Roses and The Scarlet Letter

Ian Coyne

Coyneandbill

The Scarlett Reader

This post focuses on the use of roses displayed in ch. 5-8

Roses and The Scarlet Letter

The color red sure is a key part of The Scarlet Letter. Heck, it’s even in the name of the book! Though it may seem that the scarlet letter itself is the only important red thing in the book, I believe there is something else that has been hinted at since the first few pages. That thing would be roses, which have a tendency of cropping up every few chapters or so. But why does Hawthorne include them? What is he trying to say? I believe I have an answer to both of those questions.

First, let’s define a rose. A rose is a red flower that grows in rose bushes. It’s popular for its beauty as well as its color, but it also has thorns along its stem, a less popular attribute. In the context of The Scarlett Letter, some parallels between roses and the story begin to appear. Hester, much like a rose, is defined (at least by others) by the most prominent physical characteristic: the red letter on her dress. But, just below the surface, she is a complicated individual who is staunch in her beliefs, much like the much-overlooked thorns of a rose. Despite being mostly negative, it is undeniable that Hester shares a popularity, or rather infamy, in the Puritan community, much like a rose’s popularity amongst lovers.

However, Hester is not the only one that can be likened to a rose in The Scarlet Letter. Her daughter, Pearl, has been compared to one as well, like when she “began to cry for a red rose” (Hawthorne, 98) and told Dimmesdale that her mother found her in a “bush of wild roses near the prison door” (Hawthorne, 104). Further comparisons to Pearl and a rose are drawn when she is entirely dressed in red when she is take to the governor’s mansion. These comparisons further show that Pearl is much like the “rose” that her mother is. She is defined by the tincture of her mother’s sin, but below the surface she is intelligent and resistant to opposition.

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29600000/roses-roses-29610910-1920-1200

SOURCES

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Custom House.” The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. 52. Print.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Governor’s Hall.” The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. 63. Print.

A Nighttime Vigil?

As I enter into another week of writing blog posts, it seems to be getting easier to pick topics to write about that are suitable for an honors level class. At the beginning of all of this, I found it very hard, not only to find a topic, but to also develop my own ideas on how that topic may be relatable to the outside world, as well as students and teachers who may be reading this novel right now. When I first started off in this class, I did not believe that I was able to handle the work load and the skill level. But after reconciling, I realized that I had the skill and ability to do it. This “reconciling” is also seen through Dimmesdale’s vigil in the late hours of night. After not standing on the scaffold with Hester Prynne, he is now coming to realization of the horrible act that he has committed.

Throughout these last couple of chapters, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have been talking heavily about sin, and it seems as though Chillingworth is becoming more and more suspicious of Dimmesdale’s past. At the same time, Dimmesdale is feeling the guilt inside building up, because he knows that what he has done to himself, as well as Hester, is something that cannot be ignored forever. It is ironic though that he decides to reconcile with God on the same place where Hester was announced her punishment seven years earlier. Is this because he feels as though in order to free his own sin, he must confront the very same pain that Hester felt years ago? Or is it because it is the only place where he can find privacy, even though it is in the middle of the town?

To me, Dimmesdale goes to the scaffold at night to avoid all of the commotion of the town during the day, but he also wants to avoid being caught by the townspeople and having them realize that he is the “secret man” who committed adultery with Hester. It is funny how even though he did this at night, still (ironically) Hester and Pearl walk up to him on their way home from the Governor’s funeral. Once in his presence, Pearl asks him a very simple question two times, “Will you stand with us at noon tomorrow?” Dimmesdale replies very simply with, “I will on the great judgement day” (Hawthorne 139). This comment is very simple and straight forward, but very complex at the same time. The “great judgement day” is referring to the puritan belief that once you die, God will judge you and decide if you are worthy to enter into heaven or hell. At the same time, he is also telling them that when that day comes, he will be there with both of them. This is because all three of them are the entities of adultery. You have Hester and Dimmesdale who are the ones who committed the act, and then you have Pearl, who is the byproduct of the actual sin. Therefore, when that final judgement day comes, all three of them will be judged together for the sin of which all of them are a part of. This vigil also had moments that were signs of God being present. The “A” comet that flashed across the sky made Dimmesdale realize that this sin will always be with him forever no matter how many times he reconciles. As we look back on this entire scene, I want you as the reader to take two things away from it. Even though Dimmesdale has held this vigil to look back and reconcile his sin, it will always be with him, and also, the scaffold is most likely going to have another large part in the upcoming scenes.

