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Every hero has to have their brutal beginnings before they blossom into their true hero status. For Hester Prynne, this was the constant critism and negative views the Puritan community held for Hester because of her commiting the crime of adultery, ultimately leading her to evolve into a stronger person. The townspeople feel like Hester’s sin deserves "At the very least…a hot iron on [her] forehead,” or even death. (Hawthorne, 53) Hester’s heroic charcteristics are first seen when she comes out of the prison. Every one expects Hester to be “dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud,” when she walks out , but instead she emerges with “a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed,” (55). Despite the harsh critisicm of the Puritan society, Hester does not allow herself to be influenced and show shame for her acts, like the community thinks she should. The critiscms of the town do not weaken Hester as a person, rather strengthen her to stand strong and accept her punishment with grace instead of shame. Hester also grew through the wearing of the letter “A” on her bosom. The letter was put on the bosom of Hester to inform the whole community of Hester’s sin. However, Hester embroidered the “A” “so fantastically…It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself,” (56). By making the letter look beautiful rather than shameful, like the towns intentions, Hester proves…
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Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is one of the most analyzed and most discussed literary works in American literature. Hawthorne's ambiguity and strong use of symbols have made this novel very complex and detailed. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many symbols to give insight into characters and promote his views on society. The scaffold scenes in The Scarlet Letter tell the reader exactly what is to come, and the presence of light in those scenes gives the reader insight into the characters.…
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The prison door is very dark in comparison to the rose bush next to it that “by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it”(34). The dark prison door is representative of the unrelenting Puritan laws that are in place at the time.The bright rose bush, an opposite of the door, represents forgiveness and decency that are still somewhat present; no matter what the circumstances are, there is always room for hope, and the rose bush is that hope. The most renowned symbol in Hawthorne’s book is the scarlet letter on Hester’s chest. As punishment for having an illegitimate child, Hester Prynne is not executed, the standard of the time, but is forced to wear a red letter “A” on her chest that represents adultery. A greater punishment than any prison sentence, the scarlet letter has “the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity , and inclosing her in a sphere by herself”(37). The contrasting colors of red and black on Hester’s dress show how the “A” has changed her literally and psychologically. The people to the right of Hester are talking about Hester and making appalling faces. The prison door was close to the marketplace, where she was going, but it seemed like an…
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In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the lives of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth to emphasize themes of hypocrisy and sin within the Puritan society by stressing the relevance of forgiveness, the negative outcome of abandoning righteousness, and the austere need for compassion in the Bostonian community .…
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A pattern to conform to is a kind of shelter.” This quote can be considered valid or invalid depending on the person who is reading the quote. Whether it is someone like the Puritans in the Scarlet Letter who believes that life should be lived in a strict manner, or whether it is someone who cannot stand a uniform life, there will be never a time when everyone accepts or denies this quote.…
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Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter introduces themes within the story that recur in several settings and serve as metaphors for the underlying conflicts. The trouble in interpreting The Scarlet Letter is the fact that the story is packed full of symbolism that can be either overlooked, or misinterpreted. From the actual letter A', down to the use of colors, Hawthorne wrote his story with the intention of making the reader work harder and read deeper into the characters and actual meaning of the story.…
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Next, we learn about Hester Prynne. She is tall with dark hair. The first thing she does is that she comes out of a prison holding an infant with the letter “A” on her chest. There are many criticisms as Hester walks through the crowd about her adultery. Hester spots her husband in the crowd but he indicates with his finger to tell her to keep his identity a secret. Because Hester refuses to reveal the father of her child she is sentenced to three hours on the scaffold and have to wear the scarlet letter for eternity. Governor Bellingham does not push Hester further in revealing the other sinner and Hester is led back into the prison. One major theme that surfaces is Pride. Even with the humiliation of walking through a crowd wearing a scarlet letter A on her chest, Hester not once did she look ashamed. She held her head high with her child and walked through the crowd with elegance and beauty.…
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In the beginning of the book, the crowd showed a cold vibe that gave the idea of the strictness in a Puritan society. Hester was shunned and forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for committing adultery. It was described as, “a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical” (47). Throughout the story the main idea was how the Puritanism traditions were fading. For example the people start to take the scarlet letter less seriously than they did before. Hester does not seem to be looked at in the same kind of way that she was before. People somewhat look up to Hester for being so strong and proud of her letter.…
