Moral Law Vs Natural Law In The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

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.

The Scarlet Letter is a well known novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The novel is composed and written in Salem and Concord, as well as Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1840's. The narrator of the novel is in an omniscent state, meaning he knows more about the characters than the characters know about themselves. Although the narrartor is omniscent, he also makes sure to include his ideas and opinions on situations, making him also greatly subjective. Being subjective, as well as omniscent, historical fiction along with a story displaying constant symbolism is evident.

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.

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows multiple connections between characters and nature. As the story progresses nature becomes more prevalent in the characters and continues to establish certain characteristics for each character. This established connection provides a view into the depths of human nature that each character portrays.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, symbolsim is constantly present in the actual scarlet letter “A” as it is viewed as a symbol of sin and the gradally changes its meanign, guilt is also a mejore symbol, and Pearl’s role in this novel is symbolic as well. The Scarlet Letter includes many profound and crucial symbols. these devices of symbolism are best portayed in the novel, most noticably through the letter “A” best exemplifies the changes in the symbolic meaning throughout the novel.

Chillingworth’s goal was to “ruin” (65) Dimmesdale's soul, an act that continued to fuel his vengeance and fill his own soul with darkness. His entire demeanor was affected by this purpose; while he did attempt to hide what he felt internally by acting “calm , gentle, [and] passionless”, he failed and showed his “active” “malice” that “led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal has ever wreaked upon an enemy” (116). The significance of the immorality of his plan further shows how he was inhumane, more like a Devil than a person. Chillingworth “brought himself” “below” “her level” “ by the revenge which he has stooped for,” (138) because it filled him with such hatred that it drained him of morality and humanity, making him lower than Hester and ultimately less powerful. Hester on the other hand, wanted to repent for previous transgressions, doing this by utilizing her flaming passion for charity. She became known as one “who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, [and] so comfortable to the afflicted” (134-135). Her Scarlet Letter stopped being interpreted “by its original signification”, and now “meant Able” (134) instead. This new purpose in life brought her higher than Chillingworth and put her in a higher position of power due to its emphasis on

The Puritan society influences the morality in The Scarlet Letter, while in Ethan Frome, Ethan makes his decisions based on his own ideas of morality. The similarity in the moral sensibilities of these novels is significant because it reveals that the ideas of morality can be seen across time periods, as it was not only an issue at one specific time. In conclusion, the insight provided by Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Wharton’s Ethan Frome reveals that the moral ideas expressed in these novels can be found across settings and time

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents the reader with the harsh, life changing conflicts of three Puritan characters during the 17th century. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Robert Chillingworth must endure their different, yet surprisingly similar struggles as the novel progresses. Despite their similarities, Hawthorne shows these individuals deal with their conflicts differently, and in the end, only one prevails. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s intricately critical diction helps determine his didactic tone; during the course of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals that happiness can be harnessed through one’s perseverance.

In the nineteenth century novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes different origins of allusions and archetypes to emphasize how individuals in order to encourage individuals to forgive sins and work towards redemption.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's bold novel, The Scarlet Letter, revolves around sin and punishment.  The main characters of the novel sharply contrast each other in the way they react to the sin that has been committed

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

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many forms of symbolism in his book The Scarlet Letter. Symbolism is, according to Merriam-Webster, “the art or practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visual or sensuous representations.” This means that the author was using objects to represent an action or idea. The symbols used in his book is either all physical or visible objects. Many of the symbols in the book are about characters.Nathaniel’s ideas came from his bonds with the Puritans. According to CliffsNotes, “the Puritans had great difficulty in loving the sinner and hating the sin”. With the Puritans strong hatred for sin,

In the world today, themes and symbolisms have played a major role in the development and presentation of past and present novels. These themes and symbolisms within a novel shape the overall story and often work hand in hand to convey its purpose and meaning. One such novel would include The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne; in this story, along with all his others, he has incorporated his three predominant, driving themes: sin, hypocrisy, and corruption. In The Scarlet Letter,

The article informs their audience with what was done as punishment for those who committed a sinful crime that offended their religion. The actual story starts out with Hester Prynne, along with other women standing in the town square for everyone to see and be told the sinful crimes one has committed, "The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of impropriety restrained the wearers of petticoat and farthingale from stepping forth into public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng nearest to the scaffold at an execution... The woman who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the manlike Elizabeth had been not together unsuitable representative of the sex." (Hawthorne 48). In the scene Hawthorne describes how these women standing there today did something morally wrong for the sex they are and since woman in those days had a certain role in the household whereas today in 2017 woman have more freedom to do whatever they please, still woman are shamed for the same reason they did back in the 1600s. In an article about public shaming, it tells how now with social media shaming woman and well anyone is much easier to do as many people have it and not only can one small community see it but everyone all over the world can, "Women are often shamed for