Essay about The Scarlet Letter Critical Analysis

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" is set in the early days of Puritan America. Hester Prynne, a seamstress, comes to the New World before her husband in order to prepare a place for them. During his absence, she develops a relationship with Arthur Dimmesdale, a rising minister in the newly founded Puritan community. Hester becomes pregnant. The novel is widely viewed to be a story about her trials and tribulations; however, critic Randall Steward argues that, "…Hester is not the protagonist, the chief actor, and the tragedy of the novel is not her tragedy but Arthur's. He is the persecuted one, the tempted one. He it was whom the sorrows of death encompassed…His public confession is one of

“The Scarlet Letter” mainly revolves around sin and hypocrisy. Every character in some way, shape or form is considered a hypocrite to some level/degree. To start from the top and work our way downward, the officials. The officials in this book have such horrid views of Hester. You'd think that they have some sense of compassion or show remorse for Hester but that was never the case. Overtime, it all dulled down – her sin wasn't a big deal as opposed to when it first occurred. Her sin wasn't forgotten but the depth in actions in which people would take to make sure she felt miserable, faded away in quite sometime. The main characters each sin – the words in which Hawthorne uses in their dialect gives you a taste of their sins. Even the character to which is highly praised by society is a sinner. Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale are the perfect examples of hypocrisy in “The Scarlet Letter.” The way they're introduced in the story and the way the story carries them out to be is outrageous. You begin to question their motivates entirely.

In Ch.8, Hester’s speech about why Pearl should remain in her care includes a metaphor. Identify the metaphor and describe how its meaning reveals insight into Hester’s character.

The novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts 1800’s Puritan religious beliefs through Hester Prynne’s adultery and Arthur Dimmesdale’s infidelity. Hawthorne ties aspects of his life into The Scarlet Letter; the introduction to the novel takes place in a Custom House which is based on an actual Custom House where Hawthorne used to work (Scarlet). Hawthorne comes from an ancestry full of men involved in legalism, and dealt with the witch trials. He is very shameful when it comes to his past and writes The Scarlet Letter with a strong female lead (Diorio). Hawthorne was a part of a Puritan community growing up and, “He had ample cognizance of the Puritan conscience; it was his natural heritage; it was reproduced in him; looking into his soul he found it there” (James 228). Hawthorne

16) When Pearl is grown, she thinks she will develop a scarlet letter like her mother.

Hester Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter disregards the Puritan Society's standards of women through her rebellious nature and confidence. Hester Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter disregards the Puritan Society's standards of women through her rebellious nature. In Hawthorne’s novel, Hester Prynne bares the scarlet letter “A” to emphasize her sin of adultery against her husband who has been missing for 2 years, with a reverend named Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne defied the Puritan’s standards and bore a child out of adultery, a girl named Pearl. The leaders of the town wish for her to reveal the name of her mister but she chooses to keep this a secret. The town’s people harass her to give up the name of

Even as Hawthorne’s novel “reflects a largely pessimistic view of the human condition” (Gregg), it does not retract the feeling of hope found

Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter unfolds the tale of Hester Prynne, who brought forth a child through adultery and battles a life faced with the consequences of her sin. Throughout her life, Hester is consistently reminded of her affair as she wears a scarlet letter representing “A” for adultery, experiences alienation, and encounters hostility from the Puritan community. However, Hester is not the only individual who suffers with consequences of adultery as both her significant other, Dimmesdale, and daughter, Pearl, endure miserable lives of shame, guilt, and rejection. Hawthorne demonstrates that the revelation of the truth can allow one to gain a sense of freedom.

Once Hester Prynne must get on the scaffold where public punishments take place Dimmesdale and the whole community attend. Dimmesdale must interrogate and encourage her to release the name of the father, with great emotional power in his voice, he charges “‘thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!’” (Hawthorne 62). Dimmesdale having to forcefully interrogate the woman he loves about who is the father causes Dimmesdale to feel hypocritical as he watches Hester suffer publicly. Dimmesdale must also not even look at Hester or his daughter Pearl, with a fear that if he does the suspicion that he is the father may rise.

