Contradiction In Scarlet Letter

By initially facing her fears of living in public with the shameful mark of the Scarlet Letter, Hester was able to accept this life and continue without the fear of public scorn and humiliation. Although the mark still played a heavy role Hester’s place in society, she was able to overcome its hindrance to an extent, and turn the letter into something positive in the eyes of the Puritans, as shown when the author writes, “Such helpfulness was found in her, —so much power to do, and power to sympathize, —that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne” (Hawthorne 158.) By accepting her fears initially and standing brave in the face of her apprehension over the Scarlet Letter, Hester was able to live a life free of the fear which could have plagued her, and instead became a positive force in society. Hester faced her fear of the town judging the Scarlet Letter and turned to a life of selflessness and

Hawthorne chooses to have Hester overcome her struggles. At the end of the book, Hester finds at least some degree of peace. The struggles and pain she went through were not pleasant, but they did provoke her to improve her relationship with God. Her burden seems lessened and if there is nothing else for her to be joyful about, her daughter Pearl has adapted and thrived in her new life. Hester Prynne shows mercy upon the sick and does charity work even when it goes unappreciated. She gave her time and effort to help the poor even when they rebuked her as well. Her dedication to try and fix her mistakes is admirable and the reader feels as if Hester has really changed for the better. The change in Hester makes the people respect her and come to her for advice at the end of the story. In chapter 13, Hawthorne writes about how the Puritans have mixed feelings about Hester, but the majority of the people now forgive and hold her in high regard. “They said it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.” (pg. 158) This quote shows how the interpretation of the letter and of Hester herself has changed. The new view of Hester gained by the Puritans is based on her response to the scarlet letter, a symbol meant to ruin her but in reality it made her

Some artists use their songs and fame to demonstrate to people their opinions and stand on an issue. By issue one means a problem that affects a considerable amount of people. One of this artists is is Juanes. His real name is Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez and he was born on August 9, 1972, in Carolina del Príncipe, Antioquia, Colombia. He started his solo career and became known in the 2000s. On one hand, he has done a lot of humanitarian work to help the world, but on the other hand, his most popular songs aren’t about the work he has done.

As we are introduced in the beginning of the book Hester is already an independent woman, she denies the arm of the beadle who meant to lead her through town to the scaffold. Once she gets shamed and humiliated on the scaffold for what she did, Hester begins so heal again. Hester starts to punish herself in ways that are very humbling and changes the way the community feels about her over the course of the seven years. In Characters of The Scarlet Letter, the author writes, “Her way of life suggests that she had determined so to bear her earthly punishment without complaint,” (Wagenknecht 4). Hester began helping folks, even if it was just in the dark, helping the sick and the poor even though they disrespected her and treated her poorly.

“Reality is easy. Deception that's the hard the hard work” -Lauryn Hill. In the novel the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses literary elements such as symbolism, irony and conflict to show deception and secrecy can lead to self-destruction. This relates to the Scarlet Letter because in the book the protagonist character commits an act of sin that was more than just frowned upon. Not only does the community gossip and turn their cheek to the sinner but a sickness comes along from keeping a secret from the community.

As it says in the book, “ If she entered a church, trusting to share the Sabbath smile of the Universal Father, it was often her mishap to find herself the text of the discourse.” (Hawthorne 95) Hester Prynne had to teach herself to be independent and the first step to that was forgiving herself, earning forgiveness of others, and earning God’s forgiveness. As the years passed, Hester’s kind acts she does for the town allowed them to forgive and forget her sins. She would always give clothing she made to the poor and that contributed to them forgiving her. Hester’s own self conscious was another factor she needed in her path to full forgiveness. She always believed she needed to wear her Scarlet Letter, this was her reminder of her sin everyday and it wasn’t till later in the novel where she doesn’t want to wear it anymore. Also, in the beginning of the novel Hester refused to leave the town because she believed she needed to be in the place her sin took place. In a way, Hester had found forgiveness in herself but on the other hand her actions show that she might still be in the process of completely forgiving. Hester’s actions in earning God’s forgiveness were very similar to the ones she completely when forgiving herself. She once again wouldn 't take off her Scarlet Letter and said that it would come off by itself when God wanted it to.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is forced to act a certain way because of her mistake. Hester is described as being a different type of person than the one she presents herself as:

