The Scarlet Letter Essay examples

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a study of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of the main characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. Sin strengthens Hester, humanizes Dimmesdale, and turns Chillingworth into a demon.

At first Hester, agrees to Chillingworth’s terms to keep his real identity a secret. This in return hurt Dimmesdale, her secret lover. She does not stand up to Chillingworth out of fear of the chain effect of damage it would cause. Hester says, “I will keep thy secret, as I have his”, which in essence shows her weakness towards a male. Yet, at the end of the book, she recognizes that she must “do what might be in her power for the rescue of the victim on whom [Chillingworth] had so evidently set his gripe”. She comes to the conclusion that hiding Chillingworth’s secret does not help Dimmesdale like she hopes, but in fact, hurts him further. The fact that she realizes this, though, displays her to be an devoted and loyal person. These qualities display many things a female, main character, in those times, did not have much opportunity to play, especially in the role of which Hester plays it.

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

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about a woman named Hester Prynne that had an affair with a minister named Arthur Dimmesdale and had a baby, which caused Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, which was gone at the time on business, to get revenge on both Hester and Dimmesdale. Chillingworth makes their lives miserable and soon, Hester

In The Scarlet Letter Roger Chillingworth was Hester Prynne’s husband who had been gone and hadn’t been home for a very long time. During that time, Hester Prynne committed

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne exhibits how three very unique characters are evidently brought together by the sins that they have perpetrated and how they manage to perform acts of atonement in the puritanical Boston society. Hester Prynne sins by committing the shocking transgression of adultery. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who as well engages in adultery with Hester, abandons her and their daugher because of his own cowardice and hypocrisy. Roger Chillingworth grows to become a maleficent being who tries to corrupt the very soul of Reverend Dimmesdale. Although Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale do sin greatly, it is Roger Chillingworth who sins to the most ferocious degree.

Roger Chillingworth is a vile man who hides his disgrace of having a disloyal wife and finds pleasure in tormenting the poor Arthur Dimmesdale. When he comes to town at the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth makes Hester promise not to tell anyone that he is her real husband.“ ‘Breath not, to any human soul, that thou didst ever call me husband!’…’because I will not encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman…’”(Hawthorne 52-53).

In the book Hester, though she may have broken the law, she is a kind person who draws strength from the scarlet letter. She cares for her daughter Pearl, and loves Arthur Dimmesdale. Though she is outcasted, she hungers for acceptance. In her way however are social norms. Hester broke the law by committing adultery and was forced to wear an “A,” the scarlet letter.

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth

The townspeople have begun to regard Hester with a certain amount of respect. She has been pure in heart and deed ever since her public fall from graces, and she is charitable to the poor. Hester earns her money by doing stitch-work for local dignitaries, but she often spends her time helping the poor and sick. In fact, her suffering makes her kinder toward others. She knows how to offer grace, because she had been denied it herself. People begin to suggest that the A stands for Able. Some suggest that the scarlet letter connotes holiness. For Hester, however, the symbol has hardened her against ever feeling passion of affection again. She has ceased, in short, to be a

Hester Prynne, the woman that has been living as one of the biggest sinners in this town. Since the time that she had to carry with such an atrocious title, Hester has been humiliated, mentally harmed, and has slowly lost her own sanity. Now even though she has gone through so much, there is two things that have not changed and that is for one, she has not once weared the scarlet letter with shame, she wears it with pride and at the same time with the responsibility of showing the sin that she will not be able to run away from. Secondly, Hester never stays away from her daughter Pearl, the girl that brings her the consolation that she needs but also that reflects on the acts of her sin. It can obviously be seen that Hester most keep her daughter Pearl, she has gone through alot and her daughter is all she has left to accompany her and bring her peace.

Arthur Dimmesdale is one of the four major characters in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although Hester Prynne is the character most readers consider to be the most influential, he is of equal importance to the novel. Arthur Dimmesdale is a young reverend that plays an important role in the Puritan community. To the people who reside in the small puritan town In Boston, Arthur Dimmesdale is considered to be the example of what it means to be “pure” and “holy” as a genuine believer in the Puritan faith.

According to the third chapter of The Scarlet Letter, “When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips.” (57) Dimmesdale recognizes that he shares the same sin as Hester, therefore she should not be the only person the community should blame. Sin is also seen through Roger Chillingworth’s character as well. In chapter four, Chillingsworth claims, “He will be mine”, in which he specifically refers to Dimmesdale. He seeks revenge against Reverend Dimmesdale for having an affair with Hester, to whom he married before. Redemption is the next theme applied to Hester. Such example shown on chapter thirteen claims, “It is our Hester- the town’s own Hester, who is so kind to the

Hester Prynne serves as a prime example of feminism, women’s individuality, and freewill through her strength and ability to embrace negativity. The protagonist, Hester Prynne, is charged with adultery and expected to live her life, having to repent for her sin by wearing the symbolic scarlet letter “A”. However, over time the letter gains a new significance, “The letter was the symbol of her calling … many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification… it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (146). Hester is an exemplary example of individuality as she does not forget who she is in the face of turmoil. In fact, she has completely reformed the original implication of the scarlet letter from disparaging to demonstrative of her originality. Hester’s defiance of the original meaning of the scarlet letter demonstrates her wisdom of the impact of being true to herself on others. As Hester and the father of her child, Arthur Dimmesdale, continue to hide their relationship with each other, the sin mentally and physically kills Dimmesdale. In his final moments, he relies on Hester and their daughter, Pearl, to hold him up, “partly supported by Hester Prynne, and holding one hand of little Pearl’s… [he was] full of anguish and repentance … [he] put in his plea of guilty” (233). Hester Prynne, once again, proves her strength in this moment. Hawthorne often uses the outwards appearance to reflect the true inner appearance; he uses Hester’s external strength and support of Dimmesdale to

A patriarchal society where men are the decision maker and hold high position and power. Hester Prynne is objectified in the beginning of the novel where she is turned in to a walking symbol of sin. But by the end of the novel, she is a role model for women. She the ability to choose her own actions and make her own decisions after being sent freed from the jail. Hester’s bold disobedience suggests that women should have equal rights. In “The Scarlet Letter”, Dimmesdale and chilling worth are shown as a very weak and corrupt characters and Hester as a strong, independent woman. Hester has enough strength to overcome the problems and work hard for her daughter’s future where as Dimmesdale and Chilling Worth are still guilty about the past. All the bitter experiences makes Hester struggle a lot but at the same time this makes her a survivor at the