Like Hester, Pearl is painfully aware of her isolation. She has an innate sense that Hester's scarlet letter is linked to their rejection by society. She pleads with her mother to explain the letter's origin. Pearl's obsession with the letter makes Hester think Pearl is possessed. But it's the secret surrounding the sin that obsesses Pearl .
Analysis. This chapter develops Pearl both as a character and as a symbol. Pearl is a mischievous and almost unworldly child, whose uncontrollable nature reflects the sinful passion that led to her birth. Pearl's character is closely tied to her birth, which justifies and makes the "other worldliness" about her very important.
· Analysis of the Chapter 6. In chapter 6, the author develops Pearl’s character as well as her symbolic role. She is mischievous and uncontrollable, which is a reflection of the sinful act that resulted in her birth. She is both a product as well as a symbol of an act of love, adultery, a sin, an act of passion, and most importantly, a crime.
· The difference between tone and mood lies in the focus of each: Tone reflects the author's attitude about the subject and the audience, while mood expresses how you, as a reader, feel when reading ...
But the object that most captures her imagination is the scarlet letter A on her mother's clothing. Hester worries that Pearl is possessed by a fiend, an impression strengthened when Pearl denies having a Heavenly Father and then laughingly demands that Hester tell her where she came from. Analysis.
Chapter 6 - Pearl. During her first three years, Pearl, who is so named because she came "of great price," grows into a physically beautiful, vigorous, and graceful little girl. She is radiant in the rich and elaborate dresses that Hester sews for her. Inwardly, however, Pearl possesses a complex character.
Pearl's character is closely tied to her birth, which justifies and makes the "other worldliness" about her very important. She is a product and a symbol of the act of adultery, an act of love, an act of passion, a sin, and a crime.
Because both Hester and Pearl are excluded from society, they are constant companions. When Pearl is on walks with her mother, she occasionally finds herself surrounded by the curious children of the village. Rather than attempt to make friends with them, she pelts them with stones and violent words.
Pearl's only companion in her playtime is her imagination . Significantly, in her games of make-believe, she never creates friends; she creates only enemies — Puritans whom she pretends to destroy. But the object that most captures her imagination is the scarlet letter A on her mother's clothing. Hester worries that Pearl is possessed by a fiend, an impression strengthened when Pearl denies having a Heavenly Father and then laughingly demands that Hester tell her where she came from.
In chapter 6, the author develops Pearl’s character as well as her symbolic role. She is mischievous and uncontrollable, which is a reflection of the sinful act that resulted in her birth. She is both a product as well as a symbol of an act of love, adultery, a sin, an act of passion, and most importantly, a crime.
Due to their exclusion from society, Pearl and Hester become permanent companions. Whenever Pearl accompanies her mother, she constantly gets attention from curious village children. However, instead of socializing with them, Pearl hurls violent words at them and pelts them with stones.
During playtime, Pearl’s sole companion is her imagination. Furthermore, in her make-believe games, she only creates enemies whereby she simulates destroying the Puritans. However, the scarlet letter A on Hester’s attire dominates her imagination. Hester is concerned that her daughter might be possessed by a monster. This suspicion is further heightened by Pearl’s denial of a heavenly father. She jokingly demands to know where she came from.
The language used, the way scenes are described, and the twists and turns of the plot can all play a part in creating mood for the reader. Just like with tone, you can use adjectives to express how this particular story feels for you. Many readers find The Scarlet Letter rather grim and quite sad. Even when we know in the end that Pearl has escaped the life she might have endured in Boston by living in Europe, we still feel sad that Hester is separated from her daughter by the wide expanse of the ocean. The tone of sadness is maintained to the very end of the novel, only slightly relieved by the knowledge that Hester helps others who suffer: '...as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble.'
Tone is the way in which the author uses language, description, and dialogue to express his or her feeling about the subject and the audience. Hawthorne did not approve of the harsh view of human behavior taken by the Puritans and used his tale of emotionally painful (and permanent) punishment to express this tone in The Scarlet Letter.
Both tone and mood relate to the way the story is told by the author: language, details, word choice, and sentence structure. Both terms can be discussed using appropriate adjectives. The difference between tone and mood lies in the focus of each: Tone reflects the author's attitude about the subject and the audience, while mood expresses how you, as a reader, feel when reading. In the case of The Scarlet Letter, both tone and mood are usually described as gloomy, grim, and rather sad.
As we already discussed, mood is the overall feeling the reader gets from the work of literature. Of course, every reader brings something slightly different to the experience. For example, if you grew up in a strict religious environment but no longer believe in those ideas and rules, you might feel more sympathy for Hester's situation. On the other hand, if you are currently following strict religious teachings, you might have more understanding of the reaction of the other characters. Neither of these responses is right or wrong - only different. And, this difference might affect the mood of the story for you personally.
If you think about tone in the sense of tone of voice, you will recognize that tone arises from how the author tells the story. You know that a simple statement like 'Well, thanks a lot' could sound truly appreciative or sarcastic and scornful - depending on the tone in which the statement is said. Tone in fiction works in a similar way. When the village people publicly shame Hester on the scaffold, Hawthorne chooses language that makes the reader feel the shame and sorrow Hester felt: '...under the leaden infliction which it was her doom to endure, she felt, at moments, as if she must needs shriek out with the full power of her lungs, and cast herself from the scaffold down upon the ground, or else go mad at once.'
Hawthorne did not approve of the harsh view of human behavior taken by the Puritans and used his tale of emotionally painful (and permanent) punishment to express this tone in The Scarlet Letter.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter tells a story of love, collective punishment, and salvation in Puritan, colonial Massachusetts. Through the character of Hester Prynne, who has been forced, as punishment for committing adultery, to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest for the remainder ...
As such, this token’s effect on the townspeople is quite strong—magical even: the Scarlet Letter had “the effect of a spell.” This is notable because it reveals both the group’s reverence of and deference toward higher, more spiritual and invisible powers. In addition, it indicates how much power this punishment has over them as a form of deterrence toward future transgressions.
The narrator states that Pearl’s duty is, or might be, to “soothe away the sorrow that lay cold in her mother’s heart,” which is a very kind role for a daughter to play for her mother, but is somewhat ironic since Pearl is the living embodiment of Prynne’s slings and arrows.
It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself.” (Chapter II, “The Market-Place”)
“The truth was, that the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant brood that ever lived, had got a vague idea of something outlandish, unearthly, or at variance with ordinary fashions, in the mother and child; and therefore scorned them in their hearts, and not unfrequently reviled them with their tongues.” (Chapter VI, “Pearl”)
Hester found comfort, only, while Pearl lay peacefully in sleep
Pearl, at home, would use inanimate objects (such as rocks, flowers, and twigs) as imaginary friends to play with and speak to
The Scarlet Letter. Here are some examples of Nathaniel Hawthorne's most familiar quotes from The Scarlet Letter. In these examples, you will see how the author touches on deep psychological and romantic themes, heavily inspired by Puritan New England. "It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along ...
Chapter XVIII, 'A Flood of Sunshine'. "She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.". Chapter XVIII, 'A Flood of Sunshine'. "No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.".
Chapter XV , 'Hester and Pearl'. "She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness. Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread.
Chapter II , 'The Market-Place'. "When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips.". Chapter III, 'The Recognition'.
A. The speaker believes that she and her peers ought to be in charge of assigning sentences in cases like Hester's.
Meagre, indeed, and cold, was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself.
A. Hester resists serving her sentence in front of the crowd.
Lastly, in lieu of these shifting scenes, came back the rude market-place of the Puritan settlement, with all the townspeople assembled and levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne, —yes, at herself,—who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter A, in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom!