Set in 17th century Puritan Salem‚ Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter‚ tells the story of Hester Prynne‚ who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Hawthorne’s novel is filled with much symbolism. In chapter 5‚ Hawthorne uses her clothing to reveal Hester’s self-perception as self-loathing‚ to depict society against her‚ and to explore the nature of her daughter’s conception. Hawthorne uses Hester’s needlework to portray
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feels incredible guilt. He commits adultery with Hester before the book begins. As the book begins it is revealed he is the true father of Hester’s child Pearl. Dimmesdale‚ afraid of losing his status and being humiliated‚ does not confess his crime. For this this he is rewarded and greatly punished. He is rewarded by keeping his status in the community. He continues to preach to his flock‚ for which he gains great acclaim. He is able to see Hester and Pearl whenever he wants. He is also free to leave
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which help the reader to go deeper in the text. Also‚ symbolism in The Scarlet Letter enhance meaning in the text by allowing the reader to understand the characters on a deeper lever. Three significant symbols from The Scarlet Letter include: Pearl‚ Hester‚ and The Forest. Pearl is a symbol of sin and treasure. She symbolizes sin because she is Hester’s child who committed adultery. The book states that she symbolizes Sin. "Pearl was a born outcast of the infantile world. An imp of evil‚ emblem and
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denounced them while simultaenously putting Hester Prynne‚ the adulteress‚ in a more benign light. For instance‚ when Hawthorne described Hester‚ he did it ina very eloquent way‚ pointing out he beauty and "perfect elegance". He never once pointed out a flaw of Hester’s‚ even saying that the baby in hand concealed her "A" portraying her in a much more innocent way. By covering the "A" with the baby itelf‚ it in a way shrouds the initial sin that Hester was even on the scaffold for‚ it merely
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power of love‚ as well as playing with human emotion‚ Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter on the struggles of Hester Prynne‚ a sinner in a Puritan community. Hester is a young beautiful woman who was married once before‚ but because of a complication in her travel to America is separated from her husband‚ Roger Chillingworth‚ for three years. Due to this separation Hester has an affair‚ which results in a child. The novel itself contains many powerful symbols‚ including: the letter A‚ the
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“Shame is nothing more than denial of the truth.” – M. Funkhouser. Everyone agrees that Hester was publicly shamed; though some disagree with her punishment‚ others approve of this. Hester should have been publicly shamed because it would show her discipline‚ she would think twice‚ and it would change her. The first reason Hester should have been publicly shamed is it would teach her discipline. Children need to have discipline so they can have admirable
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blossom into something much greater. The puritans in this book do not agree with this logic very well‚ as they show many times through their public acts of hate towards Hester. The story about Hester and her sin’s impact on the naïve puritan town shows that good can‚ in fact‚ come from bad. Although initially it appears that Hester is doomed to live a horrible life because of the mark she bears‚ both Pearl and the A’s transformation can prove that something once viewed as unworthy can transform into
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Hawthorne uses the majority of the passage to show how Pearl and Hester act when out of the public eye. Also‚ he uses the theme of nature to show what Pearl is like‚ who she really is‚ and how she is accepted by nature. In the beginning of this passage‚ Pearl and Hester are walking in the forest because Hester wants to reveal Chillingworth’s true identity to Dimmesdale and she knows she will catch him in the forest‚ away from society. Hester chooses to speak with Dimmesdale in the forest‚ not only because
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Each character in The Scarlet Letter has their own sin and they deal with it in different ways. The most obvious of these characters is Hester. Hester’s sin of adultery was the basis for the first half of the story. Hester was constantly burdened made aware of her sin with the scarlet letter attached to her breast‚ but she was able to deal with her sin in a different way. “Elsewhere the token of sin‚ it was the taper of the sick chamber. It had even thrown its gleam‚ in the sufferer’s bard extremity
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This‚ I believe is how Hester dealt with her guilt and how Arthur ultimately died. Hester’s sin was public while Arthur’s was private. In Hester’s case‚ the shame was only momentary. While it never truly went away‚ overtime the shame‚ guilt‚ and sin were all pushed onto the back burner and stayed there only occasionally resurfacing. Even though Hester had her ever constant reminders of the letter A and the child that came from the sin
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