Depression And Depression In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Guilt and shame haunt all three of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, but how they each handle their sin will change their lives forever. Hester Prynne’s guilt is publicly exploited. She has to live with her shame for the rest of her life by wearing a scarlet letter on the breast of her gown. Arthur Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is just as guilty of adultery as Hester, but he allows his guilt to remain a secret. Instead of telling the people of his vile sin, the Reverend allows it to eat away at his rotting soul. The shame of what he has done slowly kills him. The last sinner in this guilty trio is Rodger Chillingworth. This evil man not only hides his true identity as Hester’s husband, but also mentally torments

The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the nephew of John Hathorne. During the Salem Witch Trials, the only judge that did not apologize for the remorseless and cruel acts that were put upon many men and women was in fact John Hathorne. Nathaniel changed his last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne in an attempt to disassociate himself from his uncle. John Hathorne is the reason why Nathaniel Hawthorne is obsessed with the puritan times. Hawthorne lived in the 1800s, but the setting of the novel is based before the Salem Witch Trials were held in the 1600s. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the scarlet letter, Dimmesdale, and burrs to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.

Hester is publicly recognized because of the scarlet letter; as a result, she is liberated by it. Readers are told that “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (146). While Hester’s strength is bolstered, however, Dimmesdale’s only diminishes, because he is forced to internalize his shame and despair. The various ways in which the minister tries to correct this misery are revealed halfway through the novel: “In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge…It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast – not, however, like them, in order to purify the body…but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance. He kept vigils, likewise, night after night…He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself” (132). Through these means of self-harm, Dimmesdale acknowledges his tragic flaw, but he does nothing to redeem himself publicly. Dimmesdale is entirely unable to forgive himself for his sin, even when he is able to forgive Hester: “’I do forgive you, Hester. I freely forgive you now!’”

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a brilliant writer of the 19th century. Hawthorne created a novel that reflected the time period of the Puritans in New England. The Scarlet Letter contains a representation of the people during that time period but can also be related to the reader’s time period. Originally, God created the world with complete perfection until man fell, and sin entered the world. In the eyes of God, a sin is a sin. There is no worse sin that one can commit. Man is the one that decided that one sin could be more harshly judged than another. Hawthorne uses the theme of sin to show the importance of one’s faith and conviction and how those principles relate to fallen sinners.

Throughout, “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne is able to enhance the plot by intricately incorporating symbols which represent a deeper meaning. One of which, is the infamous, and ambiguous, scarlet letter that lays upon the bosom of Hester Prynne. In the beginning of the book, the audience is immediately introduced to the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame and adultery. The narrator describes the Puritan society as very judgemental and harsh. Comments like, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die,” creates this negative and unwelcoming atmosphere which surrounds Hester for a majority of the book. From then on, the Puritans constantly refer to the

To consider the psychological states of the main characters that we are trying to understand "which concepts are operating in the text in such a way as to enrich our understanding of the work and, if we plan to write a paper about it, to yield a meaningful, coherent psychoanalytic interpretation" (Tyson 29) and to see if there is any "Jungian criticism," which "is generally involved with a search for the embodiment of these symbols within particular works of art" (Richter 505).

“Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred” (Hawthorne). As this sentence is read in the The Scarlet Letter, the reader will realize that the main theme of the book is the sentence above. Throughout the book, secret sin damages the lives, soul, and the integrity of the main characters. However, it could have easily been evaded through open confession of their sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose in writing this novel is an attempt to influence the reader to openly confess their sins and never be ashamed of who they are. According to Levine, “even though we convey ourselves as saints, we are really sinners (Levine 64). The Scarlet Letter is a classic work of

Though never forced to don a branding like the letter “A” in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, people in modern society are always remembered along with their act of wrongdoing. However, the subjects of the public judgement may not see their choices as immoral. People shame for a difference in beliefs and morals. For instance, Kim Kardashian, a popular reality TV star attained her own personal fame by making a sex tape with rapper Ray J, and, consequently, was shamed in the headlines. Despite the bashing, Kim did not see why her act was deemed shameful. Kim acts as a modern day Hester Prynne because she underwent the same humiliation from her society.

