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1984 Vs Scarlet Letter

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Furthermore, The Scarlet Letter and 1984 both show the reader how an individual can use their personal, sometimes unfortunate, situation to their advantage thereby making both novels, that are set in different historical time periods, very similar. First off all, both novels show how their protagonists, Hester and Winston, use their personal situations to realize the truth of their societies. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester slowly realizes the truth of her society by recognizing the hypocritical nature of the Puritans whom she lives among, as a result of the scarlet letter she wears. As soon as Hester is ordered to wear the scarlet letter, she quickly begins to realize the flaws of her society because of the way her community starts to maliciously …show more content…

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester uses her infamy as a way to change the Puritans’ mindset about those who have sinned. Throughout the novel, the Puritans of Boston treat Hester poorly due to the fact that she is a well-known adulteress. Despite her poor treatment, Hester does not allow the Puritans to control her life; in point of fact, she decides to interact with the Puritans through acts of charity so that she can eliminate the stigma associated with the scarlet letter. Originally, Hester never sinned so that she could go against god’s words. She sinned because she felt lonely, and she longed for someone who would love her and take care of her. Due to this, Hester feels as though her punishment isn’t rightful as she never tried to corrupt society or hurt others with her sin. In order to show the Puritans that one should be forgiven for their sins if they were a pious person before committing them, Hester tries her best to show that she is still a good person. Even when the poor citizens of Boston reject her aid, Hester still provides the unfortunate with clothing and food. Even when the people, for whom she sews clothing for, slyly and directly insult her, Hester “... had schooled herself long and well” so that she “never responds to [their] attacks” (Hawthorne, 127). As a result of her persistent efforts and her resolve to help …show more content…

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester transforms into a stronger, more confident woman through the experiences she encounters because of the scarlet letter she wears. At the beginning of the novel when Hester is ordered to wear the scarlet letter, she suffers from feelings of hopelessness and despair; feelings that trigger the thought of suicide as an option to end her suffering. While newly wearing the letter, Hester feels as though it is only a burden; however, that changes as the letter soon reveals to be a gift in disguise. The scarlet letter allows Hester to sense the guilt of those who appear to be the purest and sinless, showing her the true hypocrisy of her society. By eventually learning of the hypocrisy of her society, Hester realizes that her fellow men and women should not have the power to ruin her life. By knowing this and continuing to not let the insults she hears from affecting her, Hester grows into a much stronger person who can ignore the ill-spirited words of the poor whom she helps and the citizens whom she has to interact with. Hester’s continual wearing of this letter makes the letter itself “her passport into regions where other women [dare] not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These [are] her teachers, —stern and wild ones, —and they [make] her strong, but [teach] her much amiss" (Hawthorne, 300). Despite the many hardships Hester

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634 Words | 3 Pages

On the other hand Hester doesn’t want or try getting attention through her actions. Also she becomes an outcast of the Puritan community and she slowly finds her way back through hard work and showing she cares. Secondly the way the two characters

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366 Words | 2 Pages

Modern Allusion The modern allusion that best compares to the novel Scarlet Letter is the movie Easy A. Easy A was made in 2010 and stars Emily Stone as the main character Olive. This movie was made to relate and appeal to teenagers, while keeping in tact the same principles of the Scarlet Letter.

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530 Words | 3 Pages

The Scarlet Letter opens with Hester Prynne, a young woman who has committed adultery and is being punished. She is shown to be a proud, confident woman but is quickly forced to mature under the burden of public humiliation. Hester becomes an unhappy and bitter woman, her mind and body hardened by the stress of her punishment and her inability to forgive herself and move on. Throughout the story, she struggles to come to terms with what she has done and only when she finally does, can she return to her former happy, unburdened self and regain her former beauty. At the start of the novel, Hester has just received her sentencing for her crime of adultery.

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941 Words | 4 Pages

We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.

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782 Words | 4 Pages

The Scarlet Letter features Hester who is not accepted by society, just like how the woman in the barrio is treated from “The

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1061 Words | 5 Pages

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other woman dared not tread. Shame, despair, solitude! Those have been her teachers, - stern and wild ones, - and they had made her stronger but taught her much amiss” (157). Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter to illuminate on Hester’s strength and ability. By presenting Hester in this manner Hawthorne reveals her strength and ability in the beginning of the book so Hester could stand up and be honest and courageous, which enabled her to be able to stand up to the ridicule and

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1260 Words | 6 Pages

At the end of the book soon before her death, Hester reflects on her life, and realizes that “in the lapse of the toilsome, thoughtful, and self-devoted years that made up Hester’s life, the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too” (243). The letter was meant to be a defining symbol of Hester and her sin, but instead it was a symbol of help and hope. The purpose was to attract the “world’s scorn”, but instead she was praised for her persistence and grace. Hester’s powerful personality and strength allowed her to change the opinions of the general public and give her a chance to rebrand herself. There was no longer any regret attached to the letter, and without regret, it is clear that Hester does not wish that she had done anything differently to avoid becoming an adulteress.

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836 Words | 4 Pages

Morality in The Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits what is deemed an immoral act in Puritan society. She perpetrates adultery and the people of the town condemn her for this. This is undoubtedly a sin, blackening a supposedly pure town; however, the Puritans lack of forgiveness attributes to staining the society even more so. The Puritans prove to be the most unethical since they punish Hester, try to take her child and attempt to shun her.

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981 Words | 4 Pages

Despite Hester knowing it in her heart of hearts that she is not alone in her sin she is the only one to be punished for her actions. As she lives her days and walks about her hometown her scarlet

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300 Words | 2 Pages

This is saying a lot considering the Puritan people are very strict with sinners. When she was first given the letter, they told her that she would only ever be able to be forgiven by God. Now the people see her and the letter in a completely different way. Although Hester is being very kind to others, she feels different about the letter than the others do.

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719 Words | 3 Pages

The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”

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559 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the history of mankind, women have been portrayed as the weaker sex, the scapegoat, and the inferior. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an uprising story of Hester’s strength in exposing and accepting her sin, choosing to wear bold apparel, and helping Dimmesdale deal with his inner conflict. She is truly a model for advocates of the early women’s right movement. Although the scarlet letter burned a hole in her heart, Hester wears it and never denies it, which shows a true strength from within.

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1142 Words | 5 Pages

When Hester finally takes off the scarlet letter “A” and her cape in the wilderness, it not only represents the beauty she held despite the emotional punishment she underwent, but it also represents her removing the Puritan and patriarch society holding her back. Hester’s feminist conscious is intricately portrayed throughout the

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959 Words | 4 Pages

Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.

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936 Words | 4 Pages

In the “Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays hypocrisy of the Puritan society, where the protagonist Hester Prynne face many consequences of her actions and the how she tries to redeem herself to the society. During the seventeenth puritans believe that it is their mission to punish the ones who do not follow God’s word and it is their job to stop those from sinning. Therefore, the hypercritical puritan society punishes Hester harshly for committing adultery, but in Hester’s mind, she believes that what she did was not a sin but acts of love for her man. Eventually, she redeems herself by turning her crime into an advantage to help those in need, yet the Puritan society still view her as a “naughty bagger.” (Hawthorne 78)

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