Nathaniel Hawthorne had many different characters in his novel The Scarlet Letter, but very few of them are actually put

to use. In fact, only four of them really count. They are Hester Prynne, Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger

Chillingworth. They all have their own meanings. For example, Hester is for love, Dimmesdale is the spirit, and

Chillingworth is the mind (Roper 112). Each member of the four has a unique struggle and makes their own input on the

Hester Prynne was a very important character in the novel. At the opening she is being brought out of Salem's by the

town beatle for punishment upon the scaffold. She resents this treatment, and this sets up the conflict between her and the

Puritan society (Brodhead 45). She was spared the gripe about the head and neck, yet she and her daughter, Pearl, must

endure public humility for the next three hours in the burning June sun (Gordon 26). Her crime was adultery against her

husband, known as Roger Chillingworth, who had went out into the world to seek his fortune in medicine. It is really

shocking that she could do this, seeing that she lived in the Puritanical village of Salem. In fact, she se

man who had gained it unsought and eventually unwished. At first his anger was natural and forgivable, but it became fatal

91). In Pearl's early years, she symbolized childhood with its undeveloped human and moral responsibility (Abel 170).

The Scarlet Letter is about all of these charcters who tried to find the true meanings behind their feelings. Some of them

felt this and that it helped create some of her feelings. When the Reverend finally confessed himself to her, she seemed to

failed human, that shows the potential disaster to which a conflict between creativity and morality may lead the narrator

Roper, Gordon. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." World Book. 1983 ed.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1166
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)