...The Scarlet Letter In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, A young woman named Hester Prynne in Boston is prosecuted for adultery. To symbolize her crime, she has an “A” imprinted on her bosom. As a result of her committing adultery, she and Reverend Dimmesdale (his identity is not identified until later in the book) have a child. She is a very curious child, and her name is Pearl. Roger Chillingworth, comes to see Hester on the scaffold and he doesn’t want his identity revealed either but it does get revealed in later chapters. In the Scarlet letter, the author uses different symbols, literary devices, and themes that help Nathaniel’s purpose of writing. Symbolism A symbol in the Scarlet Letter is literally the Scarlet Letter...
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...Things are not always what they seem. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter uses the central idea of duality to exemplify this. A key symbol of duality Hawthorne presents in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne's embodiment of her sin: the beautifully embroidered scarlet letter. Forcibly placed upon Hester's bosom, the letter punishes her for committing adultery with the town reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale. The badge also intends to outcast her and her daughter, Pearl, from the Puritan society of Boston. Although the "A" originally acted as Hester's punishment, the interpretation of the scarlet letter varies for Dimmesdale and Pearl to juxtapose Hester's unwavering perspective. Besides Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale has the biggest personal...
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...Section #1: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, starts off by introducing how the book was written. The anonymous narrator stumbled upon some manuscripts labeled with a red “A”, all of which happened some 200 years before his time. He decided to write a fictional story about the facts he found in the manuscripts and thus, The Scarlet Letter was born. The story begins in a Boston Puritan Settlement in the 17th century. Hester Prynne and her young daughter, Pearl, are being led from the town prison, bearing the infamous “scarlet letter”. A man in the crowd said she was being tried for adultery, after her husband left and was supposed to be “lost at sea”, and gave birth to a child. She will not, however, give the identity of her lover, and the red “A”, along with her public shame, is punishment for her sin and secrecy. The man in the crowd turns out to be Hester’s long lost husband, who is now practicing medicine and is going by the name Roger Chillingworth. Several years pass and, being banished by the town, Hester and Pearl live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. The town repeatedly tries to take Pearl away from Hester, but with the help of the young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, the two manage to stay together. Chillingworth has his suspicions about Dimmesdale’s health and the fact he may be hiding a secret, so he decided to move in with him to give him constant care. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers a mark on the man’s chest...
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...In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, it is considered by many timeless and universal, which makes his novel a work of classic literature. Determining what makes a classic taken from his novel Why Read the Classics? Italo Calvino defines: “A classic is a book which each rereading offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading.” Hester Prynne is first introduced with her infant daughter, Pearl, and she is being displayed by the onlookers of Boston as sinful because she has committed adultery. Later, it is revealed that Hester and the young minister Arthur Dimmesdale had an affair. Although Dimmesdale did not know that he befriended Hester’s once lost husband Roger Chillingworth, Dimmesdale is also punished for his sin. Themes...
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...Period 1 Strength In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne endures a drastic life changing experience. Hester is convicted, in a Puritan New England town, of committing adultery and is scolded constantly by this town. Even though Hester is in an incredibly difficult circumstance that most of the people could not endure, Hester remains proud and unregretful while her lover hides in the shadows of the sinful act. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne portrays his belief in the significance of personal strength through the contrasting personalities of Hester Prynne, who portrays strength as she faces the sin with dignity, and her lover Arthur Dimmesdale, who portrays weakness as he continues to hide from the sin. Hester Prynne’s personal strength is important, as well as necessary, for her redemption in life. At the beginning of the novel, Hester is condemned for her sin and forced to stand on the scaffold, she remains strong and dignified despite constant disapprovals from the town. The townspeople are shocked as “Hester Prynne appeared more ladylike… than as she issued from the prison,” and when Hester’s beauty “shone out and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy” despite her dreadful sin (49). Although at times Hester feels weak and alone, in public she continuously displays immense personal strength. Instead of running away, Hester faces her punishment and wears her scarlet letter with pride. When she is released from the prison...
