22624680 the Scarlet Letter

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red letter “A” for adultery, symbolizing how much their sin stands out once both have

confessed to it.

Characters: Hester Prynne: Hester is a tenacious and passionate young woman who keeps

her words, acts ashamed for society, and begins to question whether the Puritans truly are

right in their harshness. She is believable since it is perfectly reasonable for a stubbornwoman whom society chastises to begin to wonder whether society is right in its austerity

towards her.

Arthur Dimmesdale: Dimmesdale is a fiercely devout Puritan minister who continually punishes himself for his adultery with Hester, hoping that by paying enough penance for

it he will begin to regret doing it. He is believable because many Puritan ministers were

extremely pious and believed fully in the tenets of Puritanism, and it would not be

unreasonable for one who breaks one of the Ten Commandments not only to punishhimself for it but also to long to feel remorse for his sin like he should according to his

religion’s rules.

Roger Chillingworth: He is a kind and respectable young man turned fiend out of intense

desires for revenge against whoever violated the virginity of his wife. He is believable because often when people marry someone they think they can trust and find out that

something has happened to violate that trust they become vindictive and wish to ruinwhoever caused the trust to break.

Minor Character: Pearl Prynne: She is the illegitimate child of Hester and Dimmesdale

and her wild temperament reflects the act of passion that brought her into the world. Her

purpose is to be an ever-present reminder of Hester’s sin of passion and be a livingsymbol of the scarlet letter.

Conflict: The novel has several basic conflicts, all of which carry equal yet strongsignificance. The first is an internal conflict within Dimmesdale, who longs to reveal the

truth but cannot bring himself to do it. A second conflict is another internal conflict, this

time within Hester since she longs to be with Dimmesdale but knows she must quietlyaccept society’s ostracism. Another is an external conflict between Dimmesdale and

Chillingworth. It does not come full out until Dimmesdale finds that Chillingworth

continually has been prying at his heart to exact his revenge. A minor conflict is betweenHester and Pearl since Hester tries to raise Pearl to be a standard Puritan but Pearl’s

nature prevents this from happening.

Theme: Confess dark secrets openly and do not torture those who do with exclusion.

Structure: Hawthorne divided the book into twenty-four chapters. The structure is not

confusing, and it is effective because Hawthorne stays with one plot line long enough tocreate suspense before moving on to another plot line. The point-of-view does not

change.

Symbols: Pearl: Pearl symbolizes the scarlet letter and Hester’s adulterous act of passion.

It is an effective symbol since she always has a passionate and rebellious side that comes

out and since she is the result of Hester’s sin.



The scarlet letter: The scarlet letter symbolizes Hester’s passion, sin, and forced shame. It

is an effective symbol since it is ubiquitous throughout the novel and Hawthorne

constantly makes references to it.The Woods: The woods are a gloomy place of darkness where the evil Black man lives

and witches supposedly hold meetings. It also serves as a refuge for the two sinners

Hester and Dimmesdale as they finally discuss their act of adultery. It is effective becauseit causes the juxtaposition of clear evildoers, the Black man and witches like Mistress

Hibbins, with the secretive pair of sinners of Hester and Dimmesdale.

The Prison: The prison symbolizes the severity of the Puritans’ punishment and thedarkness of sin but yet the possibility for redemption in the rosebush at its door as well. It

is effective because it appears at the beginning of the novel and sets up the story

remarkably well.

The Scaffold: The scaffold is a symbol of the Puritans’ harsh shame that they impose onthose who commit very obvious sins. It is a successful symbol because it returns twice

more to emphasize the secret sins of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth and the public sin of

Hester.

Title: The title refers to the scarlet letter Hester must wear and it insinuates that the letter

will have great importance. It successfully relates to the symbolism of the scarlet letter.

Tone: The tone generally is solemn but Hawthorne does use irony like on page 120 when

it says that it is an absolute miracle of Heaven that the physician Chillingworth should

happened to end up at the door of the ailing Dimmesdale’s study. He also uses hyperboleoften, like on page 242 in describing the dying Chillingworth.

Use of Time: It is chronological within a flashback.

Recurring Motifs: iron, plants, truth, the juxtaposition of light and darkness, Dimmesdale

putting his hand on his heart, and the color red.

Pace: The pace is moderately slow because of its use of an old style of writing and some

antiquated terms, but it is not dreadfully slow.

Style: He writes in a style common of his time that is now out-of-date. His use of

symbolism is very obvious but his irony is not always as evident. He uses well-developed

diction, though does use the same words to describe the same things throughout thenovel, like calling Dimmesdale’s voice powerful and sweet. Sentence length varies, but

he wastes no words. He often uses parenthetical remarks set off by dashes to add further

information and uses other punctuation extensively.

Purpose: Hawthorne is retelling a story that appeared as early as 1837, according to the

book’s forward. It is yet another example of Hawthorne’s internal struggle between hisadmiration and detestation of his Puritan ancestors. He wrote it partially to express his

disappointment at the Puritans’ austerity but also to relate the moral of encouraging

people to confess their sins and forgive others of theirs.

Quotes:



1. “What can thy silence do but tempt him – yea, compel him, as it were – to add

hypocrisy to sin? …Take heed how thou deniest to him – who, perchance, hath not the

courage to grasp it for himself – the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented tothy lips!” (Hawthorne 73) Character

Speaker: Rev. DimmesdaleTo: Hester

Dimmesdale says this while Hester is on the scaffold originally and the leadPuritan ministers are trying to get Hester to reveal identity of the father of her child. They

call on Dimmesdale to try to get her to confess since he is her pastor. In this quote he is

not just asking Hester to reveal himself as the father, but pleading for her to do it since he

knows he will not be able to bring himself to do it. He hopes that Hester will expose himso he will not have to do it himself.

2. “Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit, but,

by some irregularity in the process of conjuration, has failed to win the master-word thatshould control this new and incomprehensible intelligence.” (95) Character

Speaker: Narrator

To: Reader

This passage is from the chapter devoted to describing Pearl. It reveals thevolatility of Pearl’s temperament by calling her a conjured spirit, and also shows Hester’s

exasperation with the child. Hester is not quite sure of what to make of the child or what

to do with the child.

3. “Meeting them in the street, she never raised her head to receive them in their greeting.

If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter, and passed on.This might be pride, but it was so like humility, that it produced all the softening

influence of the latter quality on the public mind.” (156) Character

Speaker: Narrator

To: Reader

Over the course of her years with the scarlet letter, Hester becomes a freethinkingindividual with all sorts of ideas about the Puritan religion that the ministers would have

considered blasphemous. One of her thoughts is that she is somehow higher that the rest

of the public since she is not a blind sheep following the supposedly good shepherds of the Puritan hierarchy. She chooses not to mingle with people and passes off her pride

cleverly as humility.

4. “Then tell her… that I spake again with the black-a-visaged hump-shouldered old

doctor, and he engages to bring his friend, the gentleman she wots of, aboard with him.”

(229) Character

Speaker: Seaman of the Spanish Main



To: Pearl

Here the sailor wishes Pearl to carry a message to Hester that Chillingworth has bought a ticket for the same ship ride to Europe as she and Dimmesdale have. This

displays the tremendous tenacity that Chillingworth has in his revenge toward

Dimmesdale. Chillingworth has not yet had his fill of it and plans on continuing hisfiendish ways in Europe.

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22624680 the Scarlet Letter