Judge Pyncheon Analysis

In The Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin at work , at the same time however, parallels can be drawn between the characters of The Scarlet Letter and of today’s society.

Without an honorable reputation a person is not worthy of respect from others in their society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the struggle to shake off the past is an underlying theme throughout the novel. Characters in this novel go through their lives struggling with trying to cope with the guilt and shame associated with actions that lost them their honorable reputation. Particularly, Hawthorne shows the lasting effect that sin and guilt has on two of the main characters in the book: Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.

A vivid selection of detail provides perfect evidence to Judge Pyncheon’s unsightly hypocrisy. Hawthorne pays close attention to Pyncheon’s work life, social world, and conspicuous appearances. At the same time, he elaborates on his wonderful involvement, his pursuing work ethic, and his superb manner and attire towards others. However, it is not the superficial attributes that Hawthorne pays attention to… it is the subliminal side of the Judge that he disregards. What does Judge Pyncheon do in his leisure time when the public eye is not trampling in his world? The Judge’s “splendid rubbish” is only a mere reflection he wants society to witness. Because of the narrator’s selection of detail, Judge Pyncheon’s secret existence soars to the surface.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America's most renowned authors, demonstrates his extraordinary talents in two of his most famed novels, The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. To compare these two books seems bizarre, as their plots are distinctly different. Though the books are quite seemingly different, the central themes and Hawthorne's style are closely related (Carey, p. 62). American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne is most famous for his books THE SCARLET LETTER and THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, which are closely related in theme, the use of symbolism, characterization, and style.

Hawthorne was able to show the true intentions and feelings of characters and the relationships between characters. He did this because he wanted the readers to understand that the Puritan society was not as religious or great as it is sometimes portrayed as. Even though their intentions were right with wanting to start a new religious society in the New World, they had their faults. Hawthorne is able to address these through the use of ironies. For example, having the reverend that everyone looks up to and emulates, be suffering from committing a very sinful act. Also, having the townspeople contradict the meaning of the scarlet A, and see it as a positive thing after Hester has just endured the torture of isolation and banishment. Overall, Hawthorne is trying to express his personal views on the Puritan society through the use of

In the world of The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I Hester Prynne have been forced to assign relative blame to Chillingworth, Dimmesdale and myself. It is distasteful for one of us to assign blame to all seeing as though we would all approach it differently and I can never know the true feelings of my counterparts. The blame I shall assign is who among us is most responsible for the misconduct in the puritan society we lived in.

In the fictional novel The Scarlet Letter, the contrast between public and private truth is made quite clear. The three main characters of this book make perfect examples of this overarching theme. The characters in this book are the pastor Mr. Dimmesdale, the doctor Roger Chillingworth, and the adulteress Hester Prynne. First, Mr. Dimmesdale, who seems like devout clergyman to the public, has a big secret that could get him killed if it were made known. Next, Roger Chillingworth, a harmless doctor in the eyes of the public, is actually a man on an evil and vengeful mission. Finally, Hester Prynne’s public truth is that she is unimportant outcast while in private the complete opposite is true. In conclusion, Mr. Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Hester Prynne all are prime examples of the theme, public versus private truth, that Hawthorne tries to convey in The Scarlet Letter.

   Based on the evaluations of literary critics, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” contains both an external and an internal conflict, about equally treated in the tale. It is the intent of this essay to explore both types of conflict as presented in the story.

To better understand The Scarlet Letter, we first must explore the author and his purpose for writing such a novel. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a philosophical thinker. He grew up in Salem, Massachusetts and was the descendant of William Hathorne, a Puritan magistrate and judge who became infamous for giving out harsh punishments. This was especially true during the Salem witch trials. Hawthorn’s family past seemed to fascinate and haunt him, and is represented in most of his works. This is coupled with his transcendentalist ideals, and clues the audience to the book’s intended

Hawthorne’s work takes America’s Puritan past as its subject, but The Scarlet Letter uses the material to the greatest effect. The Puritans were

Prompt: How does Hawthorne develop his themes of sin, hypocrisy, and corruption in the Puritan society through the occurrences of the scarlet letter, the scaffold, the Puritans, the prison, and the forest in the story?

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a man who was both plagued and absorbed by the legacy of the Puritans in New England. He was related to John Hathorne, a Puritan judge during the infamous Salem Witch trials of 1692. In The Scarlet Letter, his fictional account of mid-17th century Boston presents an opportunity to examine different themes commonly associated with Puritans. Particularly the nature of sin, personal identity and the repression of natural urges are themes that appear repeatedly through the novel. While his account of this time period may not be completely historically accurate, it is indicative of the persistent thematic influence of Puritan culture on American and New England society.

Frederick William Robertson once said, “There are three things in the world that deserve -- no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.” Ushering in the Romantic era in literature, this quote stood as the foundation for many transcendental pessimists; Nathaniel Hawthorne was no exception. As described in The Custom House, the introduction to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne heavily disapproves of his own extreme Puritan past and, in fact, heavily critiques it throughout the entire novel. However, while not directly, Hawthorne criticizes Puritan culture and ideals by exposing their sin in the community. He does this in a number of ways, but readers can plainly see that he chastises the Puritans by portraying them as religious extremists, intelligently

William B. Dillingham has, with immense precision, conjectured in his literary criticism of Hawthorne that amidst the theme of ‘inherited curse’ Hawthorne has placed a significant ‘real’ theme which is “necessity of man’s participation” in the “united struggle of mankind”. In fact, he begins his essay on “Structure and Theme in the House of Seven Gables” by stating, “Most critics of The House of Seven Gables fail to discover any structural pattern. The usual conclusion is that the book consists of a series of episodes