Imagine losing the respect of your entire community including friends and family, all because of letter embroidered on the bosom of your clothes. Often times in puritan society adultery was punishable by death; however, in Hester Prynn’s case, her husband was allegedly dead from travel to New England, so she was required to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ as punishment for her sin. Not only is the scarlet letter punishment of her sin, her daughter Pearl becomes the living embodiment of the scarlet letter and a daily reminder of Hester’s sin. Interestingly enough, Hester’s husband reappears in society and creates a new identity for himself as Roger Chillingworth only to be obsessed with finding who the father of Pearl is. While Chillingworth
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Hester's way of going about life was diminished by pearl, and God was constantly punishing her for her sin with Pearl as her scarlet letter: “Therefore it is good for this poor, sinful woman that she has an infant immortality, a being capable of eternal joy or sorrow, confided to her care,-to be trained up by her to righteousness,-to remind her, at every moment of her fall…” (178). The elf child is a living reminder of Hester’s sin, as a life without Pearl would be the equivalent of Hester's life without sin. While caring for Pearl was Hester’s penance for her crime of adultery, she was often glared at by society as a disgraceful, satanic woman as she is accompanied by Pearl. In a familiar fashion, Pearl herself as a constant reminder also constantly reminds Hester of her sin. Pearl knowingly “grasped at it, smiling, not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her face the look of a much older child. Them, gasping for breath, did Hester Prynne clutch the fatal token, instinctively endeavouring to tear it away…” (150). Caused heavily by Pearl’s constant nagging of Hester about the scarlet A, the mental deterioration of Hester and her overall lack of spirit and motivation is displayed throughout the novel. As a permanent penance for the passionate sin she committed, Hester’s precious gift from God came at a price for the humiliation that it
Hester's way of going about life was diminished by pearl, and God was constantly punishing her for her sin with Pearl as her scarlet letter: “Therefore it is good for this poor, sinful woman that she has an infant immortality, a being capable of eternal joy or sorrow, confided to her care,-to be trained up by her to righteousness,-to remind her, at every moment of her fall…” (178). The elf child is a living reminder of Hester’s sin, as a life without Pearl would be the equivalent of Hester's life without sin. While caring for Pearl was Hester’s penance for her crime of adultery, she was often glared at by society as a disgraceful, satanic woman as she is accompanied by Pearl. In a familiar fashion, Pearl herself as a constant reminder also constantly reminds Hester of her sin. Pearl knowingly “grasped at it, smiling, not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her face the look of a much older child. Them, gasping for breath, did Hester Prynne clutch the fatal token, instinctively endeavouring to tear it away…” (150). Caused heavily by Pearl’s constant nagging of Hester about the scarlet A, the mental deterioration of Hester and her overall lack of spirit and motivation is displayed throughout the novel. As a permanent penance for the passionate sin she committed, Hester’s precious gift from God came at a price for the humiliation that it