#serrina

This was such an wonderful evening!

photo courtesy of seoinbound.co.uk

“Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined, when they beheld at once the material union and the spiritual idea, in whom they met, and were to dwell immortally together?”

Hawthorne implies that Hester and Dimmesdale will eternally be together, both in the physical life and after life. These two will be connected, be it in heaven or in hell. “The maternal union” is the thing they created together, Pearl, and the “the spiritual idea” is the passionate feelings they have for one another. Hester and Dimmesdale are connected together physically and spiritually, even if they had sinned while possessing such passion for each other.

“She had been offered to the world, these seven years past, as the living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to hide, - all written in this symbol – all plainly manifest, - had there been a prophet or magician skilled to read the character of flame!”

Pearl is often referred to, in some way or another, as Hester’s scarlet letter vivified. The affair between Hester and Dimmesdale has been kept a secret for Pearl’s entire life; the only indicators that the affair happened are the scarlet letter and Pearl herself. She is a living representation of the symbol of the scarlet letter, hence Hawthorne’s use of the world “hieroglyphic.” While the rest of Puritan society has found the direct connection between Pearl and the scarlet letter, it has failed to realize that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father and thus the reason for the scarlet letter’s existence in the first place. Until Dimmesdale confesses his sin, Pearl is simply a manifestation of the scarlet letter with no known correlation to the reverend.

"How my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it!” 

Dimmesdale says this line during his conversation with Hester about Pearl. Hester is about to introduce Dimmesdale to Pearl, but Dimmesdale is worried about meeting her. He fears that Pearl will ask him to stand on the scafford with her and Hester, but Dimmesdale is not ready to publicly stand with them. He is not ready to stand with them as he does not want to publicly confess his sin yet. This line helps describe where Dimesdale stand currently. At that moment, he is still trying to keep his sin private yet he wants to be able to publicly repent and openly stand with Hester and Pearl. He is still conflicted in his battle of whether to hold his sin privately or publicly. The word “interview” also adds impact to how he fears his meeting with Pearl, making the meeting sound like a formality, a interaction in which he will be judged in.

“Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalizing manner, estranged from Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely ramble through the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainly seeking to return it.”

Since Pearl’s birth, she and Hester have lived in isolation. They have cultivated their own little world of alienation. In this moment of the story, Hester and Pearl are at the book, and Hester catches a glimpse of Pearl in which the child is lit by a ray of sunshine. Up until this point, Hester has referred to her daughter as a “demon.” This is the first time she sees Pearl literally in a new light, in which she is a beautiful and innocent child. Because of this suddenly new and brief perspective of Pearl, Hester feels as though Pearl has escaped their lonely world of isolation.

“…as Hester had spoken of drowning it in the deep sea, there was a sense of inevitable doom upon her, as she thus received back this deadly symbol from the hand of fate.”

A major theme of the novel is isolation and, moreover, Hester’s inability to escape it. For years, she has struggled with her inner desire to remove the scarlet letter and destroy it. Here, she toys with the idea of drowning it. However, she knows deep down that the scarlet letter will always haunt her, and escape is impossible. Even if she were to confess her sin and rightfully be stripped of the scarlet letter, she will still live her life with a feeling of guilt and the sentiment that she deserves to be damned. Rather than taking her chance to destroy the symbol or rightfully be rid of it, she has accepted that it is her fate to forever be haunted by the scarlet letter’s existence.

"Now thou art my mother indeed! and I am thy little Pearl!" 

Looking at Danto's theory, we can see that the Scarlet Letter is an art piece to a certain little girl, Pearl. Pearl views the Scarlet Letter the way a person looks at a mesmerizing art piece. She looks at the Scarlet Letter with aesthetic pleasure and is always curious about it's meaning. There is an “aboutness” to the Scarlet Letter that she even always asks Hester what it means. Pearl has a strong attachment to the Scarlet Letter that she even says that she wants to wear one like her mom's. In Chapter Nineteen she does not accept Hester until Hester puts the Scarlet Letter back on. “Seen in the brook once more was the shadowy wrath of Pearl's image, crowned and girdled with flowers, but stamping its foot, wildly gesticulating, and, in the midst of all, still pointing its small forefinger at Hester's bosom.” (Hawthorne, Chapter 19) Pearl points firmly to Hester that she wasn't wearing her Scarlet Letter, making Hester realize how she needed to endure wearing it a little longer in order to make Pearl happy.

Another example of a connection to CORE is how there is always a fear of the Other. Looking at Sartre's concept of the Other and how Dimmesdale can not publicly announce his sin, we can see that he fears the Other. Dimmesdale chooses to keep his sin private and to himself rather than publicly confessing it in order to repent.

“'Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?'

"Not now, my child," answered Hester. (Hawthorne, Chapter 19)

Dimmesdale is not ready to publicly stand beside Hester and Pearl. He fears how society will view him as they put so much trust in him and view him as the man who will lead everyone to heaven. As a result, Dimmesdale suffers internally and becomes weaker and weaker the longer he keeps his sin private.

Pearl is also a victim of word magic. She, just like everyone else in the community, think that the Scarlet Letter “A” means something. She continues to wonder what the “A” stand for and puts much value into it, so much she won't hug her mom until she has the Scarlet Letter back on her chest. The “A” is not actually “adultery,” “angel,” “abysmal,” or anything, it is just an “A.” “The word is not the thing.” That is something Pearl and those in society does not understand.