The preface to Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter‚ “The Custom House”‚ serves to introduce the society and times in which the story is set; also‚ this essay provides the background story for the finding of the scarlet letter. The Custom House also provides a definition of what a romance is. Excerpts from “The Custom House” essay closely link to The Scarlet Letter’s text. Two notable examples of these parallels can be found in the descriptions given of the townspeople in Salem who live by ancient moral
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The novel titled The Scarlet Letter‚ written by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ was a story full of tragic irony. Hester Prynne‚ throughout the story‚ makes a great effort to conceal secrets among others such as Arthur Dimmesdale‚ and Roger Chillingworth. This effort is filled with hypocrisy because of the way they live their lives day by day. Some being idled for great doing‚ others shunning people of sin‚ when yet each of them have all committed sin of their own. Therefore‚ irony amongst this novel‚ is great
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Hester Prynne is “a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale‚” a young and beautiful woman (Hawthorne 46). She brought a child into the world with an unknown father. She is punished by Puritan society by wearing the scarlet letter A on the bosom of her dress. The letter is decorated in gold thread; it is decorated in gold because it is a reflection of her spirit. Hester is a very strong woman; it is seen since the very start of this novel. She walks to the scaffold from the prison‚ she holds her
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“The Scarlet Letter” Feminist Essay While Hawthorne is influenced by stereotypes‚ The Scarlet Letter‚ by Nathaniel Hawthorne does serve to criticize patriarchy as he creates a plausible individual who is strong in the face of patriarchal opposition. Hester turns her punishment into a life changing experience by becoming a better‚ stronger‚ and more independent person than she was at the beginning of the novel. The way she handles her punishment does not make it right but
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Often‚ two people can commit the same sin‚ but deal with it differently. Guilt can be dealt with in two ways: publicly or privately. In The Scarlet Letter‚ by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale both commit adultery‚ and both Hester and Dimmesdale deal with guilt from the sin they committed in completely different ways. Hawthorne writes about dealing with guilt publicly and privately to show the emotional and sometimes physical toll of guilt based on how people choose to deal
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forbidden acts of drunkenness‚ blasphemy‚ and adultery. In The Scarlet Letter‚ the church enacts harsh sentences of incarceration and public shaming in order to discipline the presumed sinners. Even though these punishments seek to inflict harm and cause suffering to their victims‚ Hawthorne uses their cruelty to elicit the truth. Presenting a major symbol of Puritan punishment‚ Hawthorne employs the harshness of the scarlet letter to allow Hester to discover her own strength and beauty. Under
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Scarlet Letter is an important symbol. As the minister watches the night sky‚ together with Hester and Pearl‚ a meteor appears that traces out an „A“. While most of the people think that the „A“ stands for „Angel“ and is showing that Governor Winthrop is gone and it marks his the entry to heaven‚ which will be proofed later on‚ but Dimmesdale‚ on the other hand‚ interprets it differently. Him hiding his sins and „cover his heart with his hand“‚ the „A“ reminds him of Hester‘s Scarlet Letter. He thinks
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moral. That’s not to say they aren’t allowed to have some faults‚ but usually a hero is someone who instills reverence and veneration in others for whatever reason. Nathaniel Hawthorne creates interesting thoughts provoking characters in the Scarlet Letter‚ but none of which give the right distinction that would give them the title hero. The actions and qualities of the characters in the story give no view to morality‚ strength physically or mentally and most of what they do is to please their own volatile
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it literally. Both these words have been used to describe the Scarlet Letter‚ Pearl and Roger Chillingworth. The letter A symbolizes adultery‚ and it had been branded deeply onto Hester’s bosom. On page 79‚ in the last paragraph‚ it has been said that that the people believed that the scarlet Letter was “red hot with an infernal flame.” Infernal is something related to hell. It has been alluded that the wearer of the letter will burn in the fires of hell. On page 68‚ in the second paragraph too
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Dialectical journal: Scarlet letter 1."But on one side of the portal… was a wild rose-bush… which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in…” (Chapter 1‚ pg.41) The rose bush in this excerpt at the beginning of the book signifies the one thing that seems to bloom despite the harsh rules and restrictions that the Puritan society bestow upon all who reside there. Much like the rose bush‚ Hester Prynne
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