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

The Foolish Puritans of The scarlet Letter             What is one mans acerbate is anothers meat or drink, Beaumont and Fletcher wrote in one of their plays. Almost everything in the terra firma is interpretable in at least two conflicting ways. In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan society shuns a character named fall, still the author, who lived in the Romantic period, views her with awe and reverence. Nathaniel Hawthornes use of nature imagery in The Scarlet Letter reflects pull togethers wild, capricious character that serves as a constant varan of Hesters sin and whose romantically idealistic beauty frightens the Puritan society.             In Hawthornes descriptions of drop curtain as an infant and toddler, nature imagery emphasizes drops startling beauty and unpredictable, yet innocent, character. Pearls beauty and innocence are apparent from the time of her birth. Hawthorne describes Pearl s innocent vivification as a lovely and immortal flower(Hawthorne 81). Even though Pearl is a product of the guilty passion(81) between Hester and Dimmesdale, both her brain and her body are untainted and flawless.  Hester notices that Pearl has no physical defects, exactly Pearls character has an unexplainable aspect of oddity and unpredictability. When she plays near Hesters cottage, Pearl  smites conquer 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 experienced during their sinful act in some way transferred into Pearls soul. However, Pearls antipathy for the Puritans is justified the children often torment her for no good reason. When Hester and Pearl go into town, the Puritan children stop playing and either surround Pearl and stare at her or prepare to hurl mud at the unfortunate pair. Both actions by the Puritans result in a shot of outrage by Pearl. One reason that the Puritans treat Pearl naughtily 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 hate for Pearl is also due to the fact that she, like Hesters scarlet letter, is beautiful, and they are in a way jealous of both. Supposedly, Hesters scarlet A is a punishment, however 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 make out of