...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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...novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne undergoes both physical and emotional revelations. Hester is directly affected by the consequences of breaking moral and social codes of behavior. The novel is a story of a young woman who commits adultery, and has a child. She stays strong when the community harasses her by not revealing the identity of her daughter Pearl's father. Throughout the novel the reader learns that the father is Arthur Dimmesdale, a minister in the town. He keeps his sin on the inside until the end of the novel where he reveals to the townspeople that he is an unworthy minister for committing such a sin. Hester’s secret is revealed in the beginning, but she changes many times throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is portrayed as a young and elegantly beautiful mother who is being punished for a horrid sin. The townspeople think of her as a haughty and wretched woman, and that her punishment should be much harsher. When she comes out of the jailhouse, a beautiful letter "A" is embroidered onto her breast. After being in jail people expect for Hester to be in bad shape, but she somehow still looks beautiful standing up there. This is because even though she is condemned, she still stands tall and does not let this punishment consume her. She is trying to make the best of things by making the “A” She has to wear beautiful and to not give in to punishment. This shows how strong of a woman Hester is, by not...
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...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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...community, judged for her sin and having an object to show it, her only child. Born from an extramarital affair with an unknown man, she is forced to face public scrutiny in a Puritan community. Somewhere in the crowd, the father of the child stands, guilty but not judged. Nathaniel Hawthorne tackles sin and shame in The Scarlet Letter, a story showing guilt and transgression in a society where “religion and law were almost identical” and “the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful” (Hawthorne 47-48). The heritage of Nathaniel Hawthorne, common beliefs held by the Puritans, as well as Hawthorne’s philosophies on secret sin and public shame affect the style of The...
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...Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, conveyed that Hester Prynne would, “go about the country as a kind of voluntary nurse, and doing whatever miscellaneous good she might; taking upon herself, likewise, to give advice in all matters, especially those of the heart.” He found old writings about Hester’s life. The author took these pages into consideration while he presented Hester to be someone that through repentance of her adultery sin she evolved to be generous and empathetic toward others in difficult situations. At first, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Hester to be cold and a sinner, but by slowly implanting more of her character throughout the story the author creates he to be a saint. In the beginning, the author explains to the audience the background of Hester and her baby Pearl. He explains her sin and how the puritan settlement chastises her for it. He describes her as, “Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fiber in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding.” The author does this to further portray Hester as a sinner not accepted in the town. Everyone judged and reprimanded her for bringing a demon child in the world....
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...A person can become caught up in their lust. Whether it be fantasy or physical, one can get off-track. However, one can ponder further whether or not this truly illustrates a poor path. Can straying from the normal trail possibly lead to an even greater destination? The film American Beauty and the novel The Scarlet Letter both use the archetypal hero’s journey and supporting images of power to emphasize that finding individuality can lead to fulfillment and rebirth, desires we all share. As readers venture into any story, they will realize that they will find a journey is being told. In the case of American Beauty and The Scarlet Letter, both narratives share the required journey pattern of departure, fulfillment and return in their quests....
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...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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...there is a basic and underlying human acumen that shields anyone from ignoring its standards. Unconscious desires can lead, and drive, the human intellect to submit acts preposterous to the sensible mentality. Desire inspires many in numerous, critical ways and could easily change one’s perspectives and outlooks on life. This natural phenomenon is a way to allow humans to exceed and surpass current situations. Without the different aspects of want, human life, as encountered frequently, would fail to continue. Culture in general and economy in particular are built on the longing for items, statuses, or experiences one does not obtain. In the Scarlet...
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...Who has never committed any type of misconduct throughout their entire life? No person has lived a long life without a single infraction occurring due to their actions or decisions. For it is within human nature to err throughout the duration of their existence, and no one can improve themselves if they are untainted. A person can make a wrong decision having total faith that the choice is just and correct, but that does not make them an immoral human being. Throughout the development of humanity, the need to punish people for their wrongdoing expanded. A student who cheats will have to serve a detention, and a murder will be sentenced to jail. There are mass amounts of direct exterior punishments, but there is also the growing use of the punishment of public shaming....
