The+Scarlet+Letter

=**Title of the Work**= //The Scarlet Letter// =Author= Nathaniel Hawthorne =Nationality/Ethnic Background= American Literature - Colonial =Genre and Sub-genres= New England Romance and Historical Fiction =Pertinent Biographical Information=
 * Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 and died 1864
 * Influenced by: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Long-fellow, Franklin Pierce,and Margaret Fuller
 * Married painter and Transcendentalist author Sophia Peabody in 1842 with whom he would have three children

=Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background= American Romanticism

=Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts= Hester Prynne: A beautiful, young woman who comes to the Americas with her husband, Chillingworth. However, her husband takes a separate ship, and fails to arrive on time. While waiting for him to return home, Hester commits adultry, and through her forbidden love, ends up pregnant. Hester has the child and her name is Pearl. The father of this child is the pastor, Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter "A" on her bosom as evidence of committing the sin of adultery. This letter lets everyone know she has committed a sin and that she is now an adultress. She is transformed by this experience

Pearl Prynne: Hester and Rev. Dimmesdale's daughter, product of sin, is a peculiar child, impish, and very intuitive. She doesn't fit into society well and easily conveys her mothers emotions. At times when Hester is particularly upset, Pearl turns into a demon-like child and is very temperamental but is also quite beautiful.

Roger Chillingworth: Hester's husband who did not make it to America on time and Hester thought he was dead. When he arrives in America he finds his wife with a child and on trial for adultry. Not allowing the rest of the community to know who he is, he begins to seek revenge on Hester's lover by acting as a physician and physically hurting Dimmesdale. A hunched over, ugly scholar, Chillingworth's mental state matched his physical appearance.

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale: The local minister who is also Hester's minister. Rev. Dimmesdale is the father of Hester's illegitimate child. Rev. Dimmesdale is Hester's lover; Riddled with guilt, he's becomes very sickly. Rev. Dimmesdale is a thin and pale man who always looks like he is in pain. He desperately wants to repent his sins, and tries to give the community subtle clues. However, each time he tries to confess his sins, the people only hold him to a higher regard. He hires Chillingworth as a physician and beings taking medication from him, while secretly still in love with Hester, unaware that Chillingworth is in fact Hester's husband.

=**Brief Plot Summary**= Hester Prynne is a woman in 1642 Boston who has just given birth to an illegitimate daughter, she is being released from prison so she can parade around the town. Believing her husband, Chillingworth, to be dead, she has aquired a lover, Dimmesdale, who is the minister of the town. Hester, with Dimmesdale has a child who is named Pearl. She refuses to release the name of the father of the baby so he can escape punishment. He adopts a fake name, Chillingworth, after having been lost at sea, arrives at the town to discover the bastard child and Hester wearing a scarlet "A" to indicate that she has committed adultry. She reveals Chillingworth's true identity to Dimmesdale and they make a plan to leave Boston and go to England. The minister is unable to go through with this plan and confesses his sin to the people.His dying act is to throw open his shirt to reveal the "A" he has carved on his chest. When he dies he leaves all his money to pearl.Hester and Pearl finally escape the community where they have been outcasts for so many years and return to the Old World (England).Hester returns to New England community that had been the site of her shame, resuming the scarlet letter of her own will. When she dies she is buried near the minister and they share a gravestone. Marked on the gravestone is a scarlet letter A drawn over a black background.

=Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance= The Prison Door - Symbolic of starting, the beginning Rosebush - Symbolic of both Hester Rose and Pearl. The rosebush is a symbol showing the ability of nature to outlast human activity. Sunshine - Symbolic of love, tust, and ease Scarlet letter- The letter is a symbol of Hester's identity (adultress) Pearl- Pearl is a symbol. She is a living version of her mothers sin and the scarlet letter. Not only does Pearl respresent sin she also represents the passion leading to Hester and Dimmesdale's sin.

Motifs: 1. The prospect of sin in everyone 2. Soothing influences of maternity 3. Human frailty and sorrow 4. Severity of the Puritan Character 5. Civilization vs. Wilderness 6. Night vs. Day 7. Trust 8. Religion

=Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)= Pearl's name acts as a significant metaphor. Like a true pearl, she is something beautiful, purchased at a great price.

"This child of its father's guilt and its mother's shame hath come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who pleads so earnestly, and with such bitterness of spirit, the right to keep her. It was meant for a blessing; for the one blessing of her life!" (pg. 91 see theme four)

"... people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful." (pg. 43 see motif four)

=Major Themes= 1. Pretending to be someone you are not, you become confused with your true personality.

2. Children have the ability to act as their parent's saving grace.

3.Committing a sin may lead to great personal injury.

4. Religious beliefs effect the view of others.

5. Committing sins causes trust issues.