Scarlet Letter - Did You See That?

DID YOU SEE THAT?

Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter reflections are used to depict certain ideas or thoughts. These reflections are in many objects that are shiny or even in someone’s eyes, or a type of water. There are mainly reflections of Pearl and the scarlet letter A. Hawthorne uses them to make many different points, such as pearl has no friends or that the greatest part of Hester’s life is the scarlet letter.

One reflection of the scarlet letter A is in the Governor’s Hall. “Hester looked, by way of humoring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance.”(p72) In this Hester saw that the scarlet letter was the greatest part of her outfit. Hester’s whole life was the scarlet letter and there was no way to hide from it. Another reflection in the Governor’s Hall is when Pearl looked at the “polished mirror of the breastplate.”(p72) She had spent sometime staring at it. This would most likely be because something had caught her eye, such as the scarlet letter. Also in the Governor’s Hall, “Pearl pointed upward; smiling at her mother, with the elfish intelligence that was so familiar an expression on her small physiognomy. That look of naughty merriment was likewise reflected in the mirror, with so much breadth and intensity of effect, that it made Hester Prynne feel as if it could not be the image of her own child, but that of an imp who was seeking to mould itself into Pearl’s shape.”(p73) This is probably symbolizing that the scarlet letter is always on Hester’s mind. Also, that the reflections can distort what someone or something looks like or what they truly are. This reflection shows that Pearl has two sides to her and the other side is mostly brought out when she is talking about or pointing out the scarlet letter.

More reflections take place in the small brook in the forest. “Just were she had paused the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of the flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized then the reality.”(p142) The brook, here, acts as a mirror showing the true beauty of Pearl. It also shows that Pearl is also a sweet, little child. “And beneath, in the mirror of the brook, there was the flowered-girdled and sunny image of the little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too.”(143) This shows that Pearl is not used to change and she, along with her reflection, do not approve of what her mother and Dimmesdale are doing. “In the brook, again, was the fantastic beauty of the image, with its reflected frown, its pointed finger, and imperious gesture, emphasis to the aspect at little Pearl.”(p143) The reflection, once again, shows that Pearl does not approve of the fact that her mother took off the scarlet letter. And she wants her mother to put it back on.

Many of the reflections in the story are of Pearl. “It appalled her, nevertheless, to discern here, again, a shadowy reflection of the evil that had existed in herself.”(p65) This reflection shows that Pearl has an evil side to her. It may as well symbolize that everyone has a bit of evil inside of them, weather they show it or not. “Once, this freakish, elfish cast came into the child’s eyes, while Hester was looking at her own image in them, as mothers are found of doing; and suddenly, - for women in solitude, and with troubled hearts, are pestered with unaccountable delusions, - she fancied that she beheld, not her own miniature portrait, but another face in the small black