A CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER READING GUIDE FOR THE SCARLET LETTER A 1636 Plymouth Colony law required anyone convicted of adultery to "wear two Capital letters viz AD cut out in cloth and sowed on theire uppermost Garments on their arme or backe; and if att any time they shallbee taken without the said letters whiles they are in the Govrment soewarn to bee forthwith taken and publickly whipt."[1] Other Massachusetts colonies had their own versions of this law. In fact‚ "The Capitall Lawes of
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In this book all the good stuff goes down in the woods. Nature is almost like a character in the world of The Scarlet Letter. It is often personified as listening‚ commenting on‚ and interacting with other characters. The society itself (Puritan Boston society) is like an island surrounded by nature. The town is bordered on one side by a huge expanse of woods‚ home to Native Americans (the Wampanoag tribes). On the other side lies the big blue Atlantic Ocean. From the beginning of this story‚ our
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Conflict The Scarlet Letter is a book that centralizes on the importance of being true to one’s feelings. Because the main characters of the novel were not true to their feelings‚ a long series of conflicts arise from the situation. Internal conflicts of admitting guilt or sin trouble most of the characters‚ as they all have a sin in which they must decide whether or not to profess. External conflicts like fate and pressures of society oppose the will of the characters. The Scarlet Letter contains both
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Kayla Lang 1/21/14 Sin Victimizes the Innocent In the novel The Scarlet Letter‚ Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the idea of sin and how it affected those in the Puritan era. Hester Prynne‚ with her baby in her arms‚ is ridiculed in front of the entire town. Hester and her daughter are shunned to a house on the outskirts of town‚ isolating them from the Puritan community. Pearl and Hester grow up in the town alone as social outcasts‚ but they do have each other. Pearl is raised by her single mother
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Reading Report The Scarlet Letter Abstract The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores several aspects in the Puritan community of 17th century Boston. Such as the relationship‚ religion‚ community‚ discipline and punishment and so on. Relationship between men and women are very constrained and that are what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. Religion seems to govern over all. Reverends own high status in the Puritan
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Hester’s Strengths as a Feminist Protagonist in The Scarlet Letter Feminism is the philosophy advocating equal political‚ economic‚ and social rights for women. The idea of feminism was not at all prevalent during the 1850s when Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was published. In spite of this‚ Hawthorne wrote one of the most influential feminist novels of his time: The Scarlet Letter. This novel was hailed as an important feminist novel because of the main character: Hester Prynne. Hester
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This letter A is not only a symbol of sin and guilt. It is also a symbol of goodness and holiness‚ for when Governor Winthrop dies‚ people think that the meteor is a symbol that the governor’s soul has been received in heaven‚ and this he transcended this gloomy world to become an angel in Heaven. At the end of the novel‚ the letter A stands for the word ’able’ and symbolizes the fact that Hester has proven herself as one who is in the help of anyone who would need her help. It can be noticed that
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Matthews Mrs. Tubbs AP English 02 October 2012 The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter is a novel filled with important symbols‚ each with many meanings. Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ author of The Scarlet Letter‚ knew how to express these symbolswith a creative tough. He used the “A”‚ the scaffold‚ and the prison to describe the Puritan society. The symbols or The Scarlet Letter help create a theme‚ the conflict‚ and the characters. The scarlet “A” makes its way to be the most important symbol in
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to do with her mother’s scarlet letter. Pearl Hester’s daughter‚ Pearl‚ functions primarily as a symbol. She is quite young during most of the events of this novel—when Dimmesdale dies she is only seven years old—and her real importance lies in her ability to provoke the adult characters in the book. She asks them pointed questions and draws their attention‚ and the reader’s‚ to the denied or overlooked truths of the adult world. In general‚ children in The Scarlet Letter are portrayed as more perceptive
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In Hawthorne ’s The Scarlet Letter‚ there are two characters that have many sinister or evil qualities‚ but if one looks closer‚ he or she can see that one character is far more evil than the other. “To make himself the one trusted friend‚ to whom should be confided all the fear‚ the remorse‚ the agony‚ the ineffectual repentance‚ the backward rush of sinful thoughts‚ expelled in vain!” (Hawthorne 107). Dimmesdale may be a cowardly adulterer‚ but Chillingworth is a two-faced‚ evil‚ liar. Actions
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