Isolation Within The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Some two hundred years following the course of events in the infamous and rigid Puritan Massachusetts Colony in the 1600s, Nathaniel Hawthorne, descendant of a Puritan magistrate, in the 19th century, published The Scarlet Letter. Wherein such work, Hawthorne offered a social critique against 17th Massachusetts through the use of complex and dynamic characters and literary Romanticism to shed light on said society’s inherent contradiction to natural order and natural law. In his conclusive statements…

freedom, peace, and introspection. However, until the last century, the wilderness was often regarded with fear and resentment. Written long before John Muir and the conservation movement, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was well ahead of its time for its depiction of wilderness. In The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale leaves the beaten path and seeks refuge in the forest. There, he gains the strength and willpower to throw off seven years of hopelessness and take his fate into his own hands…

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, is a true contemporary of the modern era, being cast into 17th century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts. The Scarlet Letter is a revolutionary novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne examining the ugliness, complexity, and strength of the human spirit and character that shares new ideas about independence and the struggles women faced in 17th century America. Throughout the novel, Hester’s refusal to remove the scarlet letter…

symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”. Symbolism is when an object is used in place of a different object. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most symbolic writers in all of American history. In “The Scarlet Letter”, the letter “A” is used to symbolize a variety of different concepts. The three major symbolistic ideas that the letter “A” represents in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” are; shame, guilt, and ability. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”, the first…

February 2016 The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 which is based on the time frame of the Puritans, a religious group who arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630’s. The Puritans were in a religious period that was known for the strict social norms in which lead to the intolerance of different lifestyles. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the puritan’s strict lifestyles to relate to the universal issues among us. The time frame of the puritans resulted in Hawthorne eventually thinking…

beliefs, roles, or ideologies. In the case of the characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and his short story “The Maypole of Merry Mount, othering is implemented by the Puritan groups against those they view as corrupt or morally wrong. This often leads to isolation, cutting the offending party off from the rest of society in an effort to control. Perhaps the most obvious group ostracized in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter are those who sin, and this particular novel focuses on Hester…

that human nature knows right from wrong, but is naturally evil and that no man is entirely “good”. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the classic novel The Scarlet Letter, believes that every man is innately good and Hawthorne shows that everyone has a natural good side by Hester’s complex character, Chillingworth’s actions and Dimmesdale’s selfless personality. At the beginning of the Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is labeled as the “bad guy”. The townspeople demand the other adulterer’s name, but…

Their goal is to ensure both sexes may be treated equally. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, the protagonist, exemplifies feminist beliefs. This novel takes place in the middle of the seventeenth century, hundreds of years before feminism was acknowledged. Therefore, Hester can be considered one of the first modern American women because she is able to battle and overcome public shame, depression, and isolation on her own. She raises a child, Pearl, out of wedlock, remains…

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne summarizes Hester Prynne’s perspective of the forest in one phrase. Early in the book, as Hester leaves prison, Hawthorne describes the forest as “dark, inscrutable… open to [Hester], where the wilderness of her nature might assimilate itself with a people whose customs and life were alien from the law that had condemned her” (75). Hawthorne explains Hester’s connection to the evil, isolated, and free forest, which serves as the location for her conversations…

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a classic American novel that tells a story of Hester Prynne, a convicted adulterer, and her struggles in community that has condemned her a sinner for life. Hawthorne uses the harsh social conditions of an early American Puritan society to create a backdrop for his new type of progressive woman character, Hester Prynne. Throughout the novel Hawthorne uses Hester as a way to break the societal norms presented by Puritan ideals, as well as emphasize their…