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...The Change from Demon to Woman The thought that adultery could have both positive and negative effects is one of the major themes in The Scarlet Letter. The negative side was that the scarlet letter “A” branded Hester Prynne physically for committing the sinful act of adultery, and her daughter Pearl emotionally because she was the product of her mother’s sinful act. Many people in the Puritan community of Boston shunned this behavior even though it could ultimately produce a miracle of life. Yet, throughout the text, there was a strong focus on the positivity that came as a result of Hester’s sinful act of committing adultery. Because of Hester’s behavior, a little girl was born who shed a ray of sunshine onto what was deemed one of the most horrific acts in the Puritan society. She was not named after purity or innocence but instead she was characterized as the gift of a miracle. Hester’s devout love for Pearl gave her the drive to survive the cruelty she endured as she walked down the roads of her community. Her child became a major symbol in this romantic novel exhibiting the characteristics that evolve over time as she transformed from the product of a sinful act to a woman without sin. Pearl evolves both physically and emotionally throughout the story by changing from a child with an extremely sassy and mature personality and known for her “witch-child” persona to a person portraying a new woman who overcame being the product of sin outside the Puritan community...
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...University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2010 Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context Leah Rang University of Tennessee - Knoxville, lrang@utk.edu Recommended Citation Rang, Leah, "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2010. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/655 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Leah Rang entitled "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Urmila Seshagiri, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Lisi Schoenbach, Bill Hardwig Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council:...
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...PREFACE This major project examines the indispensable desiderata of Transcendentalism in comparison to the Dark Romantics background and how these technicalities prepare this work of art as an influential synthesis of human imagination incorporated with mystic facts. Transcendentalism and Dark Romanticism were two literary movements that occurred in America during roughly the same time period (1840—1860). Although the two had surface similarities, such as their reverence for Nature, their founding beliefs were quite different, enough to make one seem almost the antithesis of each other. Moreover one’s genesis is ventured out from other; i.e. Dark Romanticism from the roots of Transcendentalism or precisely the lacunae are best determined for raising up the term called Dark Romanticism. Contents S. No. Page no. Chapter 1.........................................................................................................4-14 Chapter 2.........................................................................................................15-23. Chapter 3..........................................................................................................24-27 Resolution.........................................................................................................28-29 Work Cited................................................................
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...their lyrics to the variations in landscape, the changes in season, and the natural phenomena around them. The Greek poet Theocritus began writing idylls in the third century B.C.E. to glorify and honor the simplicity of rural life--creating such well known characters as Lycidas, who has inspired dozens of poems as the archetypal shepherd, including the famous poem "Lycidas" by John Milton. An idyll was originally a short, peaceful pastoral lyric, but has come to include poems of epic adventure set in an idealized past, including Lord Alfred Tennyson's take on Arthurian legend, The Idylls of the King. The Biblical Song of Songs is also considered an idyll, as it tells its story of love and passion by continuously evoking imagery from the natural world. The more familiar form of surviving pastoral poetry that has retained its integrity is the eclogue, a poem attuned to the natural world and seasons, placed in a pleasant, serene, and rural place, and in which shepherds often converse. The first eclogue was written by Virgil in 37 B.C.E. The eclogue also flourished in the Italian Renaissance, its most notable authors being Dante and Petrarch. It became something of a requirement for young poets, a form they had to master before embarking upon great original work. Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia and Edmund Spenser’s The Shephearde’s Calendar are English triumphs of the form, the latter relying on the months of the year to trace the changes in a shepherd's life. In "Januarye," Spenser compares...
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...who formed what would become Capitol Hill Baptist Church selected that very song as the first song to be sung in their meetings together, in February of 1878: Sowing the seed by the daylight fair, Sowing the seed by the noonday glare, Sowing the seed by the fading light, Sowing the seed in the solemn night. O, what shall the harvest be? O, what shall the harvest be? Very appropriate words to ring off the bare walls and bare floorboards of the building they met in. Those thirty people were planning to covenant to form a church: “What would the harvest be?” In that same church, now more than a century later, we are still helping to determine what will be the harvest of their efforts. We are doing this by what we think and how we live, by whom we plan to see and what we plan to do, by what we feel and what we care about, what we give 28...
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...Section A is open book. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES The total mark for this paper is 120. All questions carry equal marks, ie 60 marks for each question. Quality of written communication will be assessed in all questions. 3 Section A: The Study of Poetry Written after 1800 Answer one question on your chosen pairing of poets. Heaney: Opened Ground Montague: New Selected Poems 1 John Montague and Seamus Heaney both write about the Irish past. Compare and contrast the two poets’ treatment of the Irish past in two poems you have studied. Hopkins: Selected Poems Dickinson: A Choice of Emily Dickinson’s Verse 2 Gerard Manley Hopkins and Emily Dickinson both express intense anguish in their poetry. Compare and contrast how both poets express intense anguish in two poems you have studied. Duffy: Selected Poems Lochhead: The Colour of Black and White 3...
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