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Critical Commentary Related to Female Characters in The Cherry Letter of the alphabet" | | Criticism Related to Hester Prynne - In The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Moore comments upon Hawthorne'south sympathy toward and adoration of women, as shown in his treatment of Hester Prynne.
- In her lecture "Hawthorne and 'the sphere of ordinary womanhood,'" Melinda Ponder considers the relationships with women from Hawthorne's personal life that influenced his treatment of female characters in fiction.
- In "Hawthorne and 'the sphere of ordinary womanhood,'" Ponder also looks at the experiences of Hawthorne's female parent and how they influenced his shaping of Hester'south character.
| - In her lecture "Work and Coin in Hawthorne's Fiction," Claudia Johnson remarks on Hester's role equally an artist and the guilt both she and Hawthorne feel from taking pleasure in their artistic creations.
- In his lecture "The Meanings of Hawthorne's Women," Richard Millington suggests that Hawthorne'southward "heroic women," such as Hester Prynne, explore the possibility of an ethical life through both date with the community and challenges to its values.
- In the essay "Discord in Concord: National Politics and Literary Neighbors" in Hawthorne and Women, Claudia Durst Johnson draws connections between Hester Prynne and Christie Devon, the protagonist of Louisa May Alcott'south novel Work.
- In the essay "'Such a Hopeless Task Before Her: Some Observations on the Fiction of Hawthorne and Gilman" in Hawthorne and Women, Denise D. Knight links the author and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Hawthorne'due south Hester Prynne.
- In the essay " Conservative Sexuality and the Gothic Plot in Wharton and Hawthorne" in Hawthorne and Women, Monika Elbert links Hester Prynne to Gothic elements in The Scarlet Letter and explores how Hawthorne desexes Hester by making her "shadowlike" and ghostly.
- In an 1850 review of The Scarlet Letter in The Saturday Visiter (reprinted in Hawthorne and Women), Jane Swisshelm praises the graphic symbol of Hester Prynne, highlighting her force and her moral stature.
- In another 1850 review of The Cerise Letter that appeared in the Massachusetts Quarterly Review (reprinted in The Recognition of Nathaniel Hawthorne), George Bailey Loring also praises Hester'southward strength and her superiority to those effectually her.
- In Hawthorne: A Critical Study, Hyatt Waggoner explores the connections between Hester and the natural landscape.
- Nina Baym, in her essay "Thwarted Nature: Nathaniel Hawthorne as Feminist" in American Novelists Revisited: Essays in Feminist Criticism, explores Hester's role as a mother and the way it empowers her and redefines her in the novel.
Criticism Related to Pearl Excerpts from chapters from Understanding The Scarlet Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents by Claudia Durst Johnson (courtesy of Greenwood Printing) - In "A Literary Analysis of The Carmine Letter of the alphabet" (pp. four-vi, viii), Johnson explores how Pearl and her reactions to the scarlet letter analyze the meaning of the symbol. "Creativity, passion, and joy" too as nature, truth and honesty are elements that embody the letter A every bit shown by Pearl's beliefs, curiosity, and personality. Unlike Pearl, the elders of the community see the letter of the alphabet as "blood-red and devilish."
- In "A Literary Analysis of The Ruby Letter" (pp. 17-nineteen), Johnson indicates that Pearl recognizes Chillingworth'south connection with Satan and that Pearl (despite her Satanical reputation) is not physical deformed similar Chillingworth but beautiful. Johnson insists Pearl is not a daughter of Satan.
- In "The Scarlet Letter and the Puritans," "Offense and Punishment," and "Bug in the 1980's and the 1990's" (pp. 36-37, 76-77, 200-202), Johnson reveals how the powerful political and religious figures try to control where Hester and Pearl alive and who should have custody of the child.
- Johnson discusses in "Crime and Penalisation" how Pearl is in defiance of the Puritanical laws which deny "mirth," "contained thinking," and "sexuality."
