Analysis Of The Book ' The Scarlet Letter '

According to Erich Fromm’s article, “The Nature of Symbolic Language,” the definition of a symbol is “‘something that stands for something else’” (121). Laurence Perrine adds his thoughts about symbols in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, and states that in order to find out what object is a symbol, the reader must be able to “recognize, identify, percept, and tact [them]” (175). And he also includes that it is better not to look for symbols at all rather than “[discover] symbols that are nonexistent”—regardless of the reader (Perrine 175). Going back to Fromm, he mentions three types of symbols that are used in symbols. These three types can be found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

At some point in life, everyone makes an unintelligent decision. Oftentimes, these decisions leave people feeling guilty and with nobody to blame but themselves. In the Puritan society presented in The Scarlet Letter, sin is not taken lightly. Sinners are publicly presented on the town scaffold and have to endure embarrassing gossip. Dimmesdale, a church minister, commits adultery with Hester Prynne, and she has a child. Dimmesdale does not confess his sin for several years after Hester is publicly shamed on the scaffold. Dimmesdale gets what he deserves because he chooses to commit the sin and brings the guilt upon himself. Dimmesdale’s guilt deteriorates his mental and physical health as seen by many events,

“So, in the course of the novel, the ‘A’ seems to encompass the entire range of human beingness, from the earthly and passionate ‘adulteress’ to the pure and spiritual ‘angel,’ taking into account everything in between,” begins Claudia Durst Johnson (128). Many believe the A in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter possesses only one meaning - adulterer; however, Hawthorne imbues the symbolic letter with diverse definitions. In the novel, Hawthorne plainly details three significant changes in the connotation of the A. At first sight, it represents the sin of adultery and ostracizes Hester from society. After the outcast builds a reputation of charity and labor, the A transforms into ‘able’ and highlights the favorable qualities of Hester. Finally, the A appears in the night sky after the death of Governor Winthrop and becomes ‘angel’ to signify his passing. Though the surface text shows a change in the implication of the A, the letter primarily revolves around Hester. Some critics believe other characters develop the interpretation of the A as they come under its influence. In many accounts of semiotic criticism, experts may support this claim unknowingly or actively pursue proof of the characters’ abilities to don their own A’s - either literal or metaphorical - and support the meaning of the classic work. The prime example, Hester Prynne, models the ornate A of ‘adultery’ and ‘able’. In contrast, Arthur Dimmesdale conceals

Everything in life comes with a cost, be it a cost that can be paid with money or a cost that cannot be remedied in the physical world. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne illustrates the high cost of identity and selfhood in society. Through the protagonist Hester Prynne, Hawthorne reveals the societal standards regarding chastity and sin that drive the high cost of identity and selfhood in society and their relation to the physical and metaphysical worlds. In addition, Hawthorne uses the townspeople of Boston, such as the old women in the town, high ranking officials, such as Governor Bellingham, Hester’s former husband, Roger Chillingworth, and her daughter, Pearl to further illustrate the high cost that Hester pays for her identity and selfhood.

The book, The Scarlet Letter, is about the struggle three people face while trying to live their lives and find happiness. In the early 1640s, Hester has come to the small town of Boston, Massachusetts, while her husband, Chillingworth, was back in Great Britain. Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale, the town 's priest, engage in the act of adultery and have a baby girl named Pearl, though only Hester knows that Dimmesdale is the father. She has promised Dimmesdale not to give up his identity. Hester is put on display in front of the whole town to punish her, She is then put in jail with her young child for a few months and is forever made to wear a scarlet letter "A," which stands for Adultery. Hester 's husband, Roger Chillingworth, who had been captured by native American Indians on his way to New England and held in captivity for two years, escaped and entered the town of Boston. After learning of what Hester had done, Chillingworth poses as a doctor and vows to discover the identity of Hester 's partner in sin. Hester agrees to keep his true identity a secret, too.