We all make mistakes in our lives that we are not happy with, but at the end of the day we as human beings react either negatively or positively to these situations. Even though Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale have committed this horrible sin, I applaud them for looking back on the situation, taking their punishments, and trying to move on. This is a hard lesson to learn in life. When you make these mistakes, do you just accept the outcome and live with it the rest of your life, or do you meet it face to face and conquer it right then and there? To me it shows much more of who you are if you accept it and stay strong.

Puritan Hypocrisy: A Fundamentally Flawed Utopia?

Ian Coyne

Coyneandbill

The Scarlet Reader

This post focuses on the hypocrisy displayed in ch. 1-4

Puritan Hypocrisy: A Fundamentally Flawed Utopia?

So I just got done reading a few chapters of this novel, The Scarlet Letter, which seems to also double as a sleeping aid. I have been known to exaggerate, but let it be known that there is no hyperbole in this statement: this novel makes looking up five syllable words in the dictionary seem like a good time. I guess when you see a name as antique and elegant as “Nathaniel Hawthorne” strewn across the cover, you can’t really expect anything particularly exciting. OK, enough of this pre-emptive book bashing, let’s get down to business.

Let us begin by talking about what the Puritans set out to do in their little slice of heaven in Massachusetts. If you have read my earlier post (I hope you have), you’ll know all about the Puritan’s reasons for coming to the future home state of the Boston Red Sox and what means they took to accomplish such a feat. However, I did not define specifically what the Puritan’s sought to create in this new world they founded. Their aim was to establish a utopian society: a completely homogenous, pure society that strictly abided to the Puritan code. So, when the Puritans landed upon the Massachusetts Bay beaches, they began to build and manage their settlements with the intent of making them perfect. Dissent, sin, and any transgression that could be interpreted as being against God was a big no-no and was not tolerated by the Puritans. With this established, let’s move on to what the Puritan’s utopian pipe dream has to do with The Scarlet Letter.

Our protagonist, Hester Prynne, is one of those aforementioned sinners that wouldn’t be tolerated. For her sin of adultery, she was prosecuted and thrown into an old jail cell within the town. Here we see our first example of hypocrisy being displayed by the Puritans. If this settlement was truly a utopia, why would they need a jail cell? If the founders knew that everything was going to be perfect form the start, surely they wouldn’t have built a jail cell, would they? By simply having this building in their town, the Puritans unwittingly show how fundamentally flawed their society is. They realize that sin is inevitable among their people, but still believe that creating their sinless utopia is plausible despite this.

The hypocrisy doesn’t stop there: rather, it increases as the story progresses. As Hester is brought through the market to be stood upon the platform, the “stern-browed men and unkindly visage women” (Hawthorne 52) stare at her as if she is something evil and deserving of disdain. This seething disgust is yet another hypocrisy of Puritanism displayed within the novel. Instead of following the age-old teachings of their prophet, Puritans choose to cast stones upon the sinner with their eyes, even though doing so is considered sinful itself. Through its treatment of sinners, Puritan society makes everyone in the society sinners themselves.

Even the spiritual leaders aren’t safe from the hypocrisy that plagues Puritan society. As I read about the clergymen and Dimmesdale’s efforts to get Hester to confess, I realized their actions contradict yet another important part of Christianity: forgiveness. Instead of comforting her and accepting her as a sinner, Dimmesdale and his cohorts stress that the only way she can redeem herself is through punishment and the ousting of her fellow sinner so that he too may be punished. Dimmesdale even says that “earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation,” (Hawthorne 63) meaning that taking punishment for sins on Earth will help one pay for his sins, making them more holy when they reach heaven. Now let’s analyze this for a second. So Dimmesdale is basically saying that it is the duty of them, the Puritans, to dole out physical punishment for sins, right? Last time I checked, God is considered the ultimate authority on what constitutes a sinner and whether or not they truly deserve punishment or salvation. It seems to me that the Puritans have gotten so deep in self-righteousness that they feel fit to carry out the will of God without any say from the big man himself. The Puritans really do dive into the deep pool of hypocrisy when they begin to play God amongst their constituents.

Being exposed to this hypocrisy in so little pages makes me feel like The Scarlet Letter will have its fair share of criticism of Puritan society. While it may be a pretty dry read at times, I think I’m going to enjoy noticing all the little cracks in Puritan culture that Hawthorne points out as I follow the story of Hester Prynne.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Market-Place.” The Scarlett Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. 52. Print.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Recognition.” The Scarlett Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003. 52. Print.

