Analysis Of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's ' The Scarlet Letter '

“The Crucible” is a melancholy story about witchcraft that occurs in the town of Salem, Massachusetts which takes place in 1692. Salem is a very strict, religious Puritan community which does not tolerate any form of non-religious behavior or action. In this Puritan town, a witch hunt ensues after young female members of the community tell multiple lies to their leaders; under those circumstances, many individuals are condemned and hung for these false accusations. It is until one member of this community is arrested, the hunt for the truth ensues. Fear drives these Puritans to reveal the truth and face their accusers in the biased court. In this story, readers are introduced to the characters Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all have different personalities, motives, desire, and relationships that help shape the story of the Salem Witch Trials.

In the corners of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, stand two fascinating characters—Pearl and Roger Chillingsworth. In the story, Pearl is the illegitimate child of the protagonist, Hester Prynne, and the minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, while Chillingsworth is Hester’s estranged husband who everyone thought was dead. Both of these two supporting characters have a surreal presences and each are deeply involved in Hester’s life, particularly her life after the discovery of her adultry. With as many similarities as they have, the reader may question what the respective rolls of these two characters are. Much has been said about the characters individually, but in this paper I will explore how the characters relate to each other in the telling of the story. Based on the similarities, differences, and roles that the characters play in the story; I will explain how they many in fact be read as foils of one another.

Symbolism is a tool often used by authors to express a deeper meaning in order to help understand the work. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses this tool in order to develop the characters in a more complex way. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to uncover the true nature and emotions of the main characters Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.

What Does the construction and furnishing of Governor Bellingham’s Mansion reveal about the Governor and Puritan culture?

Societal influence on people is a highly discussed topic today, and evidently was in the past, as Nathaniel Hawthorne makes comments on how society should affect people in The Scarlet Letter. This book is about a woman named Hester Prynne, who is condemned to wearing a scarlet letter A by the Puritan society, in which she lives. The symbol explored is Hawthorne’s use of nature. Nature is found everywhere, no matter where a person looks. It can be a display of beauty or a display of ugliness. It also contains many elements, such as leaves, stems, and roots. Nature is used in The Scarlet Letter to represent the characters of the novel. Hawthorne uses nature to point out how the actions of characters reveal their true nature in order to convey that by not living by one’s true identity, a person doesn’t live their life to the highest potential, and instead corrupts their natural character.

The darkest evils of the world have always hidden in the shadows of the human mind…

Hawthorne’s critique on sin, more specifically addressing sin, is clear. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne claims that sin should public, and subject to punishment from the public not the individual; Hawthorne clearly evidences this with his depiction of Hester’s rise under the letter, Dimmesdale’s self-inflicted decline, and Chillingworth’s revenge-based transformation.

Nan Lei in the critical article, “A Brief Study on the Symbolic Meaning of the Main Characters’ Name in The Scarlet Letter” (2015), suggests that Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to greatly enhance the importance of three of the main characters in his novel. Lei supports her suggestion by talking about the different ways in which each character’s name is symbolic, and how that directly correlates with their characteristics and their actions. Lei’s purpose is to elaborate on the depth of the main characters names in order to reveal to the reader how Hawthorne implicitly makes the characters very meaningful to the book as a whole. She establishes a knowledgeable and admiring tone towards readers of The Scarlet Letter. This article proved to be very effective in displaying and supporting the authors claim. I do agree with the author’s critique, and found that there were many strengths within this article that helped to make her paper more effective.