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...had various forms of punishments for many things. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, he sets the tone of his book in the old English Puritan days. Hawthorne describes one of the multiple puritan punishments that took place, he mainly focuses on the punishment for committing adultery. He ties it all together with the puritans’ beliefs, the effects it had on his life, modes of punishment, and crimes related to some in his book. Puritanism is a powerful political movement in the late 16th and 17th century that strived to “purify” the Church of England and thought they were pursuing God’s work (Gao 176). They believed that sinners could not...
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...Many people commit wrongdoings at some point in their life. Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter are no exception. These wrongdoings contribute to an overall theme of the novel. This theme is sin. There are many symbols in the novel that draw attention to this theme, such as color and the scarlet letter. There is more symbols that are present in the novel and have high importance, however these two stand out significantly. Through instances involving Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, color and the mark of the scarlet letter drive the theme of sin within the novel. Hester’s relationship with her scarlet letter is a distinct example of how the symbol of the...
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...Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale wage a constant mental and physical battle throughout the Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth, a man of noble purpose and strong dispositions, falls further and further into his obsession of revenge. While at the same time, Dimmesdale, a respected reverend, suffers mentally and physically from his affair with Hester Prynne. As we progress through the novel, a question materializes: who deserves the blame for Hester Prynne’s affair, Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, or Hester Prynne herself? All three main characters believe they hold some sort of responsibility for the affair between Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale. Ultimately, Hester Prynne wrongs both Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale. Mrs. Prynne’s sin led to Roger Chillingworth’s and Arthur Dimmesdale’s demise both mentally and physically. Arthur Dimmesdale, a religious man respected by the community, ironically has an affair with Hester Prynne. Dimmesdale understands the sin he commits. He realizes all too well that he must confess publicly, but he cannot bring himself to do so. Instead, he begs Hester to announce what he has done: Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except tempt him…(64). Dimmesdale feels nothing but shame for...
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...Individuals, subject to human frailty and motivation, exhibit inconsistencies among the greater collective human experience. In turn, preconceived notions of the audience are challenged by the exposition of humanity’s complexity to invoke personal assessment and reflection. As such, it is presented within Arthur Miller’s tragedy, “The Crucible”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romantic fiction, “The Scarlet Letter”. Both works explore the contradictions of judgement and consider the inconsistencies of personal integrity, encapsulated under the guise of Puritanism within New England America, political agenda, and historical calamity. Therefore, audiences foster introspection and reflection by developing nuance surrounding the inconsistencies of human...
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...Megan Naylor Dr. DiCicco English 3664 March 29, 2011 Gender Roles in The Scarlet Letter and The Awakening During the Victorian era, the life a woman was immensely difficult. They were considered the property of their husband, and treated as such. Women were forbidden from owning their own property, even if they were given the property from their father. In such a case, the land would be transferred in ownership to her husband. A woman’s place was in the home, to dutifully care for her husband and children. Her job was to cook, clean, and bear children. Interestingly, a wife was treated similarly to her children. Obedience toward the man of the home was necessary from both the children and the mother. In contradiction to all of the restriction and repression, the nineteenth century produced two of literatures strongest women. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Kate Chopin gave American society two women who actively defied their husbands and who possessed their own strong moral codes. With The Scarlet Letter published in 1850 and set in the seventeenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne was taking a large risk in creating a novel detailing a woman’s adultery with the town’s minister and producing an illegitimate child in the process. Despite the treatment she receives, Hester does not waver in her promise to keep her lover secret, proving that she is a strong willful woman. As the century is coming to a close, Kate Chopin produced a work that sent shock waves through American society. The...
