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Scarlet Letter Biblical Allusions Essay

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, centers around the story of an adulterous new mother named Hester Prynne and her struggles of living in the rigid Puritan society of Salem, Massachusetts, in the early 1600’s. Mostly the book is based off of the central biblical themes of sin, punishment, and forgiveness, however Hawthorne take it a step further by including numerous biblical allusions throughout the text. By both alluding to and specifically citing parts of the bible, the author is able to further emphasis those themes presented within, and make a stronger connection to bible itself. In the beginning of the narrative, Hawthorne alludes to the story of Cain in reference to Hester’s red letter “A”. On page 81, he claims that Hester’s “A” “with her native energy of character and rare capacity, could not entirely cast her off, although it had a set a mark upon her more intolerable to a woman's heart than that which branded the brow of Cain.” Cain was a biblical character in Genesis 4. As the story goes, both Cain and his brother Abel competed for God’s affection by presenting offerings to him. God was highly impressed by Abel’s offering but not so much Cain’s. Jealous of his brother, Cain decides to murder Abel and for that God punishes him gravely. Cain was …show more content…
Extensively throughout the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne use biblical references in order to first, help clarify or emphasize the point he is try make at that part in the novel, but more importantly second to further promote the themes made famous by the bible, such sin, punishment, and forgiveness. These themes are a driving force in the novel due to it direct association with Puritanism, and one could argue that without the use of multiple biblical allusion Hawthorne’s point would have must be much less successfully

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