Overview of "The Scarlet Letter"
"The Scarlet Letter" is about a woman named Hester Prynne who was sent to Salem Massachusetts in 1642 to make a home for her much older husband. Years pass and he is assumed to be lost at sea, so Hester begins seeing a townsman and gets pregnant. The town, a strict Puritan society, knows it must have been an outcome of adultery and therefore shuns her. Hester is forced to wear an "A" on her clothing and live on the outskirts of town, her daughter Pearl as her only companion. Although she is repeatedly asked who the baby's father is, she never tells and therefore suffers alone. At the end of the novel, the town's reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale, reveals he was the father, but only moments before he dies.
Meet the Website's Creator:
Madison Hailey Samis
Hi! My name is Madison and Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" is my favorite book. I fell in love with this novel when I first read it during my sophomore year of high school. Ever since that initial reading, Pearl's complexity was something that had always stuck out to me. However, when I first introduced my theory about her character to my teacher, he dismissed it. In response, I have dedicated my academic career to proving him wrong. Mr. Reid, this one is for you.
Abstract
Mr. Reid was infamous for having his classes create detailed webs while reading the novels he assigned. He wanted us to write down symbols and quotes so that we could connect them to one another in order to reveal themes within the narrative. It was a brilliant exercise, but to me, it revealed more than just theme; it revealed theory. I noticed that there was an extensive amount of angelic, organic, and purity symbolism surrounding Pearl. When I combined this with Hester’s deteriorating mental health from isolation and rejection, it suddenly became clear to me. I argue that through a psychoanalytic lens, the physical character Pearl, as described in “The Scarlet Letter”, is nothing more than a figment of Hester’s imagination to cope with her loneliness. I maintain that Hester was indeed pregnant, but gave birth to a stillborn. Therefore, the town would know she committed adultery but would have no way to tell who Pearl's father was because Pearl would never grow to have one trait that resembled her father. When I brought this to Mr. Reid’s attention, he said it wasn’t possible. But, he is not alone. Within my research, I have not found a single article that argues what I do. Although difficult for research purposes, this makes this theory entirely my own and allows my foot through the door of literature analyzation.