The Scarlet Letter

What type of dress did Hester wear? Pearl?

chapter five hester at her needle

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Hester's clothing was plain and constructed from the coarsest of material. Pearl's dresses were fanciful and decorative.

"Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child. Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue, with only that one ornament—the scarlet letter—which it was her doom to wear. The child’s attire, on the other hand, was distinguished by a fanciful, or, we may rather say, a fantastic ingenuity, which served, indeed, to heighten the airy charm that early began to develop itself in the little girl, but which appeared to have also a deeper meaning."

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The Scarlet Letter