The Puritan Society Exposed In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

“If thou feelst it will relieve thy suffering, speak out the name of thy fellow sinner. Be not silent because thou wouldst protect him.” (Hawthorne 21). This was said by Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the main characters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. He says this to his secret lover, Hester, as she stands on the scaffold in front of the entire Puritan community that the story takes place in. She is standing there with her three-month old child, Pearl, as a part of her punishment for her sin of committing adultery. The purpose of the scaffold in this novel is to represent the shame and torture that Hester and Dimmesdale each handle alone and to show how hypocritical and judgmental the Puritans were.

The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester

he harshness of the Puritan religion is captured in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. This novel’s protagonist, Hester Prynne, commits adultery in New England during the colonial times. She gives birth to an illegitimate child, Pearl, with Reverend Dimmesdale. Punished with a scarlet letter “A” that she wears on her breast, she is an outcast to society. This leaves her lonely; her only companion is her Pearl. Hester is skilled with uniquely embroidering elaborate designs; thus she supports herself and Pearl through her needlework. Pearl is often described as impish throughout the novel, disobeying the standard expectations of children. The Puritans government threatens to take away Pearl from Hester because they think Hester unfit to teach Pearl correctly. In comparison to Hawthorne’s view of a strict education system for Puritans, the Puritan community had a very effective education system. The Puritans’ strong and strict view on religion greatly influenced education in Colonial America.

Puritan Hypocrisy Exposed in The Scarlet Letter    Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne repeatedly portrays the Puritanical views of sin and evil.  The Puritans are constantly displayed as believing that evil comes from an unyielding bond being formed between love and hate.  For such reasons they looked towards Hester's commitment of adultery as an action of pure, condemned evil.  However, through the use of light and dark imagery, Hawthorne displays who truly holds evil in their hearts.  The one who is the embodiment of evil creates hypocrisy of Puritanical views towards sin and evil.  Hawthorne displays that those who expose sin to the public and the daylight are the most pure and those who conceal their sin under a

In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne remarks on his thoughts of his Puritan ancestors’ in his introduction and wording throughout the novel. In his introduction, he sets the tone on Puritanism by remarking, “” In the story itself, Hawthorne writes

Unfortunately sin can often lead to isolation. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, a beautiful young woman who is chastised for adultery, and Arthur Dimmesdale, Boston’s beloved minister who is the father of Hester’s baby, both begin doleful lives of isolation after Hester’s sin is revealed. After Hester is sent to Boston by her husband, who says he will shortly join her, she has an affair with the town’s preacher, Arthur Dimmesdale, which results in a daughter, Pearl. Condemned for her sin of adultery by the austere Puritan government, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her dress at all times as a punishment for her crime. Though Hester Prynne is a beautiful, graceful woman who is involved in the

The stigma of sin haunts the history of the Puritan community, Hester wore the scarlet letter as a reminder to herself and the community of her grave sin of committing adultery. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester Pryne commits adultery and in result has to

The Letter A In the 1600s Puritan beliefs were very strict and enforced very hard onto everyday citizens in predominantly Puritan towns. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Puritan beliefs were strongly enforced in Salem, Massachusetts. In the novel, Hester Prynne committed adultery and received the letter A to wear on her chest. She is publicly shamed and used as an example of a ¨living sin.¨ The letter is meant to be a symbol of embarrassment, but Hester turns it into something better. She chooses to continue to wear the A after standing upon the scaffold for several influential reasons. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester continues to wear the scarlet letter ¨A¨ because it is a symbol of strength to her, a part of who she is, and she wants to set an example for her daughter, Pearl.

During the scene when Prynne fought to keep Pearl by her side she said “Ye shall not take her! I will die first!” (Hawthorne 8) even against men who aren’t on her side, she is still strong-willed to keep her baby, Pearl, even though Pearl is her “ happiness!- she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!” (Hawthorne 8). Hester, desperate to keep her beloved Pearl, even asked Mr. Dimmesdale for help, not giving up on her only child. During chapter 2 when Prynne is first introduced wearing a scarlet letter the Puritans first reaction was “she seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity” (Hawthorne 2) and when the puritans forced Prynne to speak the name of the father, she refused, causing the crowd in shock “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!” (Hawthorne 3), even though Prynne is not proud of her Scarlet letter, she is still walks with dignity because she accepts her sin, she knows she cannot change what she has done so she keep her head held high and a strong, unyielding

An opinion is described as a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. While every human being has opinions, some people make them more known than others. Authors incorporate their own views into their works through characters, settings, descriptions and tone. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the author’s opinion of the Puritan society is depicted as a critical one through the use of dramatic diction and literary devices.

Puritan laws were extremely rigid and the members of society were expected to follow a strict moral code. Due to this fact, anything that was believed to go against this code was considered a sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter looks into the life of a Puritan family. The mother with the name of Hester committed adultery with the minister named Dimmesdale and had a girl named Pearl. For their punishment they both must have a scarlet letter “A” either sewn into their clothes or into their body at all time. Hester’s real husband does not know the sin Hester committed until he returns from being held captive by Indians. Hester’s real husband Roger Chillingworth spends 7 years trying to get revenge on Hester and Dimmesdale. Throughout the novel both Hester and Dimmesdale go through the challenge of confessing to their sin. The moral consequences they have to face depends on the way they try to deal with their sins.

In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne harshly criticizes Puritan society. From hypocrisy to forgiveness, Hawthorne uses hidden messages and motifs to express his criticism of society and to spread his messages. A social judgement explored by Hawthorne is that a majority perspective stifles individuality.

Effects of the Scarlet Letter on Dimmesdale The scarlet letter is the Puritan’s method of broadcasting Hester’s sin to the world, but it also has an internal effect on Dimmesdale. Puritanism is a strict religion where pleasure is strictly forbidden and is punishable. When Hester Prynne is discovered to have committed

The Scarlet Letter was set in Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1600’s. This society is built upon with Puritans beliefs and systems, which affects Hester Prynne as she lives in this Puritan society. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, exposes Hester Prynne as an adulterer with the Letter A

Puritan ethic that man's fate is set at his birth is also very much a part of the characters of the book. The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, who committed adultery with Hester Prynne, uses the statement, "Were it God's will" when he asks for Roger Chillingsworth's advice on whether he should admit publicly to the adultery . Dimmesdale says " I could be well content that my labours, and my sorrows, and my sins, and my pains, should shortly end with me, and what is earthly of them be buried in my grave, and the spiritual go with me to my eternal state, rather than you should put your skill to the proof on my behalf" p. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale's affair becomes the focus of the 17th century community in New England. Hester is the "fallen" woman who is brought before the court of community opinion and justice. This Puritan community believes that all men have fallen and all men are sinners (Bloom, 1986). Hester is made to wear the scarlet letter, an A. This A represents adultery and it is Hester's badge of dishonor and sin and a symbol of her failure. The scarlet letter is meant to affect the person wearing it by showing that they have sinned an are, in the end, sorry for their sin. The letter has the opposite