The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is a well known novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The novel is composed and written in Salem and Concord, as well as Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1840's. The narrator of the novel is in an omniscent state, meaning he knows more about the characters than the characters know about themselves. Although the narrartor is omniscent, he also makes sure to include his ideas and opinions on situations, making him also greatly subjective. Being subjective, as well as omniscent, historical fiction along with a story displaying constant symbolism is evident.

In the novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, all of the characters possess specific traits of the seven deadly sins which are lust, gluttony, greed, pride, wrath, envy and sloth. My character Roger Chillingworth possesses the sins, greed, wrath and pride. I will attempt to make a connection between the sins committed by Chillingworth and his motivation behind those sins and sins committed by people in our world today. For example, one could compare wrath to the destructive and horrible feats of today’s murders that feel they have been treated unjustly, therefore, take the lives of those they feel have wronged them. Another comparison is the effects that pride can have on today’s role models such as professional athletes and the result of greed on some of today’s entertainers who need more and more stuff, such as cars, homes, jewels and the list goes on and on.

1. Hester Prynne is portrayed as a Christ figure in The Scarlet Letter. She displays self-sacrifice, saintlike features, and exemplifies some biblical teachings throughout the book. The first, which is self-sacrifice, is shown when Hester is standing on the scaffold in front of the whole town and will not uncover the other participant in the adultery. Reverend Wilson questions her of this man that helped commit this crime, “Speak out thy name! That, and thy repentance, may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy breast” (60), with the attempt to bribe her by promising the possible removal of the scarlet A. She refuses to sell out her secret lover with the responses “Never” and “I will not speak!” (60) but the young clergyman keeps questioning Hester. She is willing to take the fall for the both of them and stand up there with the humiliation of their actions. “It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” (60). This reinforces her firmness in protecting Dimmesdale and from completely razing his name as a minister by telling the public. She is willing to endure the ignominy from the public without exposing him, which is an example of self-sacrifice. With saying that, Hester is like Jesus Christ because he was crucified for our sins as a form of self-sacrifice so we could have eternal life and go to Heaven. Hester's actions for Dimmesdale caused her much more agony and humiliation by the public because of the

Integrity can be defined as "an uncompromising adherence to a code of moral, artistic or other values, utter sincerity, honesty and candor, avoidance of deception, expediency, artificiality or shallowness of any kind" (Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary 1174). In simpler words this means to maintain high standards and follow the rules, even when no one is watching. Integrity is very important in our everyday life if we wish to be good people. The sad thing is that if you ask some people what integrity means to them they will probably tell you that it doesn't mean much and some may not even know what integrity is. Certain people feel that in order to get ahead in life they need to break certain rules. It is

Ever since I entered public school as a homeschooler in eighth grade, I have struggled with defining my worth in letters and numbers. In every class I would completely immerse myself into each subject, trying my hardest to obtain that precious “A+” and perfect GPA. Instead of remembering my true worth, I would anxiously search for my worth in my grades, either a red letter of honor...or of shame. The grade at the top of my assignment was my scarlet letter, my idol and my obsession. In short, my grades consumed my life. I was miserable. Last year, however, I finally began to understand that my beliefs surrounding my identity were not true. The red letter scratched on the top of my quiz, test, or paper is not my source of identity and does not

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is biblical in notion that there is sin in everyone, but it is up to God to judge. The theme of The Scarlet Letter is that revenge gets you nowhere and guilt is not the way. A determined woman refuses to speak out, but the secret is told and it costs two men their lives. Adam and Eve are guilty of sin and God punished them so perhaps that is the way it should stay.

In this novel you will find that the main characters are the prime examples of Love, Hate, Sin, and Purity. Although adultery is condemned and seen as sin, adultery isn't what Hawthorne focuses on. Through my analysis of the Scarlet Letter I noticed that there were three different types of love. The act of hatred plays a vile role throughout the novel. Hawthorne uses Pearl as a blatant symbol of purity, from her birth till the end of the novel. As you will see Love, Hate, Sin, and Purity does play a vital role in this story.

Ah The Scarlet Letter, whether we like it or not, it is now a book we have all read and have most likely come to hate. Whether it be because of the old setting in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston that we cannot relate to or the old English language in which it is written, Nathaniel Hawthorne just failed to create a novel that most teenagers of the early twenty-first century can enjoy and appreciate. It must be pointed out that first, it’s doubtful he cares, and more importantly that this just simply should not be the case. We juniors should pay more attention to the novel, especially with the thought that the messages

The aspect of Nature in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter seems to have been characterized to readers with a mixed blessing. In other words, Nature shows its power to both heal as well as harm various characters throughout the text. The Scarlet Letter highlights Nature's complexity by showing that the Puritan idea of Nature as an entirely evil force is a naive misconception. The text reveals the beneficial attributes of Nature that the Puritans overlook or fear. Conversely, the text shows that aspects of Nature that help mankind also harm him. The duality and complexity of Nature mirrors the complex inner feelings and dual nature of the book's characters. Nature represents the paradoxical juxtaposition of both good and evil in man,

In the movie Easy A a cinematic film directed by Will Gluck is a comedy about a girl in high school whose social life completely changes because of a small lie that dominates her image. This rumor connects to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s the scarlet letter due to the fact that themes are drawn such as sin and redemption.

The Scarlet letter is a movie released on September 18, 1934. The movie is about woman named Hester Prynne who had a daughter after her husband Roger Prynne left two years before and is presumed deceased. She is then forced to wear a Scarlet A on her clothes for the rest of her life to show that she cheated on her husband. Even though the movie is in black and white it is made obvious that the letter Hester Prynne wears is Scarlet hence the name of the movie.

The Scarlet Letter is a timeless novel because of the timeless characters depicted in the piece. Each character was carefully constructed by Nathanial Hawthorne to represent a specific aspect of sin. He used these characters to tell a story that would translate how distorted the Puritans’ view of sin was. Not only did he thoughtfully plan the characters’ personalities, backgrounds, and beliefs out in order to convey this distortion of sin, but their names were carefully considered as well. Nathanial Hawthorne purposefully chose the names of the major supporting characters in The Scarlet Letter—Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, in order to symbolically hint at the significance of each of these characters in the novel.

As the Puritan colony of Massachusetts spreads out before the viewer’s eyes in the 1995 film The Scarlet Letter, a caption appears along the bottom of the screen that reads, “Freely adapted from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne” (Vajna). Director Roland Joffé does not use this statement lightly. For starters, half of the movie takes place before the events in the book even begin, which allows the director to take certain liberties regarding how events unfold and how he introduces characters. From the viewer’s perspective, it seems as though Joffé does away with most of the character development in the novel, as well as playing down the critical theme of guilt.

There is no escape. It encompasses every factor of the modern American lifestyle. It all begins with "The American Dream," in which everyone strives to become part of the ideal, the obsession, that supposedly defines how happiness can be obtained. But happiness is not, contrary to the beliefs of the American Dreamers, measured on a checklist including 2.5 kids, 1 dog, 1 cat, quaint house in suburbs, white picket fence, 2 car garage, freshly mowed lawn, etc. That image is a facade over the ever-crumbling ashheaps of our world. It is impossible to measure one's life or happiness on a scale of coffee spoons, cars, or annual income, but people continue to plug away like machines for no other reason than to make the money that they

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” Nathaniel was a very dark, symbolic and interesting writer of his time. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of imagery, and symbolism gives the reader a taste of identity, sin, death, hypocrisy, and feminism.