What Are The Lies In The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

Hawthorne thinks that Hester should have revealed who the father was from the beginning of the story. Meanwhile she is still trying to adjust to the punishments she's been given. In order for Hester to be let off of the cruel punishment, they relied on her. By being able to share the punishment equally instead of just one individual. If she had revealed the father, Dimmesdale would have had to share the blame, or the community might have even understood since he is a person in power and the voice of the community. Instead, she was sentenced to an unfair punishment and had to give up her privileges as someone in the community. We are able to notice that throughout the story she is very loyal to those around her who she cares about. She puts those she is interested in first because it's a sign of respect. In all this, she never once put the blame on him or tried to force him to speak up. Hester wanted it to come out of his kind heart and the love he had for her. Although she was the only one to be there with Pearl and to be judged by many people she was still able to feel the love towards her child without question “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush and yet haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at

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.

One of Pearl’s many trials is the torment from her peers and elders simply for being the daughter of an adulteress, which she was completely out of control of. Peers bullying her is not uncommon throughout the story, “the little Puritans… scorned them [Pearl] in their hearts, and not infrequently reviled them with their tongues”(Hawthorne, 109). Their lack of respect towards her, and willingness to act upon those feelings puts Pearl in constant danger of harassment and shame from every child around her. However, peer harassment is not the only danger Pearl has to worry about, adults are quick to shame her as well, “the talk of neighboring townspeople… had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring” (Hawthorne, 114). While it’s not uncommon for someone to be bullied by a peer, the degradation forced on her by adults was something Pearl had to deal with everyday, on top of her peers. Interactions that should have been benign and helped her feel normal only tore her down.

“Reality is easy. Deception that's the hard the hard work” -Lauryn Hill. In the novel the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses literary elements such as symbolism, irony and conflict to show deception and secrecy can lead to self-destruction. This relates to the Scarlet Letter because in the book the protagonist character commits an act of sin that was more than just frowned upon. Not only does the community gossip and turn their cheek to the sinner but a sickness comes along from keeping a secret from the community.

In The American Classic, The Scarlet Letter, American author and short story novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne develops characters that manipulate relationships based on the perceived benefits for themselves in social or religious situations

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about a Puritan woman who has committed adultery and must pay for her sin by wearing a scarlet “A'; on her bosom. The woman, Hester Prynne, must struggle through everyday life with the guilt of her sin. The novel is also about the suffering that is endured by not admitting to one’s wrongs. Reverend Mister Dimmesdale learns that secrecy only makes the guilt increase. Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to display how guilt is the everlasting payment for sinful actions. The theme of guilt as reparation for sin in The Scarlet Letter is revealed through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of northeastern, colonial settings, various conflicts, and

‘Honesty is the best policy’; ‘Always be yourself”, are common phrases many parents tell their children and as common as they may be, being honest and being true yourself contributes to individual happiness and contentness. ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that dives deep into these key themes of honesty and integrity and the consequences of doing the opposite action. One of the main characters, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is a minister in 17th century Puritan New England who has deteriorating health because of his lies and guilt. Dimmesdale commits adultery with a beautiful woman in the town, Hester Prynne, whose husband, Roger Chillingworth, returns from Europe later on. Pearl, who is a product of Hester and

When The Scarlet Letter was written, a rise in feminist power and women's rights started creating ripples throughout the world. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wanted to incorporate the idea of reversing gender roles.

In the world of The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I Hester Prynne have been forced to assign relative blame to Chillingworth, Dimmesdale and myself. It is distasteful for one of us to assign blame to all seeing as though we would all approach it differently and I can never know the true feelings of my counterparts. The blame I shall assign is who among us is most responsible for the misconduct in the puritan society we lived in.

Secrets can destroy even the most respected people. Sometimes is not the secret itself that drives people into exhaustion, but the emotional baggage that comes with it. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale physically deteriorates because of his guilt caused by a dishonorable sin. The Puritan society in which the story is set discourages the idea of the private self, which Hawthorne shows by creating distinctions between the characters’ private and public lives, specifically Dimmesdale’s.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1849. This novel won him much fame and a good reputation as a writer. In writing The Scarlet Letter, Hawethorne was creating a form of fiction he called the psychological romance. A psychological romance is a story that contains all of the conventional trappings of a typical romance, but deeply portrays humans in conflict with themselves. The Scarlet Letter won Hawthorne great critical acclaim, and even today the book remains on the best seller list. The Scarlet Letter is so popular maybe because generations of readers can interpret it and see subtle meanings that somewhat reflect their own lives. Each of us, has

In the fictional novel The Scarlet Letter, the contrast between public and private truth is made quite clear. The three main characters of this book make perfect examples of this overarching theme. The characters in this book are the pastor Mr. Dimmesdale, the doctor Roger Chillingworth, and the adulteress Hester Prynne. First, Mr. Dimmesdale, who seems like devout clergyman to the public, has a big secret that could get him killed if it were made known. Next, Roger Chillingworth, a harmless doctor in the eyes of the public, is actually a man on an evil and vengeful mission. Finally, Hester Prynne’s public truth is that she is unimportant outcast while in private the complete opposite is true. In conclusion, Mr. Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Hester Prynne all are prime examples of the theme, public versus private truth, that Hawthorne tries to convey in The Scarlet Letter.

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

In the Puritan society the outlandish mindset of the leaders caused more harm than good with the witch trials in Salem to the events mentioned in The Scarlet Letter. Sin and evil the new world cloud the vision of the citizens, yet they are two separate actions and have different definitions. Hawthorne explains the difference between the two in the novel and also shows off his famous skill of questioning a society’s rules, regulations, and social structure. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his writing style of ambiguity, and ornate word choice to relay his opinion of the puritan society. Characters, quotes, and symbols give us a snapshot of the time and thoughts on events and ideas during the era. Hawthorne’s characters are a