- In "Issues in the 1980's and 1990'southward," Johnson indicates that contrary to what powerful Puritanical authorities believe that Pearl "saves Hester from abandoning herself to the darkest elements of human nature."
- Too in "Issues in the 1980'due south and 1990's," Johnson also cites several contempo custody cases that bear witness how today'due south courts still make up one's mind on who is the well-nigh fit custodian of a child.
- In "Anne Hutchinson and Hester Prynne" (p. 93) Johnson connects "how both women are accused of delivering children fathered by the devil."
- In "The Crimson Letter and the Puritans" (pp.39-40) Johnson describes how Hester and Pearl are ever outside civilization on the border of the wilderness and how this causes Pearl to be wild and "uncontrollable."
Excerpts from chapters from Student Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne by Melissa McFarland Pennell (courtesy of Greenwood Printing) - In "Hawthorne's Career and Contributions" (p. 21) Pennell describes how critics take connected Hester and Pearl to Sethe and Denver in Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, with significant differences. All four live as outcasts, and both children are "a source of hurting and comfort" to their mothers.
- In "The Scarlet Letter of the alphabet" (p. 74) Pennell contrasts Hester's drab outfits with Pearl'due south blood red clothes, suggesting that Pearl "is a living version of the letter." Similar Johnson, Pennell demonstrates how the "A" has multiple interpretations.
- In "The Blood-red Letter" (pp. 77-78) Pennell paints a portrait of Pearl, "the virtually circuitous character of the romance." She highlights Pearl's name, her supposed connection to Satan, her spontaneity and mischievousness, and her isolation and truthfulness, both disconnecting her from the Puritan values and community.
- In "The Scarlet Letter of the alphabet" (p. 82) Pennell explains how thematically Nature plays a complex function in The Scarlet Letter; specifically, Pennell shows nature both every bit comfort to alone Pearl and a reflection or mirror of Pearl'due south untamed, "heathen" spirit.
- In "The Ruby-red Letter of the alphabet" (p. 83) Pennell, like Johnson (above) explores Pearl'southward symbolic relationship to and fascination with the letter A, whether it is carmine or a natural green.
- In "The Scarlet Letter" (pp. 85-86)) Pennell explores feminist criticism of the The Ruby Alphabetic character every bit it relates to the propriety of Hester's custody of Pearl, which is challenged in the scene at the governor's mansion. Pennell reveals an enduring relationship betwixt Hester and Pearl. Hester can openly love her daughter and find purpose in her life through raising her girl. Pearl finds a strong role model in her mother.
- In "The Crimson Alphabetic character" (p. 72-73) Pennell shows how Hawthorne casts Pearl in the function of forcing Hester and Dimmesdale to face the reality of their situation equally they gustation freedom in the wood scene. In the second scaffold scene Pearl confronts Dimmesdale, saying, "Thou wast non true." In the concluding scaffold scene, Dimmesdale publicly acknowledges Hester and Pearl while confiding that their sufferings "served God's purpose."
- In "The Reddish Letter of the alphabet" (p. eighty) Pennell demonstrates how Dimmesdale relates to Pearl as a minister not a begetter.
Excerpts from Hawthorne and Women: Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition edited by John L. Idol, Jr. and Melinda Thou. Ponder (courtesy of University of Massachusetts Press) - Jane Swisshelm, in her review of The Ruby Alphabetic character published in The Saturday Visiter in 1850 (pp. 289-291), describes Pearl as "a wild, fitful, impulsive trivial sprite" (289) who is obsessively attracted to Hester's scarlet letter and cruelly shunned by the contemptuous Puritans.
- Swisshelm summarizes the final scaffold scene and Pearl's future in a one-time land (289-290).
- Finally, Swisshelm mocks Hawthorne's suggestion that Pearl was sent to punish her sinning mother. She suggests Hester deserves all respect while "it would scarce be worth while throwing a mud-ball at the best of [the other characters]" (290-291).
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