Judgment In The Scarlett Letter

With the assistance of various techniques, the author of “The Scarlett Letter” Nathaniel Hawthorne, is able to successfully introduce and characterize several characters. In chapter 4 “The Interview”, Hawthorne is able to properly characterize both Roger Chillingworth and Hester Prynne. Throughout the duration of the scene the reader gains vital information and better understanding of the characters through Hawthorne’s use of point of view, dialogue, syntax and imagery. With the incorporation of the third person omnipotent point of view, Hawthorne allows the audience to characterize Hester and Prynne by providing details on the thoughts of the characters. The narrator in the third person point of view, opens up the chapter with a statement

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The Scarlet Letter is a novel that took place in the 17th century, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The heartbreaking story of the main character, Hester Prynne dispersed the reader's’ thoughts. Hester Prynne suffered from adultery, where she had a child without father’s presence and support. Hester also suffered from bullying, where she was conjectured by superior people in the Puritan Legacy. The Scarlet Letter illustrated many bullying examples throughout certain chapters of the book.

Though their crime of adultery was mutual, Hester’s pregnancy forced her sin into the spotlight, and in Puritan society, the sin of having an illegitimate child was one of the worst a woman could commit. As punishment for her crime, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her chest as a sign of her wrongdoing. Because of this, Hester was forced to acknowledge what she has done and accept the repercussions of her crime, which ultimately makes her a stronger person and supports Hawthorne’s claim that it is “better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain” (Hawthorne 76). Hawthorne reveals Hester’s acceptance of her crime and her guilt the moment she walks out of the prison with her daughter in her arms, explaining that, “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors” (Hawthorne 31). Because of her crime, many people expect Hester to tremble with fear upon being revealed to the town, but instead she holds her head high and embraces the punishment for her sin. This in turn allows Hester to appear stronger, more beautiful, and more dignified, and choosing to portray Hester in this way shows Hawthorne’s belief that it is better to confess one’s sin and live with it rather than deal with the

In The Scarlett Letter, Hawthorne uses one of his main characters, Hester, as a symbolic representation of the

The novel opens with the people of the town gathering outside the jailhouse with “grim rigidity” (Hawthorne 47) waiting for Hester to appear. As she proceeds to exit the jail, Hester encounters snide remarks from people around her. She describes leaving the jailhouse as agonizing: “Haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon” (Hawthorne 52). Her society makes Hester feel inferior and unwelcome after she commits a sin, reflecting their lack of compassion and sympathy for each other. When she is given her punishment to wear the scarlet letter on her chest for as long as she lives, the townspeople react negatively and demand a harsher punishment. A woman in the crowd asserts “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead” (Hawthorne 49). Yet another yells, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it” (Hawthorne 49). In saying this, they allude to the idea that Hester should have faced a more severe punishment, preferably one that involved physical pain. From Hester’s treatment, it is clear that Puritans are “a grim and gloomy race, impatient with

Claire Butler Ms. Aldana American Literature Period F 21 November 24, 2014 Hypocrisy in the Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes place in the seventeenth century in Puritan Boston. It is a story about Hester Prynne, and how she deals with committing adultery. Hester was originally married to man she did not love, and was forced to prepare her life with him in Massachusetts.

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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.

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.

The Scarlett Letter happened during a time period in the seventeenth-century called Puritanism. Puritanism was a strict religious culture. Hester Prynne was punished by the Puritans for committing adultery. The Puritans made Hester wear a Scarlett letter “A”. This was to shame Hester for her sin and mock her in front of all of the townspeople.

Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan settler, gets exiled from the Puritan Settlement because of her actions. Similarly, Hester Prynne’s sinful action results in her confinement in prison, away from the town people. In the 1850’s, Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The Scarlet Letter. Set in a Puritanical Society, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of how one simple act of passion upsets the very basic thread of society. In the novel, Hester Prynne personally transcends the judgments of society through her discoveries in nature, while she lives a simplistic life and becomes more self-reliant.

There is a Puritan society in the Scarlett letter which incorporates their organized religion into the political system. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter and inside of the text he implies a criticism and dislike of organized religion. The text itself critiques the style of organized religion by describing the people as a group of people with sad-coloured garments" and "grey steeple-crowned hats" (Hawthorne 142). Hawthorne pictures the people of the town, as a simple and dark people. The heathen of the story who divided the code of the town, Hester Prynne, is described as “beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion" (Hawthorne 159). He illustrates how he believes the actions of Hester Prynne might

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Evelyn De Arcos Mr. Webb Period AM 10/24/14 Feminist Adultery has always been around. This act is very personal, and the involvement of other people is not necessary, but during the Puritan times, adultery was the worse sin one could ever commit. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist, Hester Prynne commits infideltity with a minister. After giving birth to Pearl, the town judges her for her sin. To punish her for this act, Hester must wear a scarlet letter "A" on her bosom so that the town can look down on her shameful action and recognize her as a woman who committed adultery.