Dimmesdale’s Decent: the story of the American Puritan Church.

Charles Baker

charlesbbaker

The Scarlet Reader

This post focuses the relationship of the history of the Puritan Church and Dimmesdale.

Dimmesdale’s Decent: the story of the American Puritan Church.

In chapters 9-12, Arthur Dimmesdale began a deep slide into the depths of madness. Triggered by Chillingworth’s revenge attempts, Dimmesdale enters a positive feedback loop of negative reinforcement. Essentially he is growing more and more unsure of his surroundings and his sanity. Every realization he has drives him to a new one and furthers him from reality. I found this interesting, as I believe that Hawthorn is showing the downfall of the Puritan church to the Salem events up onto this point. Hawthorn was very against the rigid, religious society and this is directly shown by the fall of the leader of the church.

Dimmesdale first is harmed by the guilt impregnating Hester, as they were not married. This guilt has caused him to begin ailing in health. When the “good” doctor Chillingworth shows up (notably with a native American), he sets up his aforementioned revenge by pretending to treat Dimmesdale. He actually causes further harm by pushing on his guilt. It is this that causes Dimmesdale to step into his positive feedback loop. Dimmesdale even feels as though Chillingworth is harming him, saying:

[Note, I added underlines to break up the text as this book is very dense and I felt it would make the excerpt easier to understand]

“Mr. Dimmesdale, conscious that the poison of one morbid spot was infecting his heart’s entire substance, attributed all his presentiments to no other cause (his illness). He took himself to task for his bad sympathies in reference to Roger Chillingworth(for feeling that it was his fault).” (Hawthorn 128 )

Dimmesdale now begins to practice metacognition and self reflect on his flaws. Without a release to this, he draws further and further into insanity to the point where he sees hallucinations and can no longer understand reality. This even goes to the point of self harm, when

“inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and bred. In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge (whip). Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders, laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh.” (131)

Essentially this is saying he is whipping himself, punishing himself for his own sin.

The second important part of the comparison is found in the way Roger Chillingworth represents the outside, Native American influence on the community. He arrives in town with a Native American and proceeds to carry out some of their medical practices.

In this analogy, Dimmesdale represents the Puritan church in America and Chillingworth represents Native Americans. The Puritan churches grew to help people originally, and were well established in America, but with the native influence, they began to grow fearful and lose their way. It wasn’t just American Indian attacks on towns, but also the treat of people assimilating the native culture. This would be bad for the Puritan church because the church saw itself as pure and any tampering to this would have harmed their appearance in the eyes of God. This fear of both native attacks cultural blending becomes a problem to the point when the church looses its sanity and begins the which hunts. That is how it happened historically, but I believe that Hawthorn is foreshadowing the next stage of the church chronologically.

At the end of the chapter, a meteorite is seen to show the letter A, and many interoperate this as an angel. Angels are prominent biblical figures that act as identifier for change. From the conception of the Messiah and his reincarnation to the conception of John the Baptist and when Moran appeared to Joseph Smith, angels represent a time of change. By presenting the angel, he shows that a change will come in this turmoil and may save the town. The angel will also bring great change to the society.

I am very eager to see if this  change is going to be social or religious (if it happens); and, if religious, would it be a reference to the development of the Baptist church seen in the First Great Awakening that occurred in this time.

Works cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.

The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Trenton: I. Collins, 1791. Print.

The Leech and the Liar

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are an odd paring indeed. The latter, an older gentlemen brimming with knowledge from foreign European lands on medicine and herbs, is a stark contrast to the youthful features of the feeble Dimmesdale. Yet, they are together under one roof by the courses of fate and each man with his own objective. However, one objective is much more sinister than the other. We shall begin by describing the naive objective of Dimmesdale who believes that he will act as Chillingworth’s spiritual advisor. In exchange, Dimmesdale hopes for his health to improve with the aid of the intelligent Chillingworth. He is carrying the terrible burden of pains in his chest and deteriorating health as his the sin on his conscious translates into his physical well-being. Chillingworth goes on to attach onto Dimmesdale like a leech. This is symbolic in that leeches were seen as helpful at the time in that they sucked out the blood of a sick individual; on the contrary, they were often quite harmful to the individual’s health.

