because it implies that Pearl recognizes Dimmesdale as being connected to her. Dimmesdale responds by kissing her on the forehead, in a sense claiming her as his own child. The scene in which Mistress Higgins invites Hester into the woods to meet the Black Man is important. It largely acts to foreshadow events, but also serves to make a statement about the woods. The forest is the wilderness around Boston, and thus is an amoral backdrop. Thus, when Hester meets with Dimmesdale later in the story, the meeting will also take place in the forest..