Scarlet Letter Discrimination Essay

What is the significance of the scarlet letter A which is embroidered on Hester’s gown?

I have became a stronger women over the years. My little Pearl is now seven years old. Time sure does go by fast. Nowadays the townspeople are now respecting me for what I do so I have respected my role in the community. When the disease struck through the town, no one was more dedicated to the sick than me. The scarlet letter became the symbol of my calling. I was so helpful to others with so much power to aid, that many people refused to recognize the letter ‘A’ for its original meaning. They said it stood for “able”. I feel like I should be able to do more things and my reputation shouldn’t stop me from doing things in my life. I told my Pearl to run down

In his book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells of a story where a young woman has had an adulterous relationship with a respected priest in a Puritan community. Typical of Hawthorne's writings is the use of imagery and symbolism. In Chapter 12, The Minister's Vigil, there are several uses of imagery when Dimmesdale, the priest, is battling with confessing his sin, which has plagued him for seven years. Three evident techniques used to personify symbolism in this chapter are the use of darkness versus light, the use of inner guilt versus confession, and lastly the use of colors (black versus white).

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 can easily be seen as an early feminist piece of work. Nathaniel Hawthorne created a story that exemplifies Hester as a strong female character living with her choices, whether they were good or bad, and also as the protagonist. He also presents the daughter of Hester, Pearl, as an intelligent female, especially for her age. He goes on to prove man as imperfect through both the characters of Dimmesdale and of Chillingworth. With the situation that all the characters face, Hawthorne establishes the female as the triumphant one, accomplishing something that, during Nathaniel Hawthorne’s time, authors did not attempt.

Of all the horrid actions in the Scarlet Letter, none are so inexcusable as the despicable treatment of a helpless, innocent girl. The daughter of an incompetent pariah and a mentally unstable liar, little Pearl Prynne was no more than a tool to justify the misdeeds of the wicked people around her. She suffered far more than anyone else at the hands of those who should have loved her and the town over.

A common theme throughout literature is religion and how the author feels about his or her faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices to draw comparisons between characters and events in The Scarlet Letter and Biblical figures and accounts. A few of the devices found in this novel that connect it to the Bible are symbolism, paradox, allusions, and characterization. It is important to first look at the characters and how they are described through characterization.

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

Women have been battling for their rights since before the colonization of America. Whether they be the right to vote or simply the right to sit down, the issues the female gender has dealt with have rarely afflicted white men. Sexism is caused by social pressure and insecurities, harbored by both men and women; it can originate within the mind of any group of people and creates unnecessary tensions between sexes. The sexism integral to The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, manifests itself in the whole community and contributes to the completion of Hester’s harsh fate.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1849. This novel won him much fame and a good reputation as a writer. In writing The Scarlet Letter, Hawethorne was creating a form of fiction he called the psychological romance. A psychological romance is a story that contains all of the conventional trappings of a typical romance, but deeply portrays humans in conflict with themselves. The Scarlet Letter won Hawthorne great critical acclaim, and even today the book remains on the best seller list. The Scarlet Letter is so popular maybe because generations of readers can interpret it and see subtle meanings that somewhat reflect their own lives. Each of us, has

We did the scene where Hester is being released from prison and they put the Scarlett Letter on her chest. The theme of this is humiliation and embarrassment. She came out of the prison and immediately was judged and looked down on because of the sin she committed. That is unfair to look and judge somebody in such a way because of a mistake that was made. Everybody makes mistakes and sins, hers was just revealed because of Pearl. No person’s sin is worse than another person’s sin. God judges all the sin the same and obviously they did not it realize that. It is sad to say you are a Christian and judge somebody because of a mistake they made and you know you sin everyday but nobody knows it and you want to see other people’s faults to make you

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth

Hester Prynne, the woman that has been living as one of the biggest sinners in this town. Since the time that she had to carry with such an atrocious title, Hester has been humiliated, mentally harmed, and has slowly lost her own sanity. Now even though she has gone through so much, there is two things that have not changed and that is for one, she has not once weared the scarlet letter with shame, she wears it with pride and at the same time with the responsibility of showing the sin that she will not be able to run away from. Secondly, Hester never stays away from her daughter Pearl, the girl that brings her the consolation that she needs but also that reflects on the acts of her sin. It can obviously be seen that Hester most keep her daughter Pearl, she has gone through alot and her daughter is all she has left to accompany her and bring her peace.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne analyzes Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. In the story, Hester is the main character of the story and was called Mistress Prynne (Hawthorne 70). Dimmesdale, in the story was referred to as Reverend Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 90). Chillingworth was originally named, Roger Prynne but later in the story he changed his name to Roger Chillingworth. In the story, Hester committed adultery with Dimmesdale against Chillingworth and in the beginning she got punished and sent to prison and later she got to get out of prison but with the exception of having to wear the letter A on her breast every time she went out in to town.

In the Scarlet Letter, the characters made decisions that impacted them the rest of their lives, especially Hester who chose to commit adultery and have a child with a man who wasn’t her husband. Hester made a huge mistake and had to deal with everyone choosing to discriminate her for what she had done. No one chose to realize that there are two people at fault in this situation. In the book it states, “Come along, Madam Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the market place” (Hawthorne,1984, p. 63). The purpose of this quote was to let the reader make inferences about how Hester may have been about to be treated in the marketplace for what she had done.