Likewise, Dimmesdale enters this bond believing that Chillingworth has his best interests in mind only to find that is not the case.  Chillingworth’s sinister objective is to confirm the suspicions he has of Dimmesdale in the case of his wife’s unknown adulterer. Chillingworth is in a constant search of Dimmesdale’s soul for the secrets that lurk below. He expresses that he has found in the minister “a strong animal nature from his father or his mother” and that he intends to “dig a little further in the direction of this vein” (Hawthorne 118).

It is important to note that both men possess great intuition. When Chillingworth presses too much to discover the mystery that is buried below, Dimmesdale “whose sensibility of nerve often produced the effect of spiritual intuition, would become vaguely aware the something protruded his inimical peace” (Hawthorne 118). The main hidden connection between these two men is Hester Prynne. However, only Chillingworth is aware of the entire story as he knows that Hester is his wife and Dimmesdale the adulterer while Dimmesdale has no clue of Chillingworth’s relation to Hester. Chillingworth often references to Hester and to buried sins in order to cruelly remind Dimmesdale of his guilt. This subtle evil is first foreshadowed when Chillingworth initially visited Hester in her prison cell. She asked him whether he “hast enticed [her] into a bond that will prove the ruin of [her] soul” when she swears not to reveal that they are married (Hawthorne 72).  Chillingworth answers in a malevolent way as he declares, “not thy soul, no not thine!” (Hawthorne 72).  This leads us to conclude that Chillingworth was plotting out his revenge all this time. He now fulfills his evil promise as even the community believes he is the influence of the Devil upon their highly revered and virtuous minister. Chillingworth may even find his patience to be worthwhile as he finds what can be inferred to be a scarlet letter imprinted in Arthur Dimmesdale’s chest. It truly is an odd couple, the adulterer and the husband, living together with a bond leading to the minister’s seemingly inevitable ruin.

Work Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.

http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/mmd/media/3351/MMD1195_l.jp

Why a Scarlet Dress?

As we all look back at the previous chapters that we have read, there are many things to think about and bring together. Why does Hawthorne choose to explain what Hester Prynne has done since prison? And the biggest question of all is why did Hester dress Pearl in a scarlet dress with gold lacing? Many of the questions sprung up after these chapters were over, but Hawthorne uses Pearl as a living symbol of the scarlet letter. As you read this blog keep one thing in mind; Pearl is an example of love between two people, but unfortunately that love was through the act of adultery.

As the chapters begin, we start to learn how Pearl acts and what kind of person she is. She is smart, so she knows a lot of things that a girl of three should not know. She is rambunctious, because she likes to get under the skin of people. But what is not obvious is what Pearl is actually put in the novel to be. She is put in the novel as a reminder of Hester’s passion, but to Hester this reminder is very difficult to live with, while also wearing the letter “A” on her gown.

Hester hears that the governor may take Pearl away from her because she is “devilish” and “demon-like,” so Hester decides to go and plea her case as to why she should keep Pearl. But before they leave, she dresses Pearl in a scarlet dress with gold embroidered lace. Isn’t this exactly what her letter “A” looks like on her gown? It is, and it is not the first time that Hester has dressed her like that. Hester is going against what society believes about dress code, and she constantly dresses pearl in beautiful reds, golds, or both. With Pearl’s attire, Hester can give “the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play,” designing her clothes “with fantasies and flourishes of gold-thread.” Physical descriptions of Pearl and the scarlet letter are pretty much interchangeable. She purposely does this to show the governor that no matter what threats he gives towards her, she will still live her life and accept the consequence of being reminded of that every day. From a very young age, Pearl has personified Hester committing adultery. As a baby she would reach for the scarlet letter, and as she has grown, she has always been interested in the letter upon her mother’s chest. When we are all babies, we pick up on things that interest us and then later in our lives, that interest in this case is the letter “A” on Hester’s gown.

Hester feels that having Pearl there every day of her life is also very difficult as wel1, because she is a constant reminder of the horrible act she has committed. Although at times Hester feels this way, that doesn’t take away from the fact that she loves her daughter and wants her to be with her for the rest of her life. It is like a mother conceiving a child and struggling to decide whether to keep the baby or put it up for adoption. It is very difficult. Although Hester is reminded of adultery through the letter “A” on her chest as well as through Pearl, she knows that it is now her entire life, and she will have to live with both of them with her until she dies.

So as I wrap up this blog, I think that it is important to recognize just how symbolic Pearl is in The Scarlet Letter. Not only does her embodiment capture the scarlet letter, but it also signifies the act that Hester had committed. Through the beautiful gowns she wears and the lacing of gold on each, Pearl emphasizes to the reader not only how important the scarlet letter is, but just how strong Hester Prynne is to take criticism and ridicule from her peers.

