How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Personification In The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne from Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, is marginalized by society for having committed a sin. She too is given a stereotype by those around her, similar to Elle Woods. In the beginning, no one dares to speak or even look at Hester because of the “A” she wears on her chest. Hester feels as if she needs to change the meaning of this “A” that is stuck to her, so she sets out to do so. Every little action that she does,

Throughout the course of the novel, Hester Prynne transforms from a sinful adulteress to a capable woman. Hester Prynne is a dynamic character in The Scarlet Letter. In the beginning of the novel, as punishment for her act of adultery, Hester wears an embroidered scarlet letter ‘A’ on her chest. The scarlet A represents her sin and her status as an outcast in society as stated in the novel, “In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished, and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs and senses than the rest of humankind” (74-75).

The author of “The Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne, utilizes a variety of rhetorical devices to reveal to the audience that he viewed Hester Prynne as a strong, beautiful woman who was confident in herself. Although Hawthorne believed Hester deserved a punishment, he thought that her crime shouldn’t get in the way of her being ashamed to continue living her life. The author shows Hester’s remarkable character by describing her inner strength, her honesty, her compassion, and her defiance. It is known through the novel that the author holds women in high esteem and they should be respected. Hawthorne communicated his attitude toward Hester Prynne by explaining her physical appearance, showing dialogue between other characters, and using

To begin, Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter “A” to reinforce the theme of Guilt. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her bosom because she has committed the sin of adultery. This leads Hester to feel guilty for the rest of her life. Hawthorne states, “... that scarlet letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorne 51). The quote shows how feeling guilt has made her much more distant from the rest of the townspeople. Hester experiences this agonizing guilt whenever she glances in a mirror, or down at her chest. Pearl is the result of Hester’s

In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is more than a literary figure in a classic novel, she is known by some people to be one of the earliest American Hero’s. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester commits adultery and has a child that she must care for all alone. She is forced to wear a powerful, attention grabbing “Scarlet A” on her chest while she must try to make a living to support her and her child, Pearl. Even though she must face all the harsh judgment and stares she does not allow her sin to stop her from living a successful life. She looks past the Letter as a symbol of sin and turns it into a sign of approval. Hester

This shows inequality because the person she had an affair with didn’t have to face any consequences. Hester had to be shamed even though she had a baby in her hand at that moment. The Scarlet letter ‘A’ is a symbol or metaphor of how women are labelled and more often judged than men. The symbol was designed to be a symbol of shame; the fact that the label is bold and detailed, it suggest that society sees the mistakes of women and immediately condemns or point a finger at them without looking into every detail. furthermore, in this book we get to see how hester is stared at as she walks along the road, and how she seems to be a continuous gossip among the puritan women. In addition, she would be stopped on the road by preachers who would begin to give her lectures. She was known to have a skill in needlework but no one would ever call her to make a bridal gown, she was treated so poorly all because of one bad

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the idolization of Arthur Dimmesdale, and the demonization of Hester Prynne and her eventual adoration to claim that viewing people in divine terms is necessary for society to justify its own morality. The Puritans use their initial revilement of Hester Prynne and their later reverence of her to justify their own misguided righteousness. In Hawthorne’s novel, Hester Prynne commits the ignominious sin of adultery, yet as the novel progresses, the Puritans that once coldly shunned her instead welcome her kind character with a warm embrace. Her formerly scorned “A” —meant to stand as a moral executioner’s blade on her heart— becomes a symbol of the community’s pride in her.

The main character, Hester Prynne, is publicly shamed for adultery and forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. Although one might view Hester as an evil character considering that she has committed a rather unbearable sin in the eyes of 1650 Boston, she is not at all a bad person. Though she commits one of the worst sins for a woman, she is not entirely unvirtuous. Though Hester is punished by being forced to wear the scarlet letter, she turns the letter “A” into more than adultery. “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, with a woman’s strength”

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, “The Scarlet Letter,’ symbolizes a combination of shame and identity. This book is about a woman named Hester Prynne, who has an affair with a Reverend named Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester believed her husband was lost at sea, but that does not prevent the punishment and shame from her community. Even though she is pregnant with Dimmesdale’s child, she does not want to destroy his life by confessing that he was indeed her lover. Her punishment is to wear the letter “A” on her chest which represents the sin of adultery.

This references the injustices that would be thrown unto the protagonist, Hester Prynne after she commits her crime, scorned by all everyone sees her as a vile beast and she is forced to carry around the scarlet A on her chest. Everyone speaks of her, everyone glares at her but no one tries to understand her. This is the puritan nature and this is what

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

In her harsh Puritan society, Hester is forced to wear the infamous letter “A” as a means to bear her sin in public humiliation. She becomes a figure of shame within

Nathaniel Hawthorne highlights the habitual societal conflict of surfacing gender equality ideology throughout The Scarlet Letter. The typical female role in society during the mid-seventeenth century was to be a caretaker. Hester Prynne’s sentence for breaking this stereotype through adultery is to wear a large, red letter A on her chest. Hawthorne uses Hester’s character to add characteristics of early feminism. For example, Hester not only takes on the so called male and female role put in place by society at some point throughout the story, but she also challenges societal views of women. To fully understand the situation women were going through, you must be familiar with the historical context. The story takes place in a Puritan

As the novel progresses the meaning of the symbolism of the letter “A” starts ti blossom into a new meaning. Toward the climax of the novel Hester Prynne’s appearance is altered to where she is no longer viewed as a sinner. The meaning on the symbol changes from of the devil to a some what vague symbol, as if it has lost its initial connotation. Society now views her a symbol that differs whom she really is, she is viewed as a strong woman through all the torment that is put in a unfortunate situation. At this point Hester has already learned how to dealt with the burden of the scarlet letter. Withstanding the pressures of society boiling down waiting patiently for Hester Prynne to crack, she does not, she grows into a stronger woman. A woman that has gone through hell and back and continues to thrive in her society even under the circumstances she lives in. The scarlet letter “A” meaning has changed, “ hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility” (Hawthorne 147). Slowly Hester’s hard feelings toward the letter, and to the situation itself, begins to diminish. However, it is

Novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his fictional novel, “The Scarlet Letter”, expresses a story about a young woman, Hester Prynne, back in the 1600s who was convicted of adultery and must now wear a big “A” on her chest to show those in the small Massachusetts Bay colony the sin she has committed. Hawthorne’s purpose is to illustrate the hardships Hester must go through for committing such act in the small colony where religion was put first. Hawthorne adopts a serious and pitiful tone throughout the novel to get the adult readers to sympathize with the main character, Hester Prynne. Though this book was written back in the 1800s and is based off a woman who’s shamed for adultery, this book can still relate to today’s world with some of