...A woman stands in front of her community, judged for her sin and having an object to show it, her only child. Born from an extramarital affair with an unknown man, she is forced to face public scrutiny in a Puritan community. Somewhere in the crowd, the father of the child stands, guilty but not judged. Nathaniel Hawthorne tackles sin and shame in The Scarlet Letter, a story showing guilt and transgression in a society where “religion and law were almost identical” and “the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful” (Hawthorne 47-48). The heritage of Nathaniel Hawthorne, common beliefs held by the Puritans, as well as Hawthorne’s philosophies on secret sin and public shame affect the style of The...
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...The Puritan “A” Essay Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” tells the story of a woman, Hester Prynne, who conceived a child through an adulterous affair. As punishment for her sin she must wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress. This story took place in the Puritan town of Boston; in the Puritan society “A” is a symbol of adultery or affair. Hester was forced to wear this letter as a constant reminder of her shame and so that everyone would know what she has done. The townspeople automatically began to mistreat her and her daughter so that they would leave and their society could remain pure. Although the original Puritan meaning of the letter “A” is adultery, throughout the story “A” takes on different meanings such as able and angel. Initially the Puritan society sees the “A” as a mark of punishment for sin but over time their outlook changes. In spite of all Hester endured throughout her years of being labeled as an adulterer she still remained strong. “Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power to sympathize,—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” stated a member of society (13.3). She worked to redeem herself of the wrong she had done; she was a helper to those that were in need, sick, or poor. Her actions caused many members of society to change their viewpoint and no longer view her as an adulterer but as someone...
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...The Scarlet Letter A: Write an analytical essay (900 - 1200 words) on the excerpt from Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter (1850). Part of your essay must focus on the narrative technique and the theme of Puritanism and slut shaming. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter”, a dark tale of shame and condemnation, centres on a small Puritan society of Boston during the 17th century. Set in Puritan New England, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman who has a baby out of wedlock. Although written many years ago, Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” covers themes and ideas related to modern readers. The themes of slut-shaming and breaking society’s expectations are ones to which many young people can relate to today. Seen in this context, the novel can be approached as the story of a young woman who let her heart rule her head and suffered the consequences. In a dedicated Puritan town, a young married woman named Hester Prynne conceives a child. There is a glitch, however; her husband, a doctor, has been missing for a long time. The society magistrates imprison her for this sin and commands that she must wear a scarlet “A” on her dress as a sign for adultery, shame and sins. Additionally, she must stand on a scaffold, exposed to public humiliation. The reason why is she had an affair with the local minister, Reverend Dimmesdale. The fact that he is a reverend makes the case much worse and also shows hypocrisy in the community, since the minister...
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...Hawthorne’s Judgment of Sin and Punishment Based on the Puritan Belief As Seen in “Scarlet Letter” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan background and his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts strongly influenced his stories and writing style. Many of Hawthorne’s stories hold ties to the past and characterize the Puritan society, including Scarlet Letter. Puritans followed “their own rigorous moral and religious strictures…” , which led many Puritans to believe most people are inherently evil and deserve punishment (Hunt 26). Puritans believed sin’s “penalty thereof is death” (Hawthorne 59). In Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne characterized the Puritan view of sin, the punishment of sin, and how the punishment of sin revealed Hester’s courage, but led to Dimmesdale’s demise. Hester and Dimmesdale committed the same sin and “while Hester’s sin is noticeable to all, Dimmesdale’s sin is hidden”(Londhe 2). The sin itself does not alter Hester and Dimmesdale as much as it altered how the individual copes with sin and the punishment that follows the sin. The Puritan belief system influenced Hawthorne’s writing even though he “took Puritan doctrine and psychologized it”(Barna 3). Hawthorne felt the Puritan belief lacked a tolerance for sin, and “he dwelt on the cruelty of Puritans in his works” (Barna 2). Puritan’s believed everyone sinned and Hawthorne’s Puritan background led him to address sin in his writing. The common belief of the time states that “man is born into his world basically...
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...Through the late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century, Romanticism became a prevalent literary style used by emerging novelists. Nature, a pivotal element of Romanticism, is intended to emphasize major ideas, descriptions and images to the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a gifted author heavily influenced by Romanticism during the nineteenth century, uses nature as a romantic source for critiquing Puritan beliefs in his novel, “The Scarlet Letter”. Hawthorne’s Romantic philosophies invariably contrast the Puritanical belief through his ruthless obsession with past sins. Although the plot of the novel is based around Puritanical beliefs, Hawthorne establishes a connection between characters and Romanticism. Hester Prynne (the protagonist)...
