Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter

The children In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter play a major role in the Puritan society. With their honest opinions of Hester and Pearl, the children are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults. Due to their innocence, children are capable of expressing themselves without constraints; there are no laws or regulations that they are bounded by. As an adolescent go through the stages of life and grow older, they begin to be more conscious of the how they act as they are more aware of society and the things that are occurring in the world, creating a filter for their actions. When they remain as the children, on the other hand, are adventurous; they are still exploring the universe that seems to fill with mysteries that are bound to be solved. They tend to attach to the truth and they are not afraid to speak it freely. Children differ from adults in their potential for expressing these perceptions. With their obliviousness to the things that are actually going on around the town, children therefore react differently compared to the adults, who are more knowledgeable. Perceived to be immature, young children are presented as more perceptive and more honest than adults due to their innocence, how they are unaware of the reality and the crimes that are presented in society by the adults enables them to be blithe and not afraid of saying what they feel like. Due to their naivety, when they express what they perceive to be true, they do not get punished,

Nathaniel Hawthorne constructs the plot of his novel The Scarlet Letter around two sinners and traces their journeys towards acceptance and belonging as they experience the effects of sin and guilt their individual ways, especially Arthur Dimmesdale who becomes increasingly guilt wrought throughout the novel. Dimmesdale’s steep decline under the weight of his sin essentially causes him to become trapped in a prison of guilt, his own “desert places,” that he spends the majority of the novel attempting to escape. As Dimmesdale attempts to gauge the advantages and disadvantages of a full confession he finds himself in the midst of an intense internal battle over between his immense guilt and his crippling cowardice. On one hand, confessing would allow Dimmesdale to be freed from his guilt and be authentic with his actions, but on the other hand, confessing would also destroy his reputation among the strict Puritans. Hawthorne follows Dimmesdale’s path as he attempts battle his guilt and transitions from a stance of passivity, his indecision, to an attitude of action with his final decision to confess. In The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale is trapped between his cowardice and his guilt, his “desert places,” which ultimately leads to his downfall.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Pearl serves as a punishment to Dimmesdale and Hester for their adultery. She is described as an “elf-child” with an “impish grin”, demonstrating her wild and devious nature. In “Mirror Imagery in The Scarlet Letter”, Michael L. Lasser states that Hester thinks Pearl “must be disordered and even essentially evil” (274). Pearl’s mischievous

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the “A” is much more than a tattered patch of crimson with loose gold stitchery. As the years pass, the Puritanical society associates Hester Prynne’s identity with the embattled patch from an “adulteress,” to a woman who’s “able,” and finally, into an “angel.” Hester is a fallen woman in the beginning as she is publically shamed and shunned, causing her to suffer greatly. She internally struggles to comprehend the letter’s symbolic meaning only to come out as a stronger woman in the end. “Symbols are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning.”(Womack, P125) Hester gains a unique understanding of humanity and the struggles of other

In The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthrone looks at three people who all suffer in different ways. Hester Prynne because of her adultery, was driven away by the people of Boston. Roger Chillingworth fueled by his need for revenge rushes into madness. The Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who is loves by all, is almost pushed into insanity. While it is clear Hester and Chillingworth suffer, Dimmesdale is the one who goes through the worst trial.

The Scarlet Letter is an example of a story that has two conflicting ideas that coincide together. Redemption and regret do not always work together, but in the life of Pearl, they are two characteristics that cannot work without the other. It is important to realize that without the life of Pearl, Hester’s own life would not have been impacted in the way that it was, or even impacted at all. What others may see as a problem, can really be a blessing in

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 is a dark romanticism. The novel was written about two main characters Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale and their forbidden love. Hester and Dimmesdale have committed sin by having an affair, which leads to the conflicts in the story. The affair it self-was forbidden because Hester was a married woman and Arthur was a minister. Is the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale true love? What is true love anyways? There are many ways that these questions can be answered, but one thing is for sure this story line is complicated in many ways.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is book filled with complex themes and ideas. The author creates complex characters full of morbidity to carry out the plot. The main characters, Hester Prynne, and her husband Roger Chillingworth, are a prime example of morbid character’s from their gloomy aura, to their melancholy demeanor. Due to Hester’s misfortune and sin, she’s lost her beauty, and in a sense her happiness. This is the same reason Chillingworth has become obsessive in trying to find Hester 's lover and has planned “to see him tremble.”(pg.70)

Life can be proven to be extremely difficult at many different points; whether people are just finding their place in the world, or they are finally settling down after decades of toil and strain. In the words of American Dramatist Tennessee Williams, “Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you’ll know you’re dead.” This quote relates how everyone in the world is constantly suffering in some way, shape, or form and in the Scarlet Letter the situation is no different. The entire novel is based upon simple mistakes made by an array of individuals, and the repercussions of those choices that cause different forms of suffering. Throughout this fictional work, one individual sticks out as one who’s true faith has been tested through suffering, and this individual is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. His constant suffering throughout the entire book is shown through; the beginning of his practices of vigils, the dilapidation of his health, and Roger Chillingworth’s deep desire for revenge. Along with these aspects, Dimmesdale’s loss of his formal, pious structure have been shown clearly through his complete shift in mindset, making him the character that suffers most throughout this novel.

