Landon Mccrory: The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In a surface examination of the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is quickly evident that no good things come from the wilderness. Therein, the wilderness is often associated with the savages and the devil. In his work The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne finds herself exiled by society for having an adulterous affair with the town reverend which brought forth the child known as Pearl. Pearl is quickly established as the child of the wilderness: wild, capricious, and thought by the town to be a demon-child. She represents several entities in the novel just by her being, but when her morality is delved into, much more of the nature of the story can be revealed. Pearl’s role is often overlooked as a formative force in the novel. Some scholars have gone as far as to denounce her as unnecessary to the story’s makeup. Upon close examination, it can be determined that Pearl is indeed a necessary element. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Pearl presents themes of morality, both personal and cultural, as well as the divide between society and nature, through her interactions with Hester, Reverend Dimmesdale, and the scarlet letter itself.

Hester, also, had a huge influence in her life. This would be the kindhearted minister named Dimmesdale. She looked upon him as a leader while her husband was gone. Eventually, they turned into secret lovers that created their daughter Pearl. Of course, Hester being a woman of integrity would never reveal who the father was. After all, Dimmesdale was a man of God who would never take place in such events. Although,

The very scarlet letter from which the novel’s name is derived from is a symbol of sinning; the scarlet letter represents how Puritan society views sinning as unforgivable and something for public speculation. Hester is punished by wearing hers out for the world to see. The letter is “so fantastically embroidered” that one townswoman argues that its intricacy and design defeat the entire purpose of wearing it. The scarlet letter serves as an

The novel opens to the reader by describing Hester’s walk through the town to a shame scaffold holding her infant daughter Pearl. This first scene on the scaffold Hester refuses to give the name of the child’s father to the people knowing

A sin doesn’t always identify its committer. A symbol of scorn can be turned into something else with the right amount of determination. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame to Hester; however, it becomes a powerful symbol of identity for her. The scarlet letter represents her individualism, her strength to overcome the image her peers tried to enforce upon her, as well as her willingness to aid others.

While her husband was doing his business in England, Hester has an affair with a man of her age, Arthur Dimmesdale. She has a baby that she called Pearl, but it obviously becomes public, and soon the whole city knows it. The unfair woman is exposed on a scaffold in her city so she is ashamed of what she did and to warn people

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” depicts a young woman, Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and bears a daughter, Pearl, because of the sin. Hester Prynne is then punished for her actions by being forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” by the community. This punishment produces many relationships between Hester and the community such as isolation, being a criminal, dependency, and the feeling of each other’s sin.

American literature begins with the Romantic era. In this era, authors begin to focus on other aspects of life besides politics. Romanticism values intuition over reason, believes imagination could discover truths the rational mind could not, and contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development. Dark romanticism is a subgenre that has a dark view of human life. The most famous Dark Romantic writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, emphasizes human proneness to sin and self-destruction, uses symbols that are considered dark, and believes that evil can overtake good. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne employs elements of Romanticism and symbolism to communicate the idea that sin and guilt have psychological effects which can turn into physical and mental manifestations.

In The Scarlet Letter Hester was forced to wear a Scarlet “A” on her attire at all times. She wore that so everyone who saw her would know that she had committed adultery. Everyone in Boston was taught in church to hate sinners and to hate anyone who wore a scarlet letter. Hester was ridiculed, made fun of, people would stop and say something

     As many know the shape of the Scarlet Letter was a letter “A”, and that the original meaning was to mean adultery. This was true throughout many chapters of the book, and became evident by how the Puritans treated Hester. Once again, even from the start of the book. In the first chapter all the towns people wait for Hester to come out from the huge iron doors. And even though they have yet no clue as to who or why someone is behind that door, the presence of hatred for whatever is behind the door is apparent. When they finally do see that Hester is the culprit, and wearing the Scarlet Letter, they proceed to badger her along with everyone else, and even the guard shows a sign of hatred. “___________________________________________”. Once again though, the Puritans eventually go back on these feelings, like they never even had them in the first place. By chapter thirteen Hester is seen no longer by the Puritans as a sinner, but almost as a holy figure. “How’s that?” Well, by this time Hester has done numerous deeds for the rich and the poor, and due to this fact the letter

Hester did not speak to name the child’s father. She was led back to the prison. As she got back to the prison she was at a nervous excited state, a practitioner came in to the prison and talked to Hester. The practitioner gave the baby a drink that made her sleep. Hester did not name the fathers name. Hester was then released from prison. She believed she got a understanding knowledge that all have shame and all should have a letter on them. Hester called her child Pearl, she would be with Pearl always, the children would try talking to Pearl, but Pearl would simply keep to her self and stay with her mother. Pearl would always notice the scarlet letter on the mother. Hester would ask Pearl who sent you and are you my child as she was in deep suffering, then Pearl would ask who brought me, the mother simply said your heavenly father. Hester went to governor Bellingham’s mansion to take a pair of embroidered gloves. Pearl and her mother were looked at as sinful and many would try to throw mud at them, as Pearl would defend herself. As they got to the governor’s house there was a bondservant who let them in and did not know of anything of the scarlet letter but saw Hester as a royal lady. The governor asked that Pearl be taken to learn the ways of Christianity. Wilson then talked to Pearl and asked her who made her, Pearl refused to answer and said she was not made but plucked from a rosebush next to a prison door. The governor looked surprised and told Hester that someone

has had a child by Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester could not hide her child, Pearl,

The Scarlett Letter is an 1850 work of fiction written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story is set up in the 17th century in Puritan Boston Massachusets and it mainly focuses on the life of a woman, Hester Prynne and how she struggles to gain respect from the community after having committed adultery. Throughout the book, themes such as sin, isolation, and judgment are explored. Hawthorne uses the theme of judgment to convey ideas about the strictness of the puritan society. This theme is explored from the beginning of the book up until the end. Hawthorne uses characters such as Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Hester to show this theme and the ways in which it impacts their lives. The theme of Judgment is evident in the first chapter when Hester was standing on the scaffold

Nathanial Hawthorne was born July 4, 1804. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His family name was Hathorne. He wanted his name to be different, so he added a “w”

“The Scarlett Letter” follows the life of a young woman by the name of Hester Prynne, a woman living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, after her release from jail for adultery. Hester is a woman who technically is married, but her husband deserted her for 5 years, but according to the society she lives in, she is required to maintain devoted. At the time of release