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...The Scarlet Letter “He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure” (Hawthorne 134). Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale constantly battles between these two emotions throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. In the story, Dimmesdale struggles to manage the sin of adultery in his life, as the evil Roger Chillingworth, husband of Hester Prynne, impresses upon him. Hester must also deal with this sin, through the exhibition of a scarlet “A” on her bosom, as she struggles to raise Pearl, the child that she conceived through her sin with Dimmesdale. Both Dimmesdale and Hester struggle to be rid of the darkness that plagues their worlds, and their inmost beings. Hawthorne skillfully develops the theme of light versus dark in The Scarlet Letter. In each of the scaffold scenes, Hawthorne uses either light or darkness, not only to expose truth, but also to conceal it. In the first scaffold scene, which takes place in the daytime, “[Hester] took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbours. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the...
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...Individualism, although specific for each person, is extremely vague in different societies. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan-era novel The Scarlet Letter intensely presents the contradicting representations of individualism and its effect on not only the individuals themselves but also on the entire society. In Puritan society, individualism is abhorred, yet many influential characters are strikingly different individuals. The Scarlet Letter presents individualism as an integral part of society due to the diversity of human personalities and passions, yet the strict society that Hawthorne depicts limits the true potential of individualism. Hester Prynne, an adulterer and supposed widow, mostly thrives on being an individual, yet is compelled...
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...knowing that you are a hypocrite. Imagine being the parent that gave birth to a “demon.” Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts these situations in The Scarlett Letter. He utilizes Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne, to demonstrate how owning one’s sin can positively impact one physically or mentally. Dimmesdale commits a sin by impregnating Hester. Unlike Hester, Dimmesdale never openly admits to his mistake. He copes with the guilt of sin aggressively, striking and whipping himself. Hester, on the other hand, handles the situation by doing charity work and being productive despite the criticism she receives for her previous actions. However, Hester is affected mentally more than she is physically. Before showing the difference between Hester and Dimmesdale, Hawthorne attempts to put them both on the same ground so they can be compared. He does this by making them both involved in the same crime. However, it is impossible to make both characters equal. Hester lived in the outskirts of town as a seamstress...
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...In the novels, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hathorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, committing a sin was frowned upon and anyone who was to commit a sin would be punished. With society being as strict as it was, those who had committed a sin would try and keep it hidden to save themselves from being punished or have their reputation ruined. Over time, society views and social views have changed in becoming more accepting of this sin. In the novel, The Crucible, John Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams. This action was taking because of the jealousy that Abigail had built up towards John´s wife. ¨Abigail: She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her¨ (Miller 23). Although Elizabeth, John´s wife, had done nothing wrong, Abigail plots her revenge by trying to get the town to believe that Elizabeth is a witch. This being said, Elizabeth would be hanged and Abigail would have John all to herself. In Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne had an affair with Reverend Dimmesdale. Chillingworth decides to plot revenge as well by prying through Dimmesdale´s guilty conscious. ¨It was the constant shadow of my presence! The closest propinquity of the man whom he most vilely wronged! And who had grown to exist...
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...that the consequences of sin is the theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne explored this theme by four distinctive levels of sin. Although each level was equally displayed throughout the novel, the communal sin of man's inhumanity to man outranked all else. The primary characters are each guilty of one or more of the following levels of sin; the sin of vengeance, the sin of hypocrisy, and the sin of adultery. In the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Hester Prynne is guilty of adultery. One of the consequences for her sin is a prison term. Secondly, she had a child, a baby who was conceived from lust rather than love. Hester named this child Pearl, meaning of great value. Thirdly, Hester was condemned to wear the scarlet letter, upon her bosom, for all to recognize her as one who has met with the black man in the forest. Fourth, she was made to stand in public ignominy as the townsmen mocked her.(Bercovitch, S, 1991) Although the magistrates tried to make Hester Prynne reveal her accomplice, she kept his name unknown. As one may have guessed, from the hints given throughout the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale was also guilty of adultery. However, he did not confess his sin until it was too late. Dimmesdale continued his ministry in the church, as a hypocrite, concealing his sin. Nevertheless, his guilty conscience drove him to a manic-depressive state of mind. Dimmesdale became very ill, because the scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom seemingly burned through...
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