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The Puritan Setting of The Scarlet Letter
A three page essay about the scarlet letter hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne the Scarlet letter critical analysis
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To begin, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes pathos throughout his writing to imprint the importance of individual conscience into the reader 's mind. Hawthorne begins the book by having the reader pity the main character, Hester Prynne, as she is a young, husbandless, mother in a society that shames her for her unfortunate circumstances: “haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon” (Hawthorne, 53). The consistent misfortune of Prynne evokes emotion in the reader and stresses the weight of her decisions. Prynne manages her way through such a hostile society -“Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly on your bosom” (Hawthorne, 188)- in a way that is metaphorically applicable to the real world, allowing the reader to truly connect and understand the character for who they are.
Hawthorne uses many forms of rhetoric to portray his characters, but relies heavily on pathos in the instance of Hester Prynne. She’s a member of an inherently misogynistic society, and because she’s a woman, her every act is scrutinized. As punishment for her act of adultery, Hester is ordered to adorn her chest with a permanent scarlet letter. Although the audience is well aware of the atrocity of the sin she’s committed, Hawthorne’s writing sparks a feeling of empathy within the reader. Throughout the novel, the reader is exposed to several clear uses of pathos.
The town believes that she has lost all individuality and has become stone cold. Her hair, therefore, is symbolic of all the happiness and personality that she once had, but while her hair is gone, these traits have also vanished. Hawthorne also enlists the use of vivid imagery to express Hesters new persona. He stated, “all the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand”. Hawthorne uses “light” and “graceful foliage” to symbolize Hester's original personality.
Rossi1 Matthew Rossi Asha Appel English 4 11/15/14 Growing up Through the Actions of Others In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Pearl changes when different characters thoughts and believes are portrayed through voice or objects. This leads her to be very malleable to and be ever evolving. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale now play a key role in shaping Pearl from a product of sin into a god like child.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, portrays the shameful life the main character, Hester Prynne, lives because of a sinful encounter that resulted with her daughter Pearl. Throughout the novel it is evident that she grows close with a minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, who later in context is revealed as the father of Pearl. However, her public shame in never shared with Dimmesdale since neither of them let it known that he acted with her. It is not until toward the end that Dimmesdale finds the strength, right before his death, to publicly announce he is Pearl’s father. Because of this, many infer that Hester’s ignominy was at greater price than the self-shame Dimmesdale brought upon himself.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
The oxymoron of death and celebration often occurred in Puritan societies as Puritans viewed public punishment and executions as joyful entertainment. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the concept of guilt and how it negatively affects the human soul. As he reveals a dark and gloomy Puritan society, Hawthorne introduces Hester Prynne, mother of young Pearl, who has recently committed adultery and is being publicly shamed for her punishment. Betwixt and hidden beneath this conflict, is Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s partner in crime, who struggles with the guilt of his sin. As the town begins to forgive Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale’s distraught soul causes his physical and mental health to decline.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is commonly considered a classic, most likely due to it’s intense examination of the human soul. The Scarlet Letter is a novel about Hester Prynne, a woman who commits adultery and is therefore required to wear a scarlet ‘A’ on her chest, her lover, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, her legal husband, Roger Chillingworth, and her illegitimate child, Pearl. Throughout the novel Hester and Dimmesdale keep the fact that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father a secret, and explores the consequences of their actions. Through the development of the previously listed characters Hawthorne provides great insight into the human condition, especially through the development of Dimmesdale.
However, as you dig deeper, you will see Hawthorne’s true purpose for writing the novel. In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses irony to criticize the Puritan ideals. Hester’s Scarlet “A” is used to show how imperfect the Puritans are. The narrator describes Hester’s scarlet letter when he says: “On the breast of her gown,
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapters fourteen through twenty-four, concludes the novel with astonishment. Due to previous events, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter as a form of punishment but surprisingly, with time, she begins to be respected and admired by society. Later, we realize that chillingworth is plotting against Dimmesdale and should be stopped. Hester and dimmesdale have a meet at the woods where things get rather intimate. After the meet on the woods events occur which lead to dimmesdale’s death but also his release from guilt.
Hawthorne also uses repetition to show Hester in a more positive light, outlining his ambivalent tone. He uses negative diction to show that it isn't just Hesters fault for not improving upon herself, it is also society's fault. He uses more diction like “ to say that Hester needs to teardown society and build it from the ground up if she truly wants her situation to get better. A device he uses effectively here is imagery. He creates the image of other people who rejected society and succeeded to prove his point that Hester would have been much better off if she had done what she wanted to, not what she needed to.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells a story of a strong woman who learns from her mistakes and accepts her future in Puritan society. Meanwhile, another character experiences extreme guilt and suffers through his punishment. All through these hard times, their actions express their morbid and sorrow filled lives. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale show a morbidity of spirit in their emotions and their mannerisms. Hester Prynne, the main character, has a gloomy and unwholesome state of mind.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter depicts the flaws in the human nature of both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Although each character possesses their own belief and values, both played their part in the sin committed. However, there is always a cause for an individual’s wrong doing and in the case of both Hester and Dimmesdale it, “had been a sin of passion, not principle, nor even purpose” (Hawthorne 152).
However, he also uses these allusions to create a new side to his narrative as evident when he describes Hester’s resilience, and to create a new element in the plot as evident in his description of Dimmesdale’s penance and need for redemption. Therefore, Hawthorne demonstrates an effective use of allusions to craft a religious and detailed narrative for The Scarlet Letter by reviewing on parallels between the Bible and the novel’s main characters. There’s more to The Scarlet Letter than these allusions though, and there are many questions to answer about this book. These questions may never be answered fully, but by reading the novel itself, we might find the right places to start searching for answers and formulate our own opinions on the matter. What’s important from this novel is the realistic warning about what might happens when an individual place themselves too highly among others, a message Hawthorne writes to warn against the fervor of transcendentalism of his time.
The famous phrase stating, “You are what you eat” in terms is literally true. Many people might have heard it from a family member or perhaps from a local television channel. If this phrase is true then wouldn't everyone want to eat healthily? The surprising answer is a big no, many consumers just like me who think that we buy natural and healthy food are mistaken. Many people may not realize this but the food that we purchase at local grocery stores are genetically modified.