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In the story, Hester as a young girl married a man named Roger Chillingworth, who was much older than she was. Roger had sent Hester to America while he settled his affairs in Europe. While he was gone Hester, being young and confused, had an affair with a minister named Dimmensdale and later gave birth to a baby girl named Pearl. After Roger had been captured by Native Americans, he arrived to Boston and found his wife Hester and Pearl displayed on the scaffold. His aggravation made him decide to stay for revenge, and disguise himself as a doctor and find out who Hester's secret lover, and daughters father was. Everyone in town looked at Hester as a sinful, guilty, and shameful human being. "It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such male actresses as…
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They were secluded from one another, themselves and their community. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth endured differtent types of alienation and isolation and to various degrees. Hester is segregated from society. Dimmesdale felt alone due to the secrecy of his sin. Chillingworth surrendered himself to evil and gradually withers away.…
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Rather than playing the role of a common doctor, Chillingworth is interested in revenge, not righteousness. With the change of name on his arrival in Boston, Chillingworth has hidden his past from everybody except Hester who is sworn to secrecy (Hawthorne 117). He includes himself into the society in the role of a doctor and since the town lacks any sufficient medical care, he is welcomed (Hawthorne 118). Coincidentally, Dimmesdale has been suffering from several health problems and appears to be in pain by frequently grabbing his chest as though his heart is hurting him. Chillingworth then urges the town leadership to insist that Dimmesdale allow Chillingworth to be his medical adviser and accompany Dimmesdale in his residence. By this, Chillingworth may be able to diagnose and possibly cure Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 121). Chillingworth holds a gut feeling that Dimmesdale’s health problems may relate to the sin of adultery that Hester has committed. Throughout the novel, Chillingworth stands by his theory and is out to seek revenge, showing great determination in receiving the most private details about Dimmesdale’s life. Chillingworth torments Dimmesdale’s mind with uncomfortable conversation about sin as Chillingworth is trying to get Dimmesdale to reveal what the doctor wants to hear. For example, when the minister points out an odd…
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The setting takes place in dreary Boston, Massachusetts during the seventeenth century. It starts off outside the colonies prison, with the townsmen and women awaiting the exit of Hester Prynne, the adulterous of the town. As she walks out of the heavy prison door with infant in hand, she reveals to the crowd something far from ordinary. If a woman is told to wear the letter A as a form of punishment, she is usually very discontent with the unsettling public form of penalty. Hester, on the other hand, shows that she has decorated her A with scarlet and gold fanciful embroidery, proving that this sin is one she is not to be ashamed of. As she makes her way from the prison doorway to the scaffold to be publically looked down upon and humiliated for three hours, the crowd of men, women, and children yell at her with harsh words and rude language. In front of the public, a few of the town council members ask her…
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The novel The Scarlet Letter shows many problems of the human nature that were present at that time and are still present today. There is anger, there is hatred, and there is remorse. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows all three of these problems through his novel. He has Roger Chillingworth show anger when Hester committed adultery, he has Roger say that he hates what he has become, and he has Arthur and Hester show remorse and guilt throughout the entire novel about there misdeeds.…
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The main character, Hester Prynne, whose sin was adultery, kept the identity of her partner a secret and the identity of her husband a secret. Hester, as a result of her sin had to wear the scarlet letter A on her chest to remind her and the community of her sin. “When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter, ….they branded it fresh into her soul.”(p.59) The wearing of the letter also had an effect on Hester’s appearance. “Even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change. It might be partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress and partly to the lack of demonstrations in her manners.….there seemed to be no longer any thing in Hester’s face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in Hester’s form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping its embrace; nothing in Hester’s bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of affection.”(p.112) Hester becomes an outcast of the community. Though she has everything she needs to take care of herself and her daughter. “ Lonely as was Hester’s situation, and without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however, incurred no risk of want. She possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself. It was the art… of needle work.” (p. 56) Her daughter is also a reminder of her sin.…
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Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his novel The Scarlet Letter, argues that the role of shame in society is not what keeps the citizens of that society pure and is possibly the worst type of punishment. Hawthorne supports his argument by demonstrating his perspective on shame through the rhetorical strategy of enthymeme given the major premise, minor premise, and conclusion. The author’s purpose is to persuade his audience that salvation can only be earned by being open about and true to what you are, which will lead to the feeling of no shame or guilt in life. The author evokes a cynical tone in order to persuade readers to accept his position that the role of shame in society acts as the worst punishment given to an individual of that society.…
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