The Scarlet Letter

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Term Paper Title	The Scarlet Letter
# of Words	478
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	1.91

The Scarlet Letter

        The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism.  People and
objects are symbolic of events and thoughts.  Throughout the course of the
book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to
signify Puritanic and Romantic philosophies.
        Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme
sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery.  For
this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest
of her life.  However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the
Puritanic beliefs.  She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is
forgiven.  Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do
no wrong.  Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical
sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a
beautiful, gold and colorful piece.
        Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of
sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed.  The reader
more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly
at all, places Pearl above the rest.  She wears colorful clothes, is
extremely smart, pretty, and nice.  More often than not, she shows her
intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics.  One of Pearl's
favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees.  (The reader will
recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans.  To
Hawthorne, however, the forest was beautiful and natural.) "And she was
gentler here [the fores...

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