She is again attempting to make Tara believe that she has unconditional love for her, a trait she ought to have demonstrated at the time of her birth. She is She wanted to be with Robert, but Edna was told by society that she could not have him.
She so badly wanted to fight back and go against the norms, to be who Explain the puritan attitude toward luxury and how Governor Bellingham and the Reverend John Wilson responded to it. Puritans claimed to not believe in luxury and were suppose to abstain from it. However, though professionally Bellingham and Wilson speak against it, they both enjoy luxuries in their own homes and lives. They are living a double life and could be considered hypocrites.
The magistrates are shocked because they believe Hester is raising Pearl in defiance of proper manners. She acts desperate, getting rid of any dignity she has left. She even says she would rather die than lose Pearl. She does this to prove she can be a good mother to Pearl and keep her. Why does Hester feel that Arthur Dimmsdale should speak on her behalf? She says he was her pastor and in charge of her soul, therefore he should know her better than the other men.
Why would Hawthorne have Pearl perform such an uncharacteristically tender action? Hawthorne shows throughout the novel that people are connected and here he is showing us that there is some sort of a connection between Dimmesdale and Pearl after Dimmesdale speaks on behalf of Hester and Pearl.
Chillingsworth says that Dimmesdale spoke with a strange earnestness. Dimmesdale health and physical appearance have deteriorated. He has a nervous demeanor, more than before. Chillingsworth's features have gotten uglier and his complexion has gotten darker. Chillingsworth is getting more evil as time progresses.
Dimmesdale is plagued by something, possibly guilt, that is causing his decline. In Hester's appealing to Dimmesdale for help, in Pearl's solemnly caressing his hand, and in the minister's answering kiss lie solid hints that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father. Hester calls on her inner strength in her attempt to keep Pearl. She argues quite eloquently that the scarlet letter is a badge of shame to teach her child wisdom and help her profit from Hester's sin.
However, Pearl's refusal to answer the catechism question causes the decision of the Church and the State to go against her. Now Hester's only appeal is to Dimmesdale, the man whose reputation she could crush. Pearl once again reveals her wild and passionate nature.
In saying that her mother plucked her from the wild roses that grew by the prison door, she defies both Church and State. While such an answer seems precocious for a small child, the reader must remember that Hawthorne uses characters symbolically to present meaning.
Pearl's action recalls Hester's defiance on the scaffold when she refuses to name the father of her child. The dual nature of Pearl's existence as both happiness and torture is restated in Hester's plea, and this point is taken up by Dimmesdale. The minister's weakened condition and his obvious nervousness suggest how terribly he has been suffering with his concealed guilt. Nevertheless, Dimmesdale adds to Hester's plea when he states that Pearl is a "child of its father's guilt and its mother's shame" but still she has come from the "hand of God.
The minister argues that Pearl will keep Hester from the powers of darkness. And so she is allowed to keep her daughter. Those powers of darkness can be seen in both the strange conversation with Mistress Hibbins and also in the change in Chillingworth.
As if to prove that Hester will be kept from the darkness by Pearl, Hawthorne adds the scene with Mistress Hibbins. While Mr. Wilson says of Pearl, "that little baggage has witchcraft in her," Hester says she would willingly have gone with the Black Man except for Pearl. The English ornamental plants serve as symbols of the principles and ideals of the old world, which cannot be successfully transplanted to America.
The decaying garden can also be read in other ways. Its need of maintenance suggests that Bellingham is not capable of nurturing things—including the society he is supposed to govern.
The fertility of the cabbages and the pumpkins hints at the fundamental incompatibility of ideals with the necessities of life. The garden was intended to provide a pleasing aesthetic experience, but it ends up serving only a practical purpose by growing food. The one aesthetic object that does grow in the garden is a rosebush, which explicitly links ideals to pain—every rose, after all, has its thorn.
It is suggestive of war and violence, but while describing the armor, the narrator takes the opportunity to mention that Bellingham trained as a lawyer. Such a comparison suggests that Bellingham may be incompetent in his newly adopted careers, or at least that he has overextended himself.
Something is clearly awry in a society that allows a woman who admittedly engages in satanic practices to remain a protected and acknowledged member of the community, while it forces Hester, who has erred but once, to live as an outcast and in danger of losing her child. It is Pearl who points out many of these disturbing and significant images. In these scenes, she shows herself to be not only a spiritual help to her mother but also a kind of oracle of truth.
Accurately sensing the sinister aura of the place, she tries to escape out a window. Her impulse also reflects on the relative characters of the two men. Wilson, as she senses, is not to be trusted, while Dimmesdale, although he refuses to acknowledge his guilt, will ultimately remain loyal to her and her mother.
Ace your assignments with our guide to The Scarlet Letter! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Did Hester ever love Chillingworth? What type of work does Chillingworth take on in New England?
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