A Letter to Pearl, the Imp

Dear Pearl,

This really isn’t quite fair is it? You’ve been born and raised in a town that hates you for your very existence. You are the secondary mark of a sinful woman, your mother. Every time you laugh and giggle, the entire town cringes because you remind them of their own sin. None of this is your fault, and yet you bear the majority of the burden. You came into the world as a byproduct of “the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion” from long ago(81). And there is nothing you can do about it.

At this time you are about three years old, so I expect that Hester will have to read this to you. But even if you cannot read as of yet, you are still incredibly sharp. You have never known a father because yours wanted to stay away. Your mother’s first act of defiance was to keep him unnamed. Fatherlessness is all you have ever known, which is why you declared that you have no “heavenly father” either. Because of your intelligence and bastardy, the people of Salem have begun to call you an imp. I do not know if you fully understand this, but the people view you as the devil incarnate. You represent the “darkness” that they all recognize inside of themselves and refuse to acknowledge. And that is why they hate you. The wholly unpleasant and not unsubstantial, matronly judges of the town curse you and hate you because you bring beauty to your mother, the sinner. She is marked with more than the letter “A”, she is marked by you. Of course, you have begun to encourage to townspeople in their insults. In later years you will dance upon headstones and even throw a weed at a certain Reverend (122).

Oh Pearl, you sweet and misunderstood girl. You bring beauty into your mother’s life while exasperating her at the same time. You may never know your father, but you do have your mother, and I pray that you will take solace with her.

God Speed,

Nathan S.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam, 1986. Print. Reissue 2003.

The Characterization of Hester Prynne in chapters one through four

As I began to read The Scarlet Letter, the first thing that caught my attention was the characterization of Hester Prynne. Hester, who I assume is the protagonist of the story based on the fact that she wears the scarlet letter, is first introduced in the novel as the crosses the threshold of the town prison. It is what she does after being drawn across the threshold that first caught my attention.

After the “town-beadle” pulls Hester across the threshold, she “repels” him (50). This simple act of pushing his hand aside speaks volumes about Hester without directly stating anything about her character. Due to our background knowledge, we know that Hester is living in Puritanical Salem. Women in any puritan society had fewer rights than men. Hester’s act of repulsion is an act of defiance. She pushes away the her captor’s hands and emerges into the open air “as if by her own free will” (50). I find it interesting that Nathaniel Hawthorne chose this act as the first device by which he would describe Hester. Despite his rich and descriptive language, which he is all too happy to use while describing the character that adorns her blouse, he uses one simplistic act to describe Hester. She pushes away the hand of a man and walks out of the prison, refusing to be guided–Hawthorne describes this as a force of character. This is the first example of indirect characterization of Hester in the novel; and it suggests to me that Hester is a strong and independent young woman.

Farther down page 50, Hawthorne directly characterizes her. “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes” (50). In these two complex sentences, the author paints a rather vivid picture of our assumed heroine. She is a beautiful specimen in a town full of “not unsubstantial persons” (47). I believe that Hawthorne has made Hester beautiful to make a commentary on the nature of sin itself. Even though Hester has committed the crime of adultery, she is still more outwardly, and inwardly, beautiful. This is in direct contrast to the “righteous” woman of the town who fully abide by the laws, and yet they are described as rather ugly. Hawthorne is trying to show that Hester is still a beautiful person, despite her adultery. And maybe, Hawthorne is providing a commentary on the rigidity of the Puritan community and how unaccepting they are of a sinner like themselves.

As the exposition of the book begins, so does Hester’s characterization. Hawthorne gives quite a lot of information about her in the first four chapters, and yet it is not quite enough. The rest of the book will assuredly fill in the gaps; we do not know her full character yet. Hawthorne laid the skeleton in these first few chapters, and he’ll flesh it out as the book continues.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam, 1986. Print. Reissue 2003.

