Shunning In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

In the 1850’s, America was undergoing a massive internal changes via the industrial revolution. With this new era, American culture was drastically changed as women started to take a more prominent role in American society. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to stimulate this change by illustrating the positive influence of a strong female character in a Puritanical society through his heroine, Hester Prynne, by putting her in a scandalous situation capable of drawing out the worst in people.

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.

Hawthorne's Hester Prynne is the underdog protagonist that the reader cannot help but want to succeed. She is flawed but her flaws are outshone by her good heart and spirit. This shamed and humiliated woman is the one the reader, with the help of Hawthorne’s descriptions, wants to support. This sinful woman, with a child from wedlock, a diabolical “husband”, and a secretive lover is the motivating force that drives the reader to continue on with The Scarlet Letter. The language, descriptions, and plot of The Scarlet Letter show that Hawthorne believes the reader should look past gender stereotypes because not everything is what is

In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is more than a literary figure in a classic novel, she is known by some people to be one of the earliest American Hero’s. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester commits adultery and has a child that she must care for all alone. She is forced to wear a powerful, attention grabbing “Scarlet A” on her chest while she must try to make a living to support her and her child, Pearl. Even though she must face all the harsh judgment and stares she does not allow her sin to stop her from living a successful life. She looks past the Letter as a symbol of sin and turns it into a sign of approval. Hester

People have been stereotyping outcasts since the beginning of time. This behavior is a crucial component of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. The main character of the story, Hester Prynne, resides in a community of Puritans; who are notorious hypocrites. Their harsh rules are basically impossible to follow, therefore setting their citizens up for failure and punishment. Hawthorne tells the story of Hester Prynne with the elements of sin, judgement, and revenge.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne’s punishment for adultery is to stand on a scaffold in the middle of town for three hours, and to wear a scarlet letter on her garment for the rest of her life. Today judges sometimes use public humiliation instead of traditional punishments, like jail time or community service, to punish criminals. In today’s society public humiliation should not continue be used to punish criminals in today's society.

Many people can probably recount a time where they have shunned another or been shunned out of fear, jealousy, prejudice, religious differences, or other ____. This comes as no surprise as shunning has been a part of society for centuries, used commonly as a form of punishment on an individual or group. Many find that the art of shunning as a -------- form of aggressive behavior that causes more problems than solutions (). One of the most popular novels of our time that shows the harmful affects of shunning is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which tells the story of a young Puritan woman in the 1600s who was shunned by her community after she committed adultery. Hester Prynne’s story is uncommonly similar to that of Monica Lewinsky,

Though never forced to don a branding like the letter “A” in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, people in modern society are always remembered along with their act of wrongdoing. However, the subjects of the public judgement may not see their choices as immoral. People shame for a difference in beliefs and morals. For instance, Kim Kardashian, a popular reality TV star attained her own personal fame by making a sex tape with rapper Ray J, and, consequently, was shamed in the headlines. Despite the bashing, Kim did not see why her act was deemed shameful. Kim acts as a modern day Hester Prynne because she underwent the same humiliation from her society.

In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne narrates the story of Hester Prynne, an adulteress living in Boston during the seventeenth century. His purpose in this passage is to detail the change that overcame Hester after she had been subjected to her punishment of constant ignominy. Hawthorne adopts a sympathetic tone towards Hester, revealing that he believes women need to be delicate and tender in order to retain their feminine appeal.

In D.H. Lawrence’s critical essay, “On the Scarlet Letter”, Lawrence mocks Hester Prynne for being a lustful sinner who commits adultery with Reverend Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne's revered novel, The Scarlet Letter. Lawrence uses repetition, a caustic tone, and biblical allusions in order to show how impure Hester Prynne truly is.

As long as people or groups of people are in contact with each other, there will be those who are shunned by other people. As time goes on, the reason that people shun others changes along with the present culture of the time period. For example, back in the Puritan times, the setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, being unfaithful to one's spouse was considered illegal and a valid reason to shun someone. Today, engaging in behaviors which are generally not considered morally correct can warrant shunning from others. Some examples of these include possessing illegal drugs and revealing lewd pictures of oneself via the internet.

Mark Van Doren’s critical piece, “Hester Prynne,” addresses the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne lives a unique life wearing a scarlet letter “A” that first stands for “adulteress” but progressively comes to mean “able.” In his criticism, Van Doren uses a reverent tone, strong diction, and hyperboles to successfully show his admiration for Hawthorne and his creation of Hester Prynne. Mark Van Doren’s admiring tone in his critical piece successfully shows his feelings toward Hester Prynne and The Scarlet Letter by analyzing several portions of the book and shining a positive light on each of them.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is undoubtedly one of the most famous novels in American history. The novel surrounds the struggles of Hester Prynne, independent woman, single mother to a bastard child, and unrepentant sinner. However, Hester’s personal failings, prominent in the novel they may be, are not the focus; they merely serve as a means to emphasize the intractable and arbitrary atmosphere of the society in which she finds herself. The Scarlet Letter is a novel which highlights the overall capricious and unappealing nature of humans in the form of the ostracization of an adulteress.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne who is the main character is a mother of a 3-month old baby. She is a young, beautiful and proud woman who committed adultery. Prior moving to Boston, she lived in New England alone with her baby. She is married to Roger Chillingworth. Hester’s perceptions toward her adulterous act are inconclusive.

The Scarlet Letter stood out as a revolutionary work of writing when first published in 1850, mainly because of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s radical main character Hester Prynne. The novel’s influence and Hawthorne’s legacy are still clearly seen in its use in schools today, as well as its lasting popularity with readers. As the novel has persisted throughout literary history, its themes, symbolism, and characters have come under the view of many different lenses. It is arguable in our present day circumstances that Hester and her role in the novel still represent and uphold the innate feeling of what is known today as feminism.