Settled in 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony housed one thousand refuge Puritans. The Puritans had sailed over to escape religious persecution from England. Born one hundred seventy four years later Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose ancestors arrived at the colony, would become a writer. He started writing at the age of twenty four, but would not peak until he hit his late forty’s. His most famous book written was The Scarlet Letter. The book was originally concepted upon the findings of a paper recalling the events and the scarlet letter. Hawthorne’s book would showcase the Puritans view on the sin of two people and the revenge of another. Portraying the lives of three different people, the strong willed Hester Prynne; the abused clergyman

When this book was given out, many people probably could not wait for it to be over. Friends, parents, even teachers talked about how hard it is to get through. In fact, the majority of people, including myself, wondered how teenagers living in the 21st century could possibly connect to this story. The typical teenager’s daily life revolves around getting lunch at Panera, studying for many tests in one day, and competing for the most amount of likes on Instagram. So how could a book about a girl who commits adultery and is ridiculed by her whole community for her actions possibly be related to? Believe it or not, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne has many themes that are still portrayed in today’s modern society. Some of these themes include acceptance within society, reputation based on previous actions, and how closely related revenge and guilt are to one another.

Marxism is a secular method for analysis focusing on class relations and societal conflict, which can be used to analyze The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Prussia on May 5, 1818 to Heinrich and Henrietta Marx. He explored sociopolitical theories and became a journalist creating socialist writings causing him to be banished from Germany and France. Marx is the creator of the Communist Manifesto which was published in the year 1848 and lived his last days in london where he wrote the first volume of Das Kapital. His parents were of jewish religion but had rabbinical ancestry, in 1886 his father converted to christianity. Karl Marx was an average student, home schooled until he was twelve years old and spent five years attending a school in Trier at the time known as Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium. His father was one of the most respected lawyers in Trier, when Marx turned seventeen he was enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Bonn. A year later his father sent him to a more serious college in berlin that he attended for four years studying law and philosophy. Marx became a member of the Young Hegelians, a radical group of students that criticized religion and politics. At the end of 1843 Marx moved to Paris. Throughout the first few months he was in paris he became a communist and recorded his views in the Economical and Philosophical Manuscripts, which would not be published

A young woman named Hester Prynne is found of adultery. She had an illegitimate child and now has to wear the letter "A" on her chest to represent adulterer. She has been sentences to three hours of scolded punishment and a lifetime of being branded. Reverend Wilson and reverend Dimmesdale question Hester about the child 's father. She refuses to give up the name. Her old husband Roger Chillingworth appears and gives her some medicine to help her. She bursts out that he might be the devil in disguise and assures her that he just wants to get revenge on the baby 's father. A few months later she is released from prison and is able to take care of herself and the baby from her talent as needlework. Pearl is Hester 's child and knows she is different from everyone else. There are rumors going around that Pearl is a demon child and should be taken away from Hester. She persuades Wilson by saying that she can teach pearl a lesson from her shame. He grants the order of letting pearl be with her mother. Chillingworth becomes a doctor and moves in with reverend Dimmesdale to find the cause of his health problems. Dimmesdale is getting worse and is seeing visions. He tortures himself because of his sin and whips himself. He goes to the scaffold and holds hands with Hester and Pearl. They return home and Dimmesdale does the sermon of his lifetime.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is famous for his works that revolve around the Puritan society. The Puritans were very stringent in the way they dealt with rules and ways of life, and Hawthorne does an exceptional job depicting the Puritan lifestyle through his stories. Though many principles from Puritan society has made its way to form the present day American society, Hawthorne might disagree and did not believe that the good attributes originated from Puritan ways. Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the works of his The Scarlet Letter and “Young Goodman Brown”, illustrates the difference between good and evil as well as the separation between the new and old generation and how the youth challenges the way of traditional Puritan society. This can be seen by Goodmans Brown’s character, the younger women at Hester Prynne’s public condemnation, Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester’s relationship with her daughter Pearl.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American writer, known for his popular novel, The Scarlet Letter, and his various short stories. Much of his writings are categorized in the dark romanticism genre and centered in the Puritan New England society. His rhetorical style consists mainly of the incorporation of various rhetorical terms, notably imagery and symbolism, and morality, in order to teach the audience a lesson. Hawthorne also uses a similar dark and mysterious tone throughout his novels and short stories, yet it causes the reader to think out of the box. He leaves many of his stories open to interpretation, to let his readers come up with their own conclusions.