Even the women that are viewed as strong they can still easily fall victim to dependence on men because society depicts men as superior in intellect, skill, and value, therefore causing women rely on them to succeed in life. In the novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist in the 1800’s, The Scarlet Letter, he discusses the idea that women must rely on men in order to be successful, a belief that still exists today. In the novel, Hawthorne uses the two main characters, Hester and Pearl, as examples of this vulnerability displayed by women. Hawthorne manages to develop strong, independent female characters, but near the close of the novel makes them surprisingly drop down to the demeaning standards of society. When characterizing

In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the theme of sin viewed through the prism of many colors is the essence of the novel. The protagonist, Hester, her child, Pearl, and the Reverend Dimmesdale all live in a Puritanical society in Boston, and are subject to the Puritans' strict religious beliefs and rigid attitudes. Exposed to sin and the temptation of its concealment in varying degrees, these characters evolve through the novel in different ways. Hawthorne brilliantly displays these differences by juxtaposing extreme and vivid colors—concealment is shown in dark, drab, and gloomy shades, while openness has a bright and colorful sheen. In this way, Hawthorne establishes a dichotomy between lack of color and color in order to show

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale struggles to overcome sin, guilt, and public shame in Puritan society. Shame is a painful sense of having done something wrong, improper or immodest. Arthur Dimmesdale reveals his guilt and shame towards the end of the novel, when Hester and Pearl stand with him on the scaffold while he confesses his sin to the townspeople. In order to feel shame or guilt, one must have a clean conscience. Dimmesdale is a good example of this because he is loyal to god, and his shame hurting him represents that he is a good person.

It is said that the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing are interconnected among spiritual men. Should the spiritual wellbeing be compromised, through sin or some such disconnect with God, mental and physical health declines. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a similar degeneration of health, both physical and mental, is undergone by the tortured minister, Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is the secret lover of Hester Prynne, the young, passionate protagonist of the novel. Having sinned, he cannot reveal himself to the townsfolk, and thus is resigned to suffer with it himself for years. His subconscious guilt is constantly agitated by Roger Chillingworth, and as he becomes more and more guilt-ridden, he becomes untrusting and frail, melancholy and beaten. His mental and spiritual health diminish to the point of his untimely death in the finale of the book. Indeed, The Scarlet Letter is a psychological novel, illustrating the steady dissolution of Arthur Dimmesdale from a healthy, young, and enthused minister to a frail, sickly, and defeated shadow of his former self due to his inability to cope with his actions.

In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale and Hester to portray the effects of sin on people. These two characters both suffer because of their iniquity and the strict Puritan society that they live in. Throughout the book, there is evidence that Dimmesdale suffers more than Hester. Firstly, Dimmesdale’s guilt leads him to inflict punishment on himself, while Hester does not. Second of all, he is consumed by a feeling of hypocrisy. Finally, Dimmesdale is tortured by Chillingworth, but Chillingworth does not torture Hester. Dimmesdale suffered a lot and this finally leads to his death.

Hester faces the shaming of the townspeople, her own guilt and judgment of herself, and the guilt and shame of others. Dimmesdale feels guilt and shame for keeping his sin hidden. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the shame and guilt that results from sin through his characters in the Scarlet Letter.

While Hawthorne was describing the custom-house he included the General. This old retired General, who is the collector in the custom-house, seems very stern, respectable, and intimidating. However, this is not actually how he acts. Contrary to his looks, he is very sweet and gentle. This paragraph describes the irony of the masculine general enjoying flowers. I do not believe that anything was omitted at all, if anything this is a bit too much information. Although it is quite amazing descriptive language, I do not believe that the “All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent; nor does nature adorn the human ruin with blossoms of new beauty, that have their roots and proper nutriment only in the chinks and crevices of decay,