The Foolish Puritans of The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Foolish Puritans of The scarlet Letter             What is unitary mans poison is anothers meat or drink, Beaumont and Fletcher wrote in one of their plays. Almost everything in the world is interpretable in at least two conflicting ways. In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan society shuns a character named bead, yet the author, who lived in the Romantic period, views her with awe and reverence. Nathaniel Hawthornes use of temperament imaging in The Scarlet Letter reflects Pearls wild, capricious character that serves as a constant reminder of Hesters sin and whose romantically idealistic cup of tea frightens the Puritan society.             In Hawthornes descriptions of Pearl as an infant and toddler, nature imagery emphasizes Pearls startling beauty and unpredictable, yet innocent, character. Pearls beauty and innocence argon manifest from the time of her birth. Hawthorne describes Pearls innocen t life as a lovely and immortal vertex(Hawthorne 81). Even though Pearl is a product of the guilty love(81) between Hester and Dimmesdale, both her soul and her body are untainted and flawless.  Hester notices that Pearl has no physical defects, but Pearls character has an unexplainable aspect of hook and unpredictability. When she plays near Hesters cottage, Pearl  smites down and uproots most unmercifully the ugliest weeds(87) which she pretends are the Puritan children. Hester believes that Pearl is so emotional and temperamental because the passion which Hester and Dimmesdale slang during their sinful act somehow transferred into Pearls soul. However, Pearls antipathy for the Puritans is justified the children often overrefinement her for no good footing. When Hester and Pearl go into town, the Puritan children stop play and either surround Pearl and stare at her or arrange to hurl mud at the unfortunate pair. Both actions by the Puritans result in a fit of outrage by Pearl. One reason that the Puritans treat Pearl badly is because of her mothers sin. The Puritans believe that since Pearl is the product of adultery, she is automatically evil and depraved. The Puritan hatred for Pearl is also due to the event that she, like Hesters scarlet letter, is beautiful, and they are in a way grasping of both. Supposedly, Hesters scarlet A is a punishment, but she embroiders it richly and wears it with subtle pride. When the Puritans first see the A, they want to replace it with an A made out of