Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter

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.

As great effect as emotions can have on someone, even greater is the effect of how one reacts to his emotions. Arguably the two most influential of these emotions are guilt and anger. They can drive a man to madness or encourage actions of vindication. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are subject to this very notion in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter. Hester simply accepted that what she had done was wrong, whereas Dimmesdale, being a man of high regard, did not want to accept the reality of what he did. Similar to Hester and Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth allows his emotions to influence his life; however, his influence came as the result of his anger. Throughout the book, Hawthorne documents how Dimmesdale and Hester 's

Why is sin important? It is believed that sin is important to people because their deity places guilt on their wrongdoings to show that those actions are not to be repeated. In contrary to this belief, there are people with religious views that hold no importance with sin. Depending on the individual’s religious views, sin can be a conflict between oneself and a “higher” being or it can not affect the individual at all. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Dimmesdale is an ordained Puritan priest that had committed a grave sin in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He had committed adultery with a married woman, Hester, the woman that is married to Roger Chillingworth. After Chillingworth has heard about this news, he seeks

In the Scarlet Letter there are characters that are important to the novel; however there is one specific character that relates to the topic of the story is Arthur Dimmesdale. The character Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected minster in Boston. However even though, Arthur Dimmesdale is a minister and preaches against sin to his congregation, he commits the ultimate sin with a young married woman named Hester Pryne. For punishment Hester Pryne becomes pregnant and shunned from public society, Dimmesdale is forced to live with guilt and later in the novel dies from the same sin within his body. Critics that have read the Scarlet letter would argue that Dimmesdale is a weak or ennobled character because he didn’t tell the community of his sinful crime. Another characteristic that critics would agree on is that Dimmesdale was a hypocrite. Arthur Dimmesdale is a character that is weak and hypocritical to his own belief.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was quite progressive for his time and his novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a wonderful example of this. Before he married his wife, Sophia Peabody, Hawthorne joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist group (Nathaniel Hawthorne). According to Merriam Webster, transcendentalism is, “a philosophy that emphasizes the a priori conditions of knowledge and experience or the unknowable character of ultimate reality or that emphasizes the transcendent as the fundamental reality” (“Transcendentalism”). Put simply, transcendentalists thought that intuition and knowledge of ourselves is more a more important reality than the scientific, sensual reality. As a group, these people held very progressive views on women’s rights, education,

The Scarlet Letter is regarded as the first symbolic novel in American Literature for Nathaniel Hawthorne 's skillful use of symbolism and allegory. The novel is also said to be the greatest accomplishment of American short story and is viewed as the first American psychological novel, which makes Hawthorne win an incomparable position in American Literature. Hawthorne’s “unique gift” for using this kind of skills taps into the roots of man 's moral nature and gives vivid explanation of the implications in his works (Lei). Hawthorne is outstanding for his skillful employment of symbolism and psychological insight. Hawthorne set the stage for all other American Literature writers.

"An" is seen uniquely in contrast to some time recently. In this area of the novel,

In many cases, humans are instinctually very judgmental and quick to label individuals. It is so easy to look upon a person who we are not acquainted with and create false judgments based on what we see. The judgment of individuals who we are not acquainted with is chiefly based on their public appearance and how they seem to carry themselves. The fictitious book The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, takes place in the Puritan town of Boston. The Puritans were a group of English Reformed Protestants who sought to “purify” the Church of England from all Roman Catholic practices. Puritans were unhappy with the limited extent of the English Reformation and with the Church of England’s tolerance of practices. One can assume that

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne highlights the concepts of sympathy and shame through Arthur Dimmesdale, who commits a sinful act of adultery. Dimmesdale is a renowned minister in Puritan society who conceives an illegitimate child with Hester Prynne. Dimmesdale is not publicly condemned; instead, as he conceals his sin from public scrutiny, he faces an inner conflict. He is conflicted because if he confesses, he can become Hester’s lover, but will also be publicly scrutinized. On the other hand, if he continues to conceal his sin, he will continue feeling shameful, but can remain renown in the Puritan community. Before Dimmesdale dies, he overcomes his inner conflict and is able to atone for his wrong doings. Dimmesdale’s complex character and the particular circumstances of his crime, ultimately makes Hawthorne and readers ambivalent towards Dimmesdale’s plight (150).

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, he thoroughly exposes the social depths of the Puritan society. As a Romanticist, his values and ideals go in line with nature and individualism, which is lucidly seen by the way he writes of the so called pious who contradict this and rather emphasize conformity. To further depict the hypocrisy within the Puritan community, the use of rhetorical devices is evident as Hawthorne utilized the character of Pearl to epitomize the beauty of yielding societal norms and instead placing emphasis on an open mind.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of the prodigious book entitled The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, soon finds out about the incident after it becomes clear that she is pregnant. The whole town finds out and Hester is tried and punished. Meanwhile, Roger Chillingworth goes out then on a mission to get revenge by becoming a doctor and misprescribing Dimmesdale. He does this to torture Dimmesdale as a form of revenge. Hester is publicly punished and is contrived to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom. This is how she was punished. This was a way to shame her and seclude her from society. Hester was forced to stand on a scaffolding and stare out over the people that were watching her with her scarlet letter “A” embroidered on her chest. Over time the scarlet letter “A” in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, acquired many meanings including adultery, able, and angel.

In the beginning of the Bible, Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The story of Adam and Eve has been recalled in The Scarlet Letter because of the sinful acts Arthur and Hester commit, which lead to expulsion and suffering. Even though Hester Prynne is the main protagonist in the novel, she does not change much; however, we see Arthur change in various ways. It is through Dimmesdale’s suffering that Hawthorne illustrates his theme, namely the idea that though forbidden knowledge can bring suffering, exposing others to that same knowledge can bring redemption.

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.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s personal isolation originated in his early childhood and later developed the theme for his most renowned literary novel, The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne emphasized the impact that societal isolation can have on individuals. Several of the victims inflicted with isolation throughout the novel were ultimately met with their inevitable downfalls. One particular character, Hester Prynne, was selected to undergo a struggle comparable to Hawthorne’s own. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter centered its characters on a theme of both physical and psychological isolation.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author whose major fiction writing has influenced the literary world greatly during the course of the nineteenth century. His work during the Romantic period represents his world view through a specific style of writing. While his literature is particularly dark in tone, his short stories show a variety of symbols, themes, and characters. “The Minister’s Black Veil,” “The Birthmark,” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” are three of Hawthorne’s short stories that illustrate the similar and different nuances in tone and meaning seen in his writing.