In a seventeenth century Puritan society, the New Englanders practiced a form of theocracy, a system of government where the church and its officials hold the power, but the religious leaders served as role models and upholders of religious law and not as politicians. For that reason, it was very common that life in a Puritan town was full of judgment, repentance, and obedience. Nathaniel Hawthorne examines these ideas and the dynamics of Puritan life in The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne faces the wrath of her community after she commits adultery, and they punish her by ordering her to wear a red letter “A,” leaving Hester to years of isolation with a constant reminder of her cataclysmic sin: her untamable daughter Pearl. For several years, Hester, the town’s minister and Pearl’s father, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, try to handle the drama caused by the conception of Pearl, and she ironically works as a dynamic symbol who simplifies the hardships each character experiences through her youthful purity
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With this duty, Pearl acts to show those around her that their sins are not as detrimental as society believes them to be, and the way in which characters react to her symbolizes how they feel about sin. Pearl’s blatant disobedience and neglect of the Puritan moral codes gives the illusion that her character also works as an accidental anachronism. In today’s world, while religion is still an important part of people’s lives, public acceptance and forgiveness of wrongdoings is far greater than it was in the Puritan times. Much like Pearl, modern day people will be more likely to chose to view sin not as a predetermined set of actions but as a fluid idea that transforms from person to person. Therefore, Pearl’s revolutionary character not only symbolizes sin but symbolizes the progression to modern morality and the movement towards a more tolerant
With this duty, Pearl acts to show those around her that their sins are not as detrimental as society believes them to be, and the way in which characters react to her symbolizes how they feel about sin. Pearl’s blatant disobedience and neglect of the Puritan moral codes gives the illusion that her character also works as an accidental anachronism. In today’s world, while religion is still an important part of people’s lives, public acceptance and forgiveness of wrongdoings is far greater than it was in the Puritan times. Much like Pearl, modern day people will be more likely to chose to view sin not as a predetermined set of actions but as a fluid idea that transforms from person to person. Therefore, Pearl’s revolutionary character not only symbolizes sin but symbolizes the progression to modern morality and the movement towards a more tolerant