A Pearl of Great Cost

Name: Paulina Smolinski

WordPress user name: paulinasmolinski

Blog Title: Scarlet Reader

This post focuses on Chapters 5-8

When I first read that Hester decided to name her child Pearl, I found it rather ironic. Ideally, a pearl is pure with the image of innocence surrounding it. It calls forth memories of effortless grace and simple beauty. This is quite contrary to the view that the Puritan community would have to the product of an affair. The entire community is expecting the child to be a demon or at least have some terrible faults due to the sin that created her. It is not until Hawthorne address the reasoning behind the little girl’s name that I understand Hawthorne’s choice. “[Hester] named the infant ‘Pearl’ as being of great price- purchased with all she had,- her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne 81). In the context of the novel, the name is meant to represent the great cost that Hester had to pay in order to have her child. Hester was forced to live in constant obloquy with no relief from the reminder of her sin. She gave up her pride and dignity in the community by having Pearl; therefore, Pearl was bought with the cost of everything that Hester had. Furthermore, the reference to the “pearl of great price” comes from the bible verse found in the gospel of Matthew 13:45-46 . It come from the following parable: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Hawthorne references the bible’s idea of a “pearl of great price” to further address the fact that Hester had to give all that she had in order to have baby Pearl.

Looking further into the idea of what else the pearl could symbolize, I found that the rarest pearls occur rather spontaneously in the wild ocean. The wildness and spontaneity of the ocean represents the rambunctious personality that Pearl shows signs of early on in her life.  Pearl is said to have a “wild, desperate, defiant mood, the flightiness of her temper and even some of the cloud shapes of gloom and despondency that had broadened in [Hester’s] heart” (Hawthorne 83).  This personality also shows that she is the embodiment of the spontaneous, defiant relationship that created her.

Overall, the creation of a pearl occurs in nature “quite by accident” when a parasite enters an oyster. The oyster begins to envelop the parasite with calcium carbonate. This parasite enveloped with the covering eventually becomes a beautiful pearl (“A Brief History of Pearls: How Pearls Form in the Oyster”). This is very symbolic of the way that Pearl was created. She was also not planned ahead of time just like a pearl occurs as an accident of nature. Furthermore, the parasite that enters the oyster is symbolic of the sin of adultery that entered the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale. The parasite is still underneath the beauty of the pearl just as the Puritan community believes that Pearl is born with sin inside of her. Pearl’s name gives the reader a deeper look into her character.

Work Cited

“A Brief History of Pearls: How Pearls Form in the Oyster.” A Brief History of Pearls: How         Pearls Form in the Oyster. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.

The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Trenton: I. Collins, 1791. Print.

Symbol in sin

Charles Baker

charlesbbaker

The Scarlet Reader

This post focuses the universal themes one can draw from sin shown in chapters 5-8.

Symbol in Sin

As seen in one of our previous Articles : Nathanial Ha(w)thorne, Nathanial Hawthorne dislikes the puritan culture and feels shame in being related to John Hathorne (the minister in the puritan trials). This bothered him to the point that he changed his name, adding a “w.” He shows this discontent by weaving sin into the fabric of Puritan society with Hester’s Needle. This is done in the paragraph where Hawthorn acknowledges the spread of Hester’s stitching, being used in babies caps, the Governor’s collar, the sashes of military men, the armband of the minister, and the burial shrouds.  I believe that this represents the planting of seeds of dissent among the community. Sin has now touched the children, the leaders, the protectors, the prophets, and the dead. I interpreted this as three possible ways, the first was foreshadowing. It may show how this is the beginning of the end, and how sin will be seen in the community. The children will grow with sin in wearing their caps. The adults will succumb to sin in the community and begin to fail to lead it properly. The dead are now bringing sin into their afterlife’s

The second way I saw this was as a statement on the falsehood of perfect leadership. When we look to the leaders in our community we want to see them as perfect, sometimes to the point of ignoring flaws. An example of this can be seen in the 2008 presidential campaign where Sarah Palin said that Paul Revere was talking about guns on his midnight ride through Boston. McCain, Palin supporters then began to change Wikipedia articles from saying he was warning about the British to saying he was talking about guns, when they knew it wasn’t. In puritanical America, there was a culture like this, where admitting to a mistake is seen as worse than denying a falsehood was stated. We look to our leaders to be infallible and treat them like hero’s, when they are truly just people. Puritans saw their leaders as infallible, as they were chosen by God to lead the community. Many people would blindly follow these men, but by bearing the stitching from a woman of sin, it shows that their leaders are fallible. It is a universal message against hero worship.

When Hawthorn says that the burial shrouds bear Hester’s Stitching, I believe he is making a statement on tradition. The dead cannot be hurt by the sin but he still assigns them to bear the burden. They represent the past, where the culture came from. They are the ones that carried on the traditions of an oppressive culture that revolves around fallowing instead of thinking. Hawthorn assigns sin to the dead by putting the stitching on their coffins, revealing that they are part of the problem as well. By this, one may intemperate a message warning against relying on tradition as it is not always best.

Work cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.