The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hester Prynne
In the Scarlet Letter, Hester faces her sin upon a scaffold, her A sitting on her chest, wrapped in gold thread to express what was said. But that wasn't who Hester was and what she was herself. The small town had rejected her and Pearl, her daughter who is the product of the sin. All Pearl wants is someone who will be her friend and not be so hateful towards her mother, whom she loves dearly. "The door of the jail being flung open from within, there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into the sunshine." (pg 47) in this quote it isn't describing just the scene but Hester with her child. She is dreading on the inside but seems to be joyous on the outside, not letting anything bother her. The whole town stares at her and she feels as if the whole world hates her.
THE SCARLET LETTER
Shadow coming out into the sun
Hester standing upon the scaffold
Pearl
Hester's daughter, the lovely Pearl, is a very mysterious and she seems obsessed with her mother's scarlet letter. "One day, as her mother stopped over the cradle, the infant's eyes had been caught by the glimmering gold of the embroidery about the letter, and, putting up her little hand, grasped at it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam, that made her face look of a much older child." (pg 87) Pearl from infancy can't seem to let go of something that makes her mother, Hester. she has a fit in the last few chapters because her mother has taken off the scarlet letter. "Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweer expressions, remained on the other side of the brook." (pg 197) "But Pearl not a whit startled at her mother's threats and more mollified by her entreaties, now suddenly burst into a fit of passion. (pg 198) Pearl does not like her mother without the Scarlet Letter and does not seem to want to recgonize her.