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...The Scarlet Letter Death…the common punishment in Puritan America. Puritans were people who lived in a time of fear; fear of sin and a fear of God. Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman of the sixteen hundreds, committed a sin that would leave her with a life of ridicule and guilt. Her life is narrated by a dweller of the eighteenth century, two hundred years after her lifetime. Hester Prynne’s life is told in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorne and is stationed in the Puritan town of Boston during the sixteenth century. Prynne, who was sent to America by her husband, was left alone by him for two years. Soon, she became attracted to another man, committed adultery, and bore a daughter whom she named Pearl. Due to this child, her fellow Puritans became aware of her deadly sin, and Prynne was sentenced to prison for a short time, public ridicule on a scaffold, and a life of recognition wearing the “Scarlet A,” which stood for her sin of adultery. In Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne’s punishments were fair to her crime. For the crime of adultery that Hester Prynne committed, the punishment of staying in prison was fair. Prynne, living in Puritan Boston in the sixteenth century, was seen as someone as deadly as a murderer. During this time, adultery was known as a horrid sin which would send a person to Hell upon death. Therefore, the usual punishment for this crime during this time was death, which Prynne narrowly...
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...Symbols in the Scarlet Letter Colors can represent many things; for example it can represent the emotions someone is feeling or to describe something or to simply determine whether a food is going to be eaten. Another example would be a funeral; everyone knows that it’s appropriate to wear black because it’s a time to mourn and sorrow for a lost loved one, but if someone were to wear black to a wedding it would portray to be inappropriate because weddings are created to be a time full of joy and new beginnings. Colors are used in present day to represent things, yet they were just as useful hundreds of years ago, for instance; the 1600’s. In the 1600’s, the Puritan society represented a community that was gloomy and dark while also being full of strict rules and “perfect” people who did not sin. In The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses the main character, Hester Prynne, as a representation of the Puritan society by using symbolism in two ways: the scarlet letter itself and the forest. To begin with, Hester Prynne was accused of adultery while her husband was gone from Massachusetts, her home town. Because of this accusation, she was forced to pin a bright red scarlet letter on her chest. This scarlet letter stood out in front of people’s eyes whenever she was around. Now as a Puritan, it was forbidden to sin. They believed that sinners were working with the devil to finish any undone business he had left. It was a rule with the Puritans to have an...
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...In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, it is considered by many timeless and universal, which makes his novel a work of classic literature. Determining what makes a classic taken from his novel Why Read the Classics? Italo Calvino defines: “A classic is a book which each rereading offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading.” Hester Prynne is first introduced with her infant daughter, Pearl, and she is being displayed by the onlookers of Boston as sinful because she has committed adultery. Later, it is revealed that Hester and the young minister Arthur Dimmesdale had an affair. Although Dimmesdale did not know that he befriended Hester’s once lost husband Roger Chillingworth, Dimmesdale is also punished for his sin. Themes...
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...The Scarlet Letter In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, A young woman named Hester Prynne in Boston is prosecuted for adultery. To symbolize her crime, she has an “A” imprinted on her bosom. As a result of her committing adultery, she and Reverend Dimmesdale (his identity is not identified until later in the book) have a child. She is a very curious child, and her name is Pearl. Roger Chillingworth, comes to see Hester on the scaffold and he doesn’t want his identity revealed either but it does get revealed in later chapters. In the Scarlet letter, the author uses different symbols, literary devices, and themes that help Nathaniel’s purpose of writing. Symbolism A symbol in the Scarlet Letter is literally the Scarlet Letter...
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...North American Literature 2014-2015. Individual Freedom restricted by Puritans. Analysis of Hester, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. [Nathaniel Hawthorne; The Scarlet Letter] ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to analyze how Nathaniel Hawthorne deals with the theme of freedom focusing on the major characters such as Hester, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. I argue that, there is a sign of individual freedom due to the fact that all the characters have the right to act in the way they do it but they will be always suppressed by the decisions of the Puritans. I also argue that, there is no collective freedom in terms of society because Puritanism restricts, punishes and judges individual actions. Key words: major characters, individual freedom, suppressed, no collective freedom. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, is constructed by the main themes of isolation and suffering. Moreover, sin and the Puritan law are narrowly connected, making the wish of freedom almost an impossible achievement. Over the course of the novel, Hester is the only one who truly manifests her right of individual freedom. However, she has been punished by the Puritan law, which considers her attitude as a threat to the Puritan community and its religion. Hester’s freedom starts since the moment she decides to carry her punishment in New England and not going back to England, where she could have lived a new life without feeling guilty. Furthermore, her self-determination...
