Hawthorne’s use of mirroring was most interesting to me because it takes on a lot of different manifestations. Mirrors seem to obtain their power as devices because they can reveal not only a simple reflection but a reframed image. This perspective seems to emphasize characters’ internal conflicts and provide a place for Hawthorne to shift the tone of Hester’s scarlet letter. 

Mr. Dimmesdale would perform vigils where he would view “his own face in a looking-glass, by the most powerful light which he could throw upon it” (505). However, the reflection yields to more supernatural and paranoid visions. First “it was a herd of diabolic shapes, that grinned and mocked at the pale minister, and beckoned him away with them” (505) which suggests that there is a temptation in the minister to yield to the darkness/devil/Satan.  Then it was a “group of angels, who flew upward heavily […] but grew more ethereal as they rose” (505) which suggests his future and possibly the hope that Heaven will still accept him (even if he is heavy with a burden). Furthermore, the latter part of the image seems to allude to the ever-increasing fame and loyalty that the community was putting towards him (to some he was a living manifestation of the divine). The mirror is acting as a window into his future or a reflection of a truer self that he cannot see. However, in either interpretation, his internal conflict is being put on display.

Additionally, Pearl often sees reflections of herself in the water. Out of a tide pool “peeped…with dark, glistening curls around her head, and an elf-smile in her eyes, the image of a little maid” (517). A description that is often used for Pearl, but which at the moment seems to be separate from Pearl. More importantly, this reflection “beckoned likewise, as if to say, – ‘This is a better place! Come thou into the pool!’” (517) which is similar to the diabolical shapes of Dimmesdale’s vision. Is it that the little maid is the devil reaching out to Pearl? Or is it just the wild imagination that Pearl has developed over her years of isolation? The brook in the forest provides an alternative experience for Pearl, where “a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty” was reflected (539). Here, the reflection is Pearl’s but “more refined and spiritualized than the reality” (539) which creates a doubt in her devilish qualities. These two different reflections seem to suggest that within Pearl are two fighting personalities. 

Furthermore, there was mirroring in the cyclical nature of the novel’s plot. The setting of the scaffolding among a wide audience is how Hawthorne chooses to start and end the novel, yet the end presents a new interpretation for Hester’s original sin (which is how we start). The mirroring of the scenes is not static but reframes Hester’s introduction. The scarlet letter, while not something to be proud of, transforms into something that no one could have imagined and definitely not what it was intended. To get to this scene, the reader has seen how Hester does not allow the scarlet letter to hold her down, rather she forms her life around it and spends all her time becoming a better person (as to say that she will not only be defined by the letter/her sin). This moment allows for everyone to re-evaluate their own opinions of Hester and to sympathize with her.