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

The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the main characters suffer from toils of sin. Especially Arthur Dimmesdale, the local puritan clergyman who has committed adultery and can 't admit to the people of the town in Boston what he has done. He lived under a strict society where the system and all of its components were based on God. He suffers from this because he values the Puritan way. Arthur Dimmesdale does not come out for many reasons and that isn 't right, which makes him a coward throughout the novel.

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 by Nathaniel Hawthorne is often renowned as his best work. The novel tells about the rigid ideas of 19th century Puritan New England through the story of Hester Prynne, Minister Dimmesdale, and Pearl. Hawthorne points out that the Puritans are often more ready to judge, punish, and damn someone than to forgive them. He is very critical of this idea, and goes against it by ending the novel with Hester Prynne becoming a respected individual that other women often look to for advice, and by changing the perception many people have of the Scarlet Letter from, “Adultery” to “Able”. Throughout the novel Hawthorne refutes the harsh ideals of the Puritans through the

To “be true,” in terms of The Scarlet Letter, one must outwardly show the secret of his identity (Male 325). However, a common characteristic of all people is to hide their sins in secrecy. In The Scarlet Letter, the effects of hidden sin and revealed sin are exemplified through the lives of Hester Prynne, Pearl and Arthur Dimmesdale. Together Prynne and Dimmesdale commit an act of adultery against Chillingworth, which forces Prynne to admit her sins to the community. While Prynne’s open conviction of sin cause her to meet ignominy and scorn, it allows her to gain the forgiveness of society. Even though Pearl does not commit her own sin, she is affected by the sin of her mother. Dimmesdale keeps his sin of adultery hidden. This gives him a sense of guilt that causes inward anguish, ultimately leading to his death. Surprisingly, many characters created by different authors have similar traits to the characters created by Hawthorne. In fact, what is true for all characters is that the effects of guilt and hidden sin are worse and less honorable than the effects of public criticism and revealed sin.

A fear of darkness is built into mankind. It is an innate sense of fear associated with the unknown dating back thousands of years. The Scarlet Letter defines the sources of darkness through a thematic symbol: black. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the color as a device to explore the inherent idea of black being a symbol of darkness. Characters, settings, items, and even times of day are associated with the onyx hue as the story progresses. Black corresponds with with the devil, also known as the Black Man, corruption, and evil. Black doesn’t just symbolize darkness as a whole—it splits into a multifaceted beast encompassing sin, society, and an all-absorbing power.

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

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 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).

The Scarlet Letter: There is much significance to the title The Scarlet Letter. Much of the book is based off the scarlet letter that Hester Prynne wears to show to the world her darkest sin. The scarlet letter that Hester wears is a consequence of the harsh puritan laws.

2. The author of the novel is Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the novel was written during the mid-17th century during the Puritan settlements.

Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a wonderful piece of writing that thoroughly analyzes the critiques and flaws of early Puritan society. Many enjoyable factors are present, including the heavy and enlightening use of symbols to develop Hawthorne’s revolutionary viewpoint as well as the strong portrayal of the characters that challenges ideas of the time. However, the book also has some flaws; most notable including the fact that the writing is an archaic writing style and thus is difficult to parse through as compared to more recent texts. It also lacks many strong motifs – only two or three are continuously present throughout the book, but the total number of motifs briefly developed is in the tens. Altogether the novel is an incredibly enjoyable read and continuously points out problems in Hawthorne’s society that may even still be present today. The novel could use more consistent motif coverage and rely less heavily on older writing styles, but altogether the book is quite splendid.