How is pearl dressed

God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was on that same dishonored bosom, to connect her parent for ever with the race and descent of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in Heaven! Yet these thoughts affected Hester Prynne less with hope than apprehension. She knew that her deed had been evil; she could have no faith, therefore, that its result would be for good.

How strange it seemed to Hester, as she watched her daughter grow more beautiful and more intelligent every day! Hester bought the child by parting with the only treasure she had: her virtue! As the direct result of the sin that man had punished, God had given her a lovely child. She connected her mother to the rest of mankind, and she would eventually become a blessed soul in Heaven!

Yet these thoughts gave Hester more fear than hope. She knew she had committed an evil act, so she had no faith that its result would be good. Day after day, she watched fearfully as the child grew, always dreading the emergence of some dark and wild trait derived from the guilt in which she was conceived. Certainly, there was no physical defect.

The child had a native grace which does not invariably coexist with faultless beauty; its attire, however simple, always impressed the beholder as if it were the very garb that precisely became it best.

But little Pearl was not clad in rustic weeds. Her mother, with a morbid purpose that may be better understood hereafter, had bought the richest tissues that could be procured, and allowed her imaginative faculty its full play in the arrangement and decoration of the dresses which the child wore, before the public eye. Throughout all, however, there was a trait of passion, a certain depth of hue, which she never lost; and if, in any of her changes, she had grown fainter or paler, she would have ceased to be herself;—it would have been no longer Pearl!

Certainly, Pearl had no physical defect. Hester dresses Pearl in red so she can represent her scarlet letter. How is Pearl dressed, and what is her dress compared to? Pearl is wearing a scarlet dress with gold embroidery. She is compared to the living version of the scarlet letter.

Pearl runs back to the brook and washes the kiss off. Dimmesdale tells Chillingworth that he no longer needs his help or his medicine. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest, she impulsively takes off the letter and throws it away. When Pearl sees her mother without the letter, she reacts by screaming and crying until Hester puts the letter back on.

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Ben Davis May 14, Hawthorne chides these self-righteous Puritans and likens their concern to a dispute in Puritan courts involving the right of property in a pig.

Hawthorne also designs this chapter to advance the reader's knowledge of Pearl, both in appearance and actions. She is constant motion with "rich and luxuriant beauty. When the Puritan children fling mud at Pearl, she scares them off. She is an "angel of judgement," an "infant pestilence. Her actions seem to be preternatural behavior in such a young child. Her scarlet dress, a product of Hester's imagination and needle, seems to intensify her "fire and passion.

When Hester is told the governor cannot see her immediately, she firmly tells the servant she will wait. Her determined manner indicates to the servant how strongly she feels about the issue of Pearl's guardianship. Because the servant is new in the community, he has not heard the story of the scarlet letter.

The beautifully embroidered emblem on her dress and her determination cause him to think she is a person of some influence. Hawthorne emphasizes the servant's recent arrival to impress upon the reader the well-known nature of the scarlet letter's story.

Bellingham's house is described as a mansion of fantasy: cheery, gleaming, sunny, and having "never known death. Bellingham's home is a mixture of stern Puritan portraits and Old World comforts. Is it any wonder that the polished mirror of the breastplate on Bellingham's armor plays tricks on the eyes?