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Duality In The Scarlet Letter

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Duality. The Unseen Side of Everything. Many people can agree with the fact that society can be a controlling, manipulative beast. It’s hand persistently reaches out and drags unsuspecting victims into depths known as conformity. Over time, many people develop masks of their own to hide from this beast and to be seen as a typical and average person. But by doing this, these people hide parts of themselves from others, making themselves seem one-dimensional. They hide behind these masks they form, and conceal themselves from the terrifying, outside world. Duality is then manifested from this side hidden from society, and for good or for bad, people learn these hidden aspects of themselves. Although others may not yet know of these hidden sides of subjects, one …show more content…

Whether this hidden duality is shown or not, it is always present no matter who or what the subject may be. Duality is shown to not only be a large portion of current society, but it has a massive effect on a fictional, yet realistic community from 17th century Massachusetts Bay. All throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter characters and symbols representing duality have been present, taking shape in important characters such as Hester Prynne, Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, as well as objects such as the rose bush, the scaffold, and the forest. One of these symbols is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the Puritan Priest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dimmesdale is seen

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Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the protagonists of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, stands as a highly conflicted character. The source of his divide stems from the consequences of private sins, and is prevalent within the first paragraphs of Chapter 12, “The Minister’s Vigil,” where the narration chronicles Dimmesdale’s surroundings as he dream walks through the town in a state of limbo. He is portrayed as a model citizen who lacks moral imperfections to the general public yet suffers privately from the juxtaposition of his sins to his position within the community. In this specific passage, Hawthorne uses somber diction and imagery to illustrate Dimmesdale’s strife, while portraying his internal conflict through the formation

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Many people in the world today try to cover up their darker sides with a "mask" which hides their true self. Often times, however, people's masks are removed and we see them for who they really are. Many politicians today do this when they try to get people to vote for them. They wear a "mask" to veil their darker sides so the public can't see their flaws. The narrator in "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe and the character Tom Walker in "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving wear "masks" to cover up their darker character traits.

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During the course of this past week and a half, I have been wearing the letter I chose to represent me. My results I received were very weak and almost unresponsive. But didn’t I wear it all day for a week? Yes, people tend to mind their own business while walking in-between classes.

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In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne makes it evidently clear that the Minister, Dimmesdale, is the father of Hester Prynne's illegitimate child, Pearl. With a series of increasingly elevated indications of his fathership, Hawthorne is able to foreshadow Dimmesdale’s role in the adultery that causes Hester to live her life in solitude. As the novel entails, Hawthorne introduces Dimmesdale to readers in The Recognition, which is a slight giveaway in itself. Yet, Hawthorne describes Dimmesdale so meticulously, unlike many of the other characters, which consequently gives off that he must be a very important character in the novel.

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

People act differently when they are with certain people than when they are alone. Some will call this act a “mask.” This metaphor is used because people cover up who they truly are or what they really feel with their actions; similar to the way a mask covers up a person’s face. This idea of a mask is explored in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” and readers can see examples of “masks” in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. People often wear masks to hide something about themselves that they are not proud of or hide their emotions and fears they do not want others to know.

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Symbolism Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne created symbolism throughout The Scarlet Letter in order to develop the theme throughout Hester’s life. Hester is portrayed as a sheltered soul, shunned from society due to her adulterous acts. The red A and her daughter, Pearl, are symbols of Hester’s shame which she bares proudly despite society's harsh judgements. Hawthorne is able to use symbolism to develop themes, characters, and analogies in the Scarlet Letter.

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Stemming from the latin root, purity, the Puritans express everything except. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne intertwines juxtaposition and irony throughout the book; he emphasizes his prevailing hatred of the Puritans while also exposing their hypocrisy. Hawthorne beautifully juxtaposes his main character, Hester, with the common Puritan women. While anticipating the sinner’s release, the “broad shouldered” (59) and “man-like” (59) Puritan women are bombarded by Hawthorne’s pessimistic diction.

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The mask is the hard shell that young men are expected to face the world with. They are expected to show only their best selves and hide their insecurities and worries. The mask is incredibly relatable to the social construction of gender, because it was created through the social construction of gender. Young males would not need to create a mask and live behind it if society didn 't force them too.

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Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne keeps his main focus on the character’s development and how they change/grow throughout the novel. Reverend Dimmesdale was a crucial character all throughout this novel. Dimmesdale, among other characters, showed much change, referring to the way he began to react towards other citizens, and growth, referring to his outcome at the end of the novel. There was abundant self-hate, irony, and guilt within Dimmesdale. Reverend Dimmesdale was a leader of the community, but also a sinner.

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1429 Words | 6 Pages

Chapter 18 of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is titled A Flood Of Sunshine. In this chapter, Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne resolve to leave the Puritan colony together along with Pearl. Sunshine and floods are both elements of nature yet one brings light and sunshine and the other brings destruction and grief. Similarly, Arthur Dimmesdale is caught in a struggle with two parts of his nature that juxtapose each other.

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In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells a thrilling, dark story of a woman who committed a great sin, who also paid the price, and of the man who committed it alongside her, but was able to cower in his pity and shame. Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale have a dangerous and sinful affair while Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, is away and thought to be dead. Throughout the novel, many characters can be depicted as an antagonist, but only one truly stands out. Arthur Dimmesdale proves to be the main antagonist all throughout the novel and in various examples, and through the end, he remains as the same lowly hypocrite that he started out as.

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1027 Words | 5 Pages

There are several cultures with rich history involving ceremonies with masks; meanwhile, masks have gained a negative connotation after years of popular culture’s misuse. In horror movies and dystopian novels, the usage of masks to symbolize mob mentality is common. This holds true even in Lord of The Flies, where Golding uses physical masks, i.e. camouflage, to express the children’s innate savagery and submission, whereas

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534 Words | 3 Pages

The Prison Door In this Chapter from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne introduces the setting of the book in Boston. He uses a gloomy and depressed tone in the beginning of the chapter. He is able to convey this tone using imagery while describing the citizens, the prison, and the cemetery. However, as he continues to discuss the rose-bush, he uses parallelism to shift the tone to be brighter and joyful. To create a gloomy and depressed tone, Hawthorne uses imagery.

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509 Words | 3 Pages

In Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen, of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester recognizes her true hatred of Chillingworth just before she finds Pearl, playing at the beach, and creating a green letter A on her own chest out of seaweed. Later, Hester goes to hopefully “run into” Dimmesdale in the forest to reveal to him the truth about Chillingworth’s identity. Pearl comes along, and as they wait, she curiously asks her mother about the Black Man. When Pearl sees Dimmesdale’s figure appear in the distance, she asks whether the approaching person is in fact the Black Man himself, which Hester rejects. Pearl, however, ponders if Dimmesdale clutches his heart, as he does, because the Black Man has left his mark on him, similar to how the

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Psychological Nature Today the world now has medications, therapy, and much more to treat psychological diseases and disorders. Psychological nature is the nature of someone affecting the mind. The psychological nature is very important essentially it is not just affecting someone’s mind but there whole body and the wellbeing of that person.

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