overshadowed by their tendency to condemn the sinner‚ rather than forgive and uplift. Accordingly‚ Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in order to expose the hypocrisy of judgment in general. He uses the Puritan society to illustrate how people often judge others for their sins and use others as scapegoats to direct attention away from their own sins. The five gossips in chapter two exemplify this as they cry‚ this woman has brought shame upon us all‚ and ought to die. In reply a man exclaims‚ Mercy
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to wear a scarlet letter A for the remainder of her life. Nathaniel Hawthorne enhances his novel The Scarlet Letter with extensive attention to character description‚ especially when referring to Pearl. Through diction and imagery‚ Hawthorne identifies Pearl as slightly devious and frightening‚ yet compassionate‚ beautiful‚ and intelligent beyond her years. When Hester gave birth to Pearl‚ the community recognized the infant as a symbol of shame‚ as apparent as the scarlet letter on her chest
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story The Scarlet Letter including‚ Hester Prynne‚ Arthur Dimmesdale‚ and Roger Chillingworth. Some characters keep secrets in this story so they don’t get in trouble. But Hester Prynne‚ with a mind of native courage and activity‚ and for so long a period not merely estranged‚ but outlawed‚ from society‚ had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered‚ without rule or guidance‚ in a moral wilderness. The scarlet letter was her passport
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In The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose for the ” A” was to demonstrate the clear absence of feminism in the 1850’s when the story takes place. Hester Prynne‚ the heroine of The Scarlet Letter‚ is a strong independent woman who demonstrates wisdom. Instead of allowing herself to be a victim of her situation and Puritan contempt‚ she lives as a irrepressible woman and does not allow herself to be controlled by particular normalities. Hester committed adultery while her husband was
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Perhaps the foremost purpose of The Scarlet Letter is to illustrate the difference between shaming someone in public and allowing him or her to suffer the consequences of an unjust act privately. According to the legal statutes at the time and the prevailing sentiment of keeping in accordance with a strict interpretation of the Bible‚ adultery was a capital sin that required the execution of both adulterer and adulteress--or at the very least‚ severe public corporal punishment. Indeed‚ even if the
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A Sign for Sin Throughout The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ the effects of sin and guilt on the mind‚ body‚ and soul of Hester and Dimmesdale are revealed through imagery and symbolism. Hester and Dimmesdale are living in the tormented realm of social stigma inflicted by carrying around sin and guilt in different ways. For example‚ in The Scarlet Letter‚ Hester remains beautiful and composed on the outside throughout her punishment‚ while her body and poker face are not affected. Dimmesdale
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book depicting the struggle of a woman who is spared death after committing adultery in a strict puritan society. The woman‚ Hester Prynne‚ was spared death only for the reason to make an example to the rest of the community. Throughout the book you can see the theme of how sin changes lives appear in almost every chapter and is an important driving factor behind the plot. This theme is shown through the actions of the three main characters: Hester Prynne
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Hawthorne manages to create many metaphors within his novel The Scarlet Letter. The rose bush outside the prison door‚ the black man‚ and the scaffold are three metaphors. Perhaps the most important metaphor would be the scaffold‚ which plays a great role throughout the entire story. The three scaffold scenes which Hawthorne incorporated into The Scarlet Letter contain a great deal of significance and importance the plot. Each scene brings a different aspect of the main characters‚ the crowd or
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“The motherchild relationship...requires the most intense love on the mother’s side‚” according to Erich Fromm‚ a German psychologist. The love that Hester expresses toward her daughter Pearl in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter‚ and the lessons that she teaches her are what makes Hester a great mother. In return‚ Pearl improves Hester’s public image with her beauty and keeps Hester’s emotions and actions in check. The way these two characters subconsciously complement each other forms a
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Arthur Dimmesdale was a very important character in The Scarlet Letter. He encountered many problems and resolved them throughout the novel. He changes a lot throughout the novel‚ physical and mentally. While reading the novel‚ the reader can relate to Dimmesdale by his actions and feelings. Minister Arthur Dimmesdale explains the moral of the story‚ and helps the reader understand what the novel is about. First‚ Dimmesdale encountered many problems throughout the story. These problems were very
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