They focus all their hatred onto Hester, punishing her severely yet seemingly content to live in the same town as her partner in crime. Moreover, they ignore the obvious signs suggesting their minister Dimmesdale is the other party, choosing to believe that he is “a true priest, a true religionist,” and incapable of any such wrongdoing even when the evidence is right in front of them (120). They see Dimmesdale as a faithful Puritan who has devoted his life to helping the sinful ordinary people of New England. As Dimmesdale’s health began to deteriorate, his fervent followers declared that if he were to die, it was because “the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet” (116). The irony in this is that the reader, Hester and Dimmesdale himself are aware of his sin while the rest of society has been kept in the dark and still hold on to their romanticized view of Dimmesdale as a saintly person. While society berates Hester for her sin and banishes her from their company, they treat the other sinner as a

The situation of Hester and Dimmesdale takes us back to the story of Adam and Eve because in both the cases the sin committed by the characters results in endless suffering. The puritan society viewed sin as a threat to the community that should be punished and overpowered. The puritan’s answer towards Hester’s sin was to exclude and neglect her from the society.. Although Hester is the major character, in the novel we don’t see so much of her characterization but only at the end as a result of the hardships that Hester had to go through, we could see Hester being portrayed as a very strong, independent and a brave person at the end of the story. Hester also becomes a kind of compassionate motherly figure as a result of her experiences. Hester controls her tendency to be impulsive for she knows that such behavior could cause her to lose her daughter, pearl. Hester cares for the poor and helps them as much as she can by giving the food and clothing. We can see her character evolving where she changes the meaning of “Adultery” to “Able”, totally contrasting the word ‘Adultery’. Able is a strong word that has evolved from Adultery that initially meant social stigma and disrespect. However Able describes her to be a woman who is capable, independent and

“Acutely aware of the power of history, [Hawthorne] wanted to control it”, by burning any early drafts and manuscripts of the Scarlet Letter. (Wineapple, 1) By doing this, Hawthorne was able to control how the world saw him, just as Dimmesdale does not reveal his relationship with Hester immediately. (Hawthorne, __________) He understands the importance of receiving the approval of the community. Another parallel between the two can be seen in their societal positions. “Hawthorne ranked highly in his class,” but he was constantly absent from his classes which hurt his standing in the college. (Wineapple, 2) Just as Dimmesdale was very well respected by the community, so much so that a “good widow [was] assigned to” care for him while he was ill, only to throw it all away with his affair with Hester. (Hawthorne, 122) Both held favorable positions in their individual societies, only to give them up to pursue other things that made them happier. The character of Dimmesdale not only served as a connection to Hawthorne’s years as a young man, but he also worked as a contrast to the character of Hester; thus strengthening the emphasis the Scarlet Letter places on the potential of women in 19th century

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that takes place in the town of Boston, Massachusetts in 1642. Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, commits the sin of adultery. Because of this sin, she is "blessed" with a child named Pearl. Her punishment is to wear a scarlet letter “A" on her chest for the rest of her life, which affects the way the townspeople look and act around her. Also, she must stand on the scaffold in the town for three hours for the whole town to recognize her grave sins. The man who should be standing upon the scaffold along with her and Pearl is the town minister, Dimmesdale. He is presented as a weak character because of his fear of losing his beloved reputation as such a holy

In D. H. Lawrence’s critical essay “On The Scarlet Letter,” Lawrence talks about Hester’s adultery and how it affects Dimmsdale, society, and herself. Lawrence constantly critiques Hester’s actions because she is full of evil due to her action of adultery. Although many state that Dimmsdale is the one who is evil and he seduces Hester into committing adultery, Lawrence argues that Dimmsdale is pure and Hester is evil. Lawrence analyzes Hester’s behavior and characteristics and proves that she is evil by using literary techniques such as biblical and literary allusions, expressive syntax, and sarcastic tone.

According to Erich Fromm’s article, “The Nature of Symbolic Language,” the definition of a symbol is “‘something that stands for something else’” (121). Laurence Perrine adds his thoughts about symbols in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, and states that in order to find out what object is a symbol, the reader must be able to “recognize, identify, percept, and tact [them]” (175). And he also includes that it is better not to look for symbols at all rather than “[discover] symbols that are nonexistent”—regardless of the reader (Perrine 175). Going back to Fromm, he mentions three types of symbols that are used in symbols. These three types can be found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.