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...Section #1: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, starts off by introducing how the book was written. The anonymous narrator stumbled upon some manuscripts labeled with a red “A”, all of which happened some 200 years before his time. He decided to write a fictional story about the facts he found in the manuscripts and thus, The Scarlet Letter was born. The story begins in a Boston Puritan Settlement in the 17th century. Hester Prynne and her young daughter, Pearl, are being led from the town prison, bearing the infamous “scarlet letter”. A man in the crowd said she was being tried for adultery, after her husband left and was supposed to be “lost at sea”, and gave birth to a child. She will not, however, give the identity of her lover, and the red “A”, along with her public shame, is punishment for her sin and secrecy. The man in the crowd turns out to be Hester’s long lost husband, who is now practicing medicine and is going by the name Roger Chillingworth. Several years pass and, being banished by the town, Hester and Pearl live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. The town repeatedly tries to take Pearl away from Hester, but with the help of the young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, the two manage to stay together. Chillingworth has his suspicions about Dimmesdale’s health and the fact he may be hiding a secret, so he decided to move in with him to give him constant care. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers a mark on the man’s chest...
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...When it comes to the topic of struggle, most of us will promptly agree that it's not very easy to go through. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of how we get through it. Whereas some are convinced that struggle is just a part of life that comes naturally, others maintain that with every struggle there is a lesson to be learned. The text Of Plymouth Plantation, The Scarlet Letter and The Whistle, they include a struggle they have to overcome. In the text Of Plymouth Plantation they struggle with disease and death, relating to early american identity by all the diseases and illnesses going around and killing many people, ¨...Infected with scurvy and other diseases...¨ (6). William Bradford recognizes the issues...
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...In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, some of the major characters are isolated from the other Puritans and from Puritan society. One of the main characters, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest for committing the sin of adultery. The Puritans during this time period were known as unforgiving and would often judge others for their sins instead of themselves. In the book Hawthorne reveals that Pearl’s true father is the minister Dimmesdale, while everyone else in town thinks it is Hester’s husband who is not in the town. The people in the town shame Hester for her sin and humiliate her in the streets - making her tell what the scarlet letter A represents on her chest. Hester is isolated because of her sin, Dimmesdale is isolated by hiding his sin, and Pearl as well has been isolated because of her parents’ sin. In the book Hester Prynne has been isolated from the other Puritans around her. She has been forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest for her sin and the people in town shame her. Hester is often stopped in the streets, as shown by a quote in the book. The quote states, “Clergymen paused in the street to address words of exhortation that brought a crowd,” (38.) This however is not the only way Hester is isolated in the book - she chooses to isolate herself even further. She felt as if she...
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...While some countries do not bat an eye at someone engaging in adultery, others have and still sentence people to horrendous deaths for committing it. 17th century Massachusetts opposed what they considered to be the "sin" of adultery. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, is punished for committing adultery. Hester is made to wear a scarlet letter A upon her bosom, so everyone is aware of the sin she committed . If Hester had committed her same crime in the modern-day Sudan, she could have faced crude punishments for doing so, such as death by stoning. The society in which Hester lives had a large involvement in religion, which had a large impact on their laws, "...as befitted a people whom...
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...Similarities and Differences between Anne Hutchinson and Hester Prynne While many people may feel that Anne Hutchinson has nothing in common with Hester Pyrnne they actually more alike than most people would think. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of “The Scarlet Letter,” used many references to Anne Hutchinson in his book. During his life, he wrote a sketch of Hutchinson thus portraying his interest towards her and the characteristics of her life. It could be accurate to say that Anne Hutchinson was used as a guide to make the character of Hester Prynne. Therefore, Hawthorne creates Hester’s character to resemble and to differ from Hutchinson. Hester Prynne and Anne Hutchinson show their similarities and differences through those who influenced them, their religious beliefs, leadership, and personalities. In the beginning of each of their lives Hutchinson and Pyrnne both started at a divergent road. Hester had an impulsive behavior. Her parents had to always keep an eye on her because she was oblivious and incautious. She married at smart man while she was young and tried to convince herself she was happy. Anne, on the hand, was forced into a life that made her strong and intelligent. Her father had been imprisoned for preaching against English ministers. Later, Anne was taught by her father of his religious views. She read many of his theology and religion books. This influenced her religious views and made her into the strong minded female. Both of these women show differences...
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