Characterization And Imagery Of Hester Prynne Essay

     Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a dark tale of sin and redemption,centers around the small Puritan community of Boston during the 17th century. In the midst of this small community is Hester Prynne. She is a woman that has defied the Puritans, taken the consequences and in the end conformed with the Puritans. It did,

symbolizes in the story that death will come to everyone. No one can hide, and there is no escape.

“For she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking. She also possessed

Hawthorne is known for being a Romantic writer with a Romantic subject: a rebel who refuses to conform to society's code. Most

This further shows how Puritan judgement has diminished her beauty and spirit throughout the past seven years. When Hawthorne uses the words “grey shadow” it suggests when

Writing an excellent book, short story,or poem is an ability very few people posses : Nathaniel Hawthorne is someone who had this talent. Hawthorne's writing is mostly centered around romantic fiction, he has written a plethora of things but he is mostly remembered for his short stories and novels. Before divulging into his work, a reader should know where his writing comes from, his inspirations, originality and what some would call pure genius. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an individual whose work has been and should continue to be analyzed for years to come due to his unique twist on romantic fiction. Many of his works have casted a silhouette over America through his intricate stories and writing style that revealed the themes of psychology and human nature during the 19th century. Hawthorne’s ominous style makes his works into oddities compared to the other romantic fiction novels in his time. Many of his works, such as The Scarlet Letter, exemplifies the epitome of Hawthorne’s distinct outlook on the moralistic attitudes of

Arthur Dimmsdale is first described as being "a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be sensibly and a vast power of restraint." (pg. 50 Hawthorne).

Hawthorne’s life as a surveyor for the Salem Custom House lined up pretty well with the introduction that he wrote. ““A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in

Herman Melville in “Hawthorne and His Mosses” (in Literary World, August 17, 24, 1850) comments on how the writer is seen by others: “But it is the least part of genius that attracts admiration. Where Hawthorne is known, he seems to be deemed a pleasant writer, with a pleasant style,--a

When one talks about Puritan literature, two main figures come to mind: John Edwards and Nathaniel Hawthorne. John Edwards was a fiery preacher who sought to convert the unrighteous in his sermons. He is most well-known for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, which will be discussed in this essay. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a novelist and short-story author who wrote not only to convert his readers to Christianity, but to entertain them with stories of romance as well. He is most well-known for writing, among other things, “The Scarlet Letter”, “The House of Seven Gables”, and the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, which will also be analyzed in this essay.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most important authors in the history of American literature and the genre of Romanticism or Dark Romanticism, due to his unique style of writing and his focus upon subjects of Puritan religion and the unknown. I consider Hawthorne an important author, due to the fact that he skillfully and accurately based his fictional writings upon happenings of colonial times, was one of the first authors to display unfortunate outcomes for his characters’ immoral choices according to Puritan beliefs, and wrote of things that were considered taboo in his time, such as witchcraft, scientific innovation and experimentation. I strongly believe that Hawthorne’s influence for his writings were his Puritan ancestral background, his fascination with Puritan beliefs, and his interest in what was considered the unknown such as witchcraft and science. According to the Norton Anthology Textbook Vol. B, Nathaniel Hawthorne was “born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804” (370). Hawthorne belonged “to a family whose ancestral roots were tied to Puritan history, with his family being among the first settlers of Massachusetts and having one of his relatives serve as a judge during the Salem witch trials” (370). Hawthorne, as a young boy, “had a particular interest in writings such as John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, and by his mid-teens he took interest in British novelists such as Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet, William Godwin, and Sir Walter Scott”

Hawthorne uses imagery to juxtapose the beauty of some imperfections to the coldness of the analytical “fixing” of the imperfections. One of the most memorable images from the story is when Georgiana is captured in a photo, but only the birthmark comes out clear, while the rest of her beauty is blurred. In anger and disgust, Aylmer throws the entire thing away. However, Hawthorne used this image to

Women in today’s world use many scientific measures to look young, beautiful, and perfect. Some women even undergo surgeries to perfect their bodies. True natural beauty comes from within one’s self and not what is on the outside. While critics argue that Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark,” “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” and “Rappaccinni’s Daughter” stand as an overt commentary on nature vs. science, Hawthorne actually uses these works to explore personal familial connections.

Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler portrays the societal roles of gender and sex through Hedda as a character trying to break the status quo of gender relations within the Victorian era. The social conditions and principles that Ibsen presents in Hedda Gabler are of crucial importance as they “constitute the molding and tempering forces which dictate the behavior of all the play's characters” with each character part of a “tightly woven social fabric” (Kildahl). Hedda is an example of perverted femininity in a depraved society intent on sacrificing to its own self-interest and the freedom and individual expression of its members. It portrays Nineteenth Century unequal relationship problems between the sexes, with men being the independent factor and

Puritanism dominated 17th century history and literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne born in 1804 was an American writer who sought to resolve his conflicts with Puritanism through his writing. Hawthorne wrote several stories showing the world the horrors of the Puritan faith and the isolation of individuals who failed to uphold the faith. For Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown illustrates the difference between Puritan teaching and practicing and reflects his own guilt about the mistreatment of men at the hands of his forefathers.