John Updike, similar to Hawthorne, communicates the general personality of his characters to his readers by narrating their thoughts and setting a majority of scenes from the point of view of each different character. By seeing things from inside each of the characters' unique brains, the reader becomes very well acquainted with every one of them. One of the many examples of this is during the witches' weekly meetings, in which they convene to hear all the new gossip and cackle about their lovers' wives.
"She [Alexandra] was jealous of this man, that the very shadow of him should so excite her two friends, who on other Thursdays were excited simply by her, her regally lazy powers stretching there like a cat's power to cease purring and kill." [pg 33]
By granting a glimpse of not only the event itself, but also how exactly the character of Alexandra sees it, yet another facet of Alexandra's personality is revealed. This allows the reader to make further conclusions about Alexandra based on this new information while also giving the possibility of changing the audience's former musings about her before.
In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne does something similar with his characters. This is demonstrated when Pearl is formally introduced to the reader, who not only sees Pearl as society does, the audience also discovers the doubtful and uneasy nature with which Hester sees her mysterious and unpredictable daughter.
"Her nature appeared to possess depth, too as well as variety; but--or else Hester's fears deceived her--it lacked the reference and adaptation to the world into which she was born. The child could not be made amenable to rules...Hester could only account for the child's character--and even then most vaguely and imperfectly--by recalling what she herself had been, during that momentous period...The mother's impassioned state had been the medium through which were transmitted to the uborn infant the rays of its moral life; and however white and clear originally, they had taken the deep stains of crimson and gold, the fiery lustre, the black shadow, and the untempered light of the intervening substance. Above all, the warfare of Hester's spirit, at that epoch, was perpetuated in Pearl." [pg 83]
While from outer appearance, the Puritan society may see Pearl as simply a disobedient child who needed a square dose of discipline. However to Hester, as the reader discovers through this passage, Pearl is an almost threatening reminder of her sin as well as an uncontrollable surreal being whose actions can never be predicted.
"She [Alexandra] was jealous of this man, that the very shadow of him should so excite her two friends, who on other Thursdays were excited simply by her, her regally lazy powers stretching there like a cat's power to cease purring and kill." [pg 33]
By granting a glimpse of not only the event itself, but also how exactly the character of Alexandra sees it, yet another facet of Alexandra's personality is revealed. This allows the reader to make further conclusions about Alexandra based on this new information while also giving the possibility of changing the audience's former musings about her before.
In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne does something similar with his characters. This is demonstrated when Pearl is formally introduced to the reader, who not only sees Pearl as society does, the audience also discovers the doubtful and uneasy nature with which Hester sees her mysterious and unpredictable daughter.
"Her nature appeared to possess depth, too as well as variety; but--or else Hester's fears deceived her--it lacked the reference and adaptation to the world into which she was born. The child could not be made amenable to rules...Hester could only account for the child's character--and even then most vaguely and imperfectly--by recalling what she herself had been, during that momentous period...The mother's impassioned state had been the medium through which were transmitted to the uborn infant the rays of its moral life; and however white and clear originally, they had taken the deep stains of crimson and gold, the fiery lustre, the black shadow, and the untempered light of the intervening substance. Above all, the warfare of Hester's spirit, at that epoch, was perpetuated in Pearl." [pg 83]
While from outer appearance, the Puritan society may see Pearl as simply a disobedient child who needed a square dose of discipline. However to Hester, as the reader discovers through this passage, Pearl is an almost threatening reminder of her sin as well as an uncontrollable surreal being whose actions can never be predicted.
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