Hawthorne’s wilderness is exactly what its name implies: wild. It does not hold the same rules or laws that Puritan civilization does. Instead it presents a myriad of situations and emotions, which make it one of the most important symbols in The Scarlet Letter. However, there is a twist. It doesn’t just symbolize one thing, but two that are distinctly contrary to one another. The forest can be a place of true nature where a person is shown as who they are supposed to be, not who other people make them out to be. The forest can also be a place of uncovering the sin that lies beneath everyone’s mind. These purposes have one thing in common: the revelation of truths.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in The Scarlet Letter, and Daniel Solove in his piece about “Shaming and the Digital Scarlet Letter” show that one who lives two lives with two dual personalities, purposefully or accidentally, can live the lie for only so long before he makes a mistake, becomes confused, and betrays his identity.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, asserts that we must try to change situations if one feels like they can have control to do so. One should attempt to change conditions in the attempt to make life more joyful for themselves and if possible their community as well. It is the responsibility of an individual to make the world a better place to live for the future generations. The concept of making the best of every situation while spreading positive ideas accentuates the responsibilities of the individual. It is impertinent to make the best out if every situation and accept your fate however, it is equally important to make the community a better place to live because it the responsibility of an individual in the society.

Society has not changed as far as labeling people and probably never will. In the Puritan society they branded, tortured, and defined human beings the way they saw them even though they did not know how the person they were humiliating truly was. Hester Prynne is a good example of this in the novel The Scarlet Letter written by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne is using the character Hester in this novel to show how society can truly label people. People can be defined by the biggest thing in their life and in this case the letter “A” has brought a whole new meaning to Hester’s life and has defined her apart from others in the community in a way she never thought.

“All the world had frowned on her... and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away from her firm, sad eyes. Heaven likewise had frowned upon her, and she had not died. But thus frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow stricken man was what hester could not bear and live!” (Hawthorne 233­234). Love is powerful. It can be all consuming, and even blinding to other aspects of life. People who are deeply in love can often be lead to prioritize their love above all else; they would do anything and everything to protect their love. Such is the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's T​he Scarlet Letter​with Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester is an extremely strong woman who has committed what is considered to be one of the worst sins in Puritan society: adultery. However, public knowledge of her sin only further accentuates her strength and independence. The public sees her support her daughter, give to the poor, offer counsel to the community, and transform her public image. The one thing that the public is not aware of is that their beloved Minister, Reverend Dimmesdale, is the father of her child. Hester is madly and desperately in love with Dimsdale, and subtly but effectively leads Dimsdale to eventually come forward as her lover and as the father of her child. Throughout the novel, and in two scenes in particular, Hester subtly nudges Dimsdale towards professing that he is the father of Pearl by both inflaming his guilt of his secrecy and cowardice as well as

What Hawthorne describes in the first chapter in detail is the prison that was built. Starts of by describing the prisoners inside the prison mixed of women and men wearing sad colored and gray garments, some wearing hoods others beheaded. The door of the prison was described as being in front edifice, being made of oak and having iron spikes and the prison door was described as antique. Where the prison is located now use to be a glass plot which consists of overgrown Burdock, pigweed poisonous apples. The prison had a wild rose- bush which as the prisoners went in the prison they can smell the sweet scent and as prisoners meant there last moments they would come across the rose bush And would think I committed a horrible crime how can nature

American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, felt guilty about the intolerance of his Puritan ancestors, one of whom judged at the Salem witch trials. He utilized his passionate sentiments regarding Puritanism as an inspiration for his iconic literary work, The Scarlet Letter; in which he does not embrace but rather critiques Puritan ideology. Because Hawthorne has fathomed the Puritan community, he favors to provide a more in depth understanding of their customs. Though born into this extremist civilization, Hawthorne conveys the idea that Puritans are highly unjust and unaware of the damage they inflict on others. Puritanistic customs, such as social regulation and overwhelming judgement, are such traditions that would further justify Hawthorne’s reasons for ridiculing his prior community, as well as religious discrimination and hypocrisy. Hardly ever does Hawthorne befuddle the reader by taking these beliefs into account and he depicts Puritans as a people with irrational standards originally intended for religious and societal reform. Ironically, the morality of the strict community transcends due to the scarlet letter; however, this fictitious take on the transformation of the Puritans differentiates with reality. While Hawthorne seems to occasionally uphold the society throughout the novel, he continues to criticize the Puritan community for its severe hypocrisy, lack of privacy, and religious