The narrator remarks, “The scarlet letter had not done its office,” (Hawthorne 163) while speaking of how the experience of wearing the letter has changed Hester and how the community opinion of her has evolved over seven years. While the letter was supposed to make Hester a social pariah, her charitable nature quickly changed how she was viewed. While she may believe that she is isolated from the rest of society by the letter, the community has chosen to view the letter as standing for “Able,” instead of it’s original “Adulterer.” Mentally, she is punishing herself for her sin, but that is her own decision and not an affect of wearing the letter. In fact, she almost feels empowered by it. She “assumed the freedom of speculation, then common

Every event, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has a mood related to it. These moods can be found hammered into a scaffold where a corpse listlessly swings, or, hidden in the shy smile of an infant. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a dreary scene of a small New World community; attempting to uncover secrets that the new community already harbors. An overall melancholy mood taints the rose bush and soaks the prison door trailing, like a shadow, behind the story. This somber tone prompts readers to analyze their own mortality and acknowledge their flaws, rather than passively accepting them.

The Scarlet Definition of Ambiguity How can a mere letter epitomize the conealed truths of an entire family? In literature underlying messages in morality and principles like this are occasionally expressed through symbolism, such is the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s romantic novel of sin and hypocrisy utilizes several characters, scenes, and objects to convey its messages in numerous fashions, as Millicent Bell further explains in The Obliquity of Signs: The Scarlet Letter. Of all the symbols presented in The Scarlet Letter, the title letter is the most prominent as it represents different meanings for Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and their daughter Pearl.

What influences an author to write a novel? Many authors use their personal experiences and ancestral backgrounds to shape the plot, themes and relationships in their novels. The events in an author’s life affect the style and content of their literate, which is expressed throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is outcasted from society because of her non-conformity to rigid Puritan morals, similar to how Hawthorne alienates his own daughter Una for having a more masculine personality. These aspects all mirror Hawthorne 's emotions and hardships of his early life through the literary element of characterization. The analysis of Pearl emphasizes how The Scarlet Letter is a reflection of Hawthorne 's life, and how the

The difference between Hester and Dimmesdale’s personal views on sin, and how they deal with their guilt are key themes within The Scarlet Letter.

From this sin came a very happy and energetic girl “Pearl”. So from the beginning, we see the sin that was committed. We only know half of who the sin truly belongs. “I thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer! 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.” (Hawthorne 53) This is the first time we get a glimpse of guilt and the possibility that Dimmsdale is the fellow-sinner. As a preacher who speaks against sin, this is extremely hard for him. He wants to tell the truth but Hester won’t let him. This sin begins to completely consume one character the Reverend Dimmsdale. The guilt he feels drives him mad and causes him to carve an “A” into his chest and wonders the streets while asleep trying to let his sin be known. He even sits upon the gallows trying to tell people. The secret sin within this work was the sin of adultery not for Hester but her lover Dimmesdale. Throughout his works he speaks of different sins such is the case in the Ministers Black Veil.

He utilizes the puritanical society to epitomize that what Hester, guilty of adultery, has committed a sin, a sin that the community will not let her live down. He then ironically makes the father of Pearl the minister of the town, the purest of all in puritan times. The guilt both characters are forced to live with internally destroys both Hester and Dimmesdale. This is essential to one of the major novels symbol as it focuses clearly on their sin. Hawthorne utilizes this to his advantage in stating the strong overall feeling of guilt throughout novel. One of the major symbols depicted here is that forgiveness, in order to be true and have meaning, must come from within the

So, rather than leaving the town where her sin took place and starting over somewhere new, she chooses to stay and live out her punishment for the rest of her life, taking responsibility for her actions. “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment.” She provides for herself and her daughter by making nice clothes for the upper-class people in her town. When she has extra clothing to spare, she donates it to the poor. Despite the fact that she is providing a service for people and is kind to the poor, the town continues to look down on her because of her adultery: “The poor, as we have already said, whom she sought out to be the objects of her bounty, often reviled the hand that was stretched forth to succor them. Dames of elevated rank, likewise, whose doors she entered in the way of her occupation, were accustomed to distil drops of bitterness into her heart...” Many people would try to defend themselves against these personal attacks and tell the antagonizers that they are wrong, but not Hester, because she ultimately believes that she deserves any snide remark that the town throws at her. This humbleness that she shows is another example of why she is a honorable woman.