As I began my summer reading assignment I wasn’t too amused at the beginning chapters

The United States of America has always prided itself as the land of the free and home of the brave. A place of equal opportunity for anyone who so wishes to chase a dream, this is the “American Dream”. Unfortunately, at times throughout our history, that image can be smudged from an ethical standpoint due to some notable mishaps in our history. “It’s not how many times you get knocked down that counts, it’s how many times you get back up. - George A. Custer”. Hester Prin endured this saying every day after marked with the fateful letter “A” for adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote,The Scarlet Letter, about a women that was marked by society and thus placed on the outside of general population, she was barely human. Underneath the obvious plot of the book are many themes, one of which can be attributed to life has an American and the reputation that comes along with it’s fabled start. The American identity, American voice, and the American dream, all being the foundation like principles that America was founded on so long ago. The Scarlet Letter, shows how those rights that America was founded on can be erased if someone goes against the general current of society, like Hester Prin.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne describes many defining instances of different characters’ morality. Some of the characters’ opinions are very different, but the people of the town have a general morality that leads Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to deal with their sins differently in public, than in private.

Jean Racine, a French writer and philosopher, has said “There are no secrets that time does not reveal,” and we see this quote play out in many events in history as well as the Scarlet Letter. Racine displays that secrets in time will alter the future of lives. By gaining an insight into how these secrets are resolved, how they affect daily lives, who they affect, and why, we will be able to understand how devastating secrets can be.

Nathaniel Hawthorn`s romantic novel The Scarlet Letter sets a literary example for exquisite use of tone shifts, symbols, imagery, and figurative language. The novel tells the story of a woman, Hester Prynne, who is guilty of committing the sin of adultery. Reverend Dimmesdale, the town minister, also took part in this crime as well which resulted in the birth of their child Pearl. Hawthorn`s fine use of symbolism, imagery, and figurative language help to guide the reader through each of these During the course of the novel, Hester and Dimmesdale run through a series of different literary tones; disgrace, renewal, and irony which are clearly illustrated through Hawthorn`s writing.

I empathize most with Reverend Dimmesdale. He had to live with the secret of his sin

The Scarlet Letter is a book complete of secrets and deceptions. The book teaches you about the difference about telling the truth or keeping it a secret. It shows you the challenges of both telling the truth and keeping a secret from everyone. There are many vital scenes throughout the book. With many of the scenes, if they weren’t in the book it would have had a completely different ending. The Scarlet Letter is a book full of eventful scenes that keep the book both exciting and interesting.

This shows that the people who are the most hushed and restrained outwardly, many of the time make up for this as they tend to judge others in their minds. This tendency which is there still today is also seen in this book, even though its quiet surprising since in the beginning of the book the Puritans were displayed to judge out loud instead.

The Custom House- This part of the book serves a preface to the rest of the book, and we can assume that the narrator in this part of the book is Hawthorne himself. He clearly identifies his purpose for not only writing this portion, but also the book as a whole. Once he discovers the scarlet letter along with some papers, he places the letter to his chest and describes a moment of fantastic power. He says that the letter has power and it must be unlocked. This serves as his initial reasoning for writing this book.

Sin is made from the standards of those before, written down to tell those later what is right and wrong; evil and good in the world. Sin is very relevant in The Scarlet Letter, it is shown throughout the novel.The novel started and ended with a sin. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, is the cause of this debacle. Hester and Arthur’s inability to control their emotions gave Hester the scarlet letter, and only Hester can redeem herself out of it. Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and also one of the church leaders, falls under a illness that no one understands right after Hester Prynne is thrown in jail. His doctor Roger Chillingworth is actually Hester Prynne’s husband. No one in town knows this since his real name is not Roger Chillingworth. Roger looks for revenge against Hester’s lover. All three of these characters commit an act of sin in one way or another which, in turn, affects their minds, their health and causes the consequences leading to great pain.