The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about Hester Prynne‚ her husband Roger Chillingworth and the minister that she had an affair with Roger Chillingworth. There are many strong feelings displayed throughout this novel such as revenge and forgiveness. The most prevalent feeling throughout this story is love. All the principal characters love someone and depend on them. All in all‚ The Scarlet Letter belongs in the romance novel genre because all of the characters are primarily influenced
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Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem‚ Massachusetts into a family that was of Puritan belief since generations. Hawthorne’s lived in poverty with his mother and two younger sisters in a house filled with Puritan ideals. He had a feeling to some extents of Puritanism as being intolerant and cruel. Hawthorne’s states that Puritans feared that some women were completely lost to God and had turned to witchcraft to serve the Devil. Although these witches still appeared human‚ the Devil would use them
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address major and general occurrences. However authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne show history through a different‚ more palatable‚ perspective. By illustrating the life of a specific individual in the past Hawthorne has better related his characters and their times to the reader. One of the best ways of accomplishing that in the novel is through the use of symbolism. The forest‚ for instance‚ is vital to the book “The Scarlet Letter.” In order to comprehend the symbolic importance of the forest
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In the introductory sketch to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel the "The Scarlet Letter"‚ the reader is informed that one of the author’s ancestors persecuted the Quakers harshly. The latter’s son was a high judge in the Salem witch trials‚ put into literary form in Arthur Miller’s "The Crucible" (Judge Hawthorne appears there). We learn that Hawthorne feels ashamed for their deeds‚ and that he sees his ancestors and the Puritan society as a whole with critical eyes. Consequently‚ both open and subtle
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When‚ in reality‚ they are just weeds. Complex weeds that have beauty and character. They tie into The Scarlet Letter in a very deep‚ intellectual way. The Scarlet Letter also has a top‚ basic part and a very deep‚ underlying meanings. The rosebush connects to the Scarlet Letter in the meaning and the end. Both showings have important connections and they make people think more. The Scarlet Letter and the Rosebush have direct connections to each other. The rosebush at the threshold of the prison door
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This story has many characters and one of the most complex is Chillingworth. The questions that arise throughout the story cause the reader to revisit and question the ambiguity of his morality. Hester’s long lost husband‚ Chillingworth‚ had been living “captive” with Natives and learned their medicinal ways. When he arrives in Boston he realizes his wife is the one being publically scorned for her role in the adultery scandal. He does not want anyone to know he is her long lost husband and so he
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violence is not only physical‚ it may also imply a moral dimension. In other words‚ it plays both on the field of the outer and inner worlds. In all cases‚ violence stages a relation between domination and subjection which are entangled in it. In The Scarlet Letter‚ violence seems to be the leading string of the plot: Hester Prynne has to undergo the ordeal of penance in a Puritan society that harshly condemns adultery. One can see here the atmosphere of violence she is plunged into. More generally‚ or rather
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heightened it to its extremes. The communitys stern regulations create a habitat which lacks personal expression and leaves little room within its boundaries for ones own identity to be ascertained. Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates their austere standards for society throughout his novel‚ The Scarlet Letter. In a Puritan society dominated by the necessity to conform‚ only those who isolate themselves from the strict expectations of the community may fully develop their individuality. Hester Prynne
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of revenge‚ feeling of repentance‚ and distress of living of a life with identity crisis are some of the other theme of the story. But the most important theme of the novel that hooks the attention of the readers is duality of human heart. The Scarlet Letter is full of duality; every character is‚ in some degree‚ has duality. The townspeople and officials are because of their views of Hester and how they treat her. The main characters that will be discussed in this paper are prime examples of duality
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes place in a small Puritan town in Boston‚ Massachusetts during the seventeenth century. Hester Prynne‚ the main character‚ commits adultery‚ which is frowned upon by Puritan religion‚ with the town’s minister‚ Arthur Dimmesdale. As public punishment she embroiders a red scarlet A with gold thread to wear on her bosom of all her dresses. Pearl‚ Hester’s daughter‚ is living proof of Hester’s sin; she continually mocks her mother’s scarlet letter. As The
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