Character analysis in The Scarlet Letter

¶ … Scarlet Letter

Hester is the protagonist as well as the victim in The Scarlet Letter. She is a strong woman but she is surrounded by a sense of gloom throughout the novel. Her life is one of suffering and most of the images related to her revolve around darkness. Sunlight seems to move away from Hester, signifying her place. As she and Pearl walk through the forest, Pearl notices how the shade surrounds her mother. She tells her the "sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something" (176). While Pearl is too young to understand the weight of what she says, there is truth to it. Pearl knows the lack of light is related to the letter on her mother's chest but she does not know the full truth. Hester even admits to Pearl that she has no sunshine or light to offer her. Hawthorne places Hester in a place of darkness to emphasize the weight of her sin and how that sin will affect the rest of her life in this society. The sin is shame and darkness; the letter is red and the mood and tone are dark. This is the best Hester can hope for and she does well with she has.

Pearl is represented with an array of symbols in The Scarlet Letter. She is a living testament to Hester's sin but she is also Hester's spring of strength. While it is true that she is a constant reminder and symbol of Hester's sin, her youth and innocence to the situation prevent any shame from readers falling on her. Hawthorne presents her as a source of hope and love as the novel progresses. We read, "No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest . . . Here seen only by her eyes, Arthur Dimmesdale, false to God and man, might be, for one moment true" (188). She is also the "very brightest little jet of flame that ever danced upon the earth" (95). Pearl's name is linked the biblical reference of heaven being a pearl of great price. Pearl is a strong-willed and vivacious child, causing Hester to fear she might lose her. Pearl is the happy consequence of an unpleasant encounter. She was the reason that Hester kept going the way she did and she inspired Hester to do great things in the community. Pearl is more than a child conceived out of wedlock; she is a blessing to her mother and this is the kind of light Hester needs to help her make it through the dark times.

Dimmesdale, while a minister, illustrates how he can be just as selfish as the next guy can. When he is talking with Bellingham, Wilson, and Chillingworth about Hester keeping Pearl, it appears as if he is arguing for a good cause. He is speaking about something of which he has direct knowledge and he is able to keep a straight face when discussing this woman and his illegitimate child. Amazingly, he can carry on the conversation without so much as a stutter. He has no problem calling Hester a "poor, sinful woman" (Hawthorne 108) that should keep Pearl because she can "remind her, at every moment, of her fall -- but yet to teach her" (108). This man wants to keep mother and daughter together but his immorality is somehow different from hers for there is nothing to remind him of his fall every waking moment. Dimmesdale is often given a pass because he does eventually do the right thing. However, we should not forget that he was by modern terminology, a deadbeat dad. He may have suffered but his suffering was nowhere near the suffering of Hester's. His appearance changes to reflect what Chillingworth is doing to him; he is becoming thinner and weaker with every passing week and this is just the way Chillingworth wants it. While we might feel sympathy for this man at some point, we should never lose sight of the fact that he could never own up to his sin.

Chillingworth is a man connected to darkness in The Scarlet Letter. From his first mention in the novel, he is a man up to no good and bent on revenge. We read he "strove to go deep into his patient's bosom, delving among his principles, prying into his recollections, and probing every thing with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern" (117). His revenge was exact and it left Dimmesdale in pain. In fact, it was all too easy for the man. We read, "All of this was accomplished with a subtlety so perfect, that the minister, through he had constantly a dim perception of some evil influence watching over him, could never gain a knowledge of its actual nature (133)." His physical appearance changes over time as he becomes consumed with evil. We read he masked his expression with a "smile; but the latter played him false, and flickered over his visage so derisively that the spectator could see his blackness all the better for it" (162). Hawthorne gives us a compelling scene that demonstrates everything that has culminated up to this point when Chillingworth looses strength and shrivels away, "like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun" (251). Chillingworth never changes in the novel; he is evil personified.