Sin Exposed In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the best fiction authors of the 1800’s, and is still highly praised to this day. Hawthorne paved the way for future successful authors such as William Faulkner. Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, the second of three children born to Nathaniel and Elizabeth Hathorne (their son added the "w" to the family name when he began his writing career). In 1808, Hawthorne’s father, a ship's captain, died of yellow fever in the distant port of Surinam Hawthorne attended college at Bowdoin College where his main concentration was writing.” (Egotism; or, The Bosom Serpent) “In sketches, tales, and romances published in the second third of the nineteenth century, Hawthorne chose mainly American materials,

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.

In essence, there were three main sins committed in The Scarlet Letter, the sins of Hester, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth committed the greatest sin because he let himself be ruled by hatred and the consuming desire for vengeance.  The overpowering vengeance and hatred felt by Chillingworth caused his life to be centered on demeaning Dimmesdale and tormenting him until the end of time.  Both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale committed sins for which they were deeply remorseful, Roger Chillingworth, however, committed the greater sin because he felt no guilt.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (originally spelled “Hathorne';) was born to Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne and Nathaniel Hathorne in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. He was the second child and the only son of the Hathornes’ three children. When Nathaniel was four, his father came down with yellow fever and died in Surinam, Dutch Guiana. After his father’s death, Mrs. Hathorne moved her family into her parents’ house in Salem (Shepherd iv). At the age of nine, Nathaniel Hathorne suffered an injury to his legs that kept him from attending school for about two years. This injury was a blessing in disguise. During his recovery, Nathaniel read many books and developed an appreciation for the English classics. Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress and Spenser’s Faerie Queene seem to have been his favorite books because he had two cats named Beelzebub and Apollyon, characters from Bunyan (Martin 17). “Hawthorne later named his first child Una, after Spenser’s heroine'; (Martin 17).

The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the nephew of John Hathorne. During the Salem Witch Trials, the only judge that did not apologize for the remorseless and cruel acts that were put upon many men and women was in fact John Hathorne. Nathaniel changed his last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne in an attempt to disassociate himself from his uncle. John Hathorne is the reason why Nathaniel Hawthorne is obsessed with the puritan times. Hawthorne lived in the 1800s, but the setting of the novel is based before the Salem Witch Trials were held in the 1600s. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the scarlet letter, Dimmesdale, and burrs to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem Massachusetts and died on May 19, 1964 in Plymouth New Hampshire. Mr. Hawthorne was injured when he was young and during that time he became fascinated with literature and writing, eventually he went to college and made friends many of whom are famous classic writers. After graduation he returned home and wrote many of his famous book, The Hollows of the Three Hills, An Old Woman's Tale, My Kinsman, and many more. During this time Hawthorne worked for the Boston Custom House, where he met his first wife. They eventually got married, moved to Massachusetts, and had three children. Due to financial reasons they moved back to Salem and he got a job at the Salem Custom House, soon he was let go due to the election of a new president named Zachary Taylor. During this time he started writing again, this is when he wrote The Scarlet Letter.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem Massachusetts. Hawthorne was born into a puritan household. One of his ancestors, William Hathorne, immigrated from England to The America’s in 1630 (where he settles in Massachusetts). His ancestor William became in Salem and was known for his harsh sentencing. Due to this Nathaniel latter added a “w” to his name to lose relation to his family.

“Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred” (Hawthorne). As this sentence is read in the The Scarlet Letter, the reader will realize that the main theme of the book is the sentence above. Throughout the book, secret sin damages the lives, soul, and the integrity of the main characters. However, it could have easily been evaded through open confession of their sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose in writing this novel is an attempt to influence the reader to openly confess their sins and never be ashamed of who they are. According to Levine, “even though we convey ourselves as saints, we are really sinners (Levine 64). The Scarlet Letter is a classic work of

Nathaniel Hawthorne's bold novel, The Scarlet Letter, revolves around sin and punishment.  The main characters of the novel sharply contrast each other in the way they react to the sin that has been committed

    Nathaniel Hawthorne was inspired by John Hathorne to create the novel The Scarlet Letter.  Throughout the novel, Hawthorne displayed some of the cruel punishments people in that society faced at the time, even though the crime was neither serious nor threatening to others.  In The Scarlet Letter,  the protagonist, Hester Prynne, is accused by Puritan minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, for commiting the sin of adultery.  In a Puritan society, adultery is an unacceptable action and should receive punishment.  In chapter two of the novel, a crowd of Puritan women wait outside the prison discussing Hester Prynne’s sin and expect the punishment to be quite grand.  The punishment Hester had to suffer was to wear a scarlet letter “A” and stand on the scaffold in front of an unsympathetic crowd.   While on the

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, the main characters struggle to overcome sin, guilt, and public humiliation in a Puritan New England society. In the beginning of the novel, Hester Prynne is led to the scaffold to serve her punishment for committing adultery, a crime and a sin in Puritan culture. In addition to standing on the scaffold to be publicly embrassed, Hester also must wear a scarlet letter "A" to show her sin of adultery. The townspeople, including Hester's werid husband Roger Chillingworth, seek to find the true identity of Hester's lover and the father of her illegitimate child, Pearl. Hester refuses to publicly admit that Pearl's father is Arthur Dimmesdale, the town minister; because she wants to protecting him

Sin is something humans are aware of but sometimes forget how much of an effect it can have on their lives. The different ways people go about obtaining sin in their hearts and minds vary, but no matter how severe the act committed is, the consequence sin has on someone is equally powerful. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses adultery as a way to show the power sin has through a woman named Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne is a young woman who commits adultery with the minister of Boston, Arthur Dimmesdale, and conceived a child named Pearl. Throughout the novel, the sin of committing adultery affects everyone involved. The way Hawthorne conveys sin throughout the novel makes people wonder if their sins are impacting themselves and

Through out the course of history, those who were considered sinners were often out casted from the society. This is much the case with Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. After a public trial, Hester is considered a sinner due to her birthing of a so called “devil child”. Hester is convicted to the life long bearing of a scarlet letter on her chest. The Scarlet Letter that Hester Prynne wears symbolizes the change in perception of sin through out the novel. Due to the revelations of the governor Winthrop and the reverend Dimmesdale, the way sin is perceived changes from one of shame to the idea that every one is a sinner in their own right.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about Hester Prynne a woman in Puritan New England. This novel is about sin in a Puritan society, redemption and freedom. There are four main characters in this book, Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Pearl. In the novel you learn that Hester was married to Chillingworth, but in his absence she has an affair with Dimmesdale and has a daughter she names Pearl. I say that Hester’s affair with Dimmesdale is justifiable since her husband was missing and presumed dead. However if I was a Puritan, I would say no it is not because it would go against my beliefs.

Sin is a part of everyday life. The Scarlet Letter, rotates around the theme of sin and the effects it has on the mind, body, and soul. Is sin a conflict with oneself, society, or God in the novel Sin were committed by many characters in the story. The novel gives examples of symbolism, characterization, and conflict with oneself and others