Scarica Character Analysis in The Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne, Pearl, and Other Key Figures e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE SCARLETT LETTER Character Analysis Hester Prynne - she starts out life in a small village in England with two loving parents. She is pretty, intelligent, and passionate. Unfortunately, Hester makes the mistake of marrying an elderly scholar. Probably drawn to him because of his intelligence and his plans to travel to the ‘new world”. Hoping for adventure she instead finds herself in the company of a puritan friend of the family. She is sent ahead to Boston to await her husband, who doesn’t arrive. While she is alone in a new place she takes up with the handsome unattached minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. Their affair is discovered when she becomes pregnant. She is shunned by the townspeople, especially when she refuses to name her lover. He lets her take the public punishments of being forced to stand 3 hours on the scaffold in the town square to be ridiculed by the puritans and to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest the rest of her life. She suffers her shame and continues to do good deeds and help the poor. Her needlework becomes much in demand and earns her a meager living for herself and her daughter. From her vantage point as the town pariah she can see much of the happenings of the town. Especially its treatment of women. Pearl - she is the illegitimate daughter of Hester. Though a small child, she sees what others do not. She is wise beyond her years, but very mischievous. The townspeople spread rumors that she is the daughter of the Devil. She often torments her mother regarding the letter she wears. Her mother goes between wondering if Pearl is her gift from God, or her torment from the Devil. Roger Chillingworth - he is the estranged husband of Hester Prynne. Having sent her ahead to the colonies while he settled his affairs in England he loses touch with her. After being captured and then released by the Native Americans he finally arrives in Boston, just in time to see her on the scaffold with her illegitimate baby. Since he is a scholar, he uses that knowledge and what he learned from the Native Americans to pose as a doctor. He forces Hester to not reveal his identity so he can exact his revenge on her and find out who the father is. His character becomes more twisted and hateful as revenge starts to twist his soul. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale - after becoming famous for his sermons in England, he migrates to Boston to spread the word. There he meets and becomes involved with Hester. Although he never admits to fathering her child, and doesn't share in her shame publicly, he punishes himself privately. His punishments become quite severe and begin to effect his health. This brings the townspeople to let Chillingworth to move in with him for his continual care. Of course, Chillingworth sees this as a way to up his psychological torture of Dimmesdale since he begins to suspect the secret tormenting him is Hester's also. Even with all this going on Dimmesdale eloquence continue to improve and his messages on the pulpit are better and better. Reverend John Wilson, Governor Bellingham and his sister, Mistress Hibbons - the reverend is old school puritan, preaching harsh punishmentts for sinners. Governor Bellingham is the benevolent old puritan, the fatherly figure. What he doesn't know is that his sister, who lives with him, is a practicing witch. Whenever Mistress Hibbons shows up in the story, the reader is shown the hidden evils. The Narrator - a young man who has been given the boring job of customhouse official in Salem, Massachusetts. He feels ostracized from the older, corrupt men who have had this job for years. So, he wanders around exploring the building. While searching through the attic he comes across the manuscript this book is based on. Wanting to become a writer, but not feeling it is a respectable job, he waits to begin until after he loses his job with the changes in the government upon the election of a new President.
