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Analysis of the character of hester prynne
Dramatic irony literary critique
Dramatic irony literary critique
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In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices such as imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing. Foreshadowing, is used to reveal Pearl’s father to the reader. Hawthorne reveals that Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father, through Dimmesdale’s relationships with the other characters as well as his words and deeds. Throughout the novel, it is clear to the reader that Pearl and Dimmesdale have a unique relationship. As Dimmesdale, on behalf of the other ministers, attempts to convince Hester to reveal who Pearl’s father is, he gives a moving speech that impacts all his listeners: “even the poor baby, at Hester’s bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale,
The hypocrisy of 1600s Puritan society was often disguised behind a facade of moral righteousness. Puritans claimed to use public shaming as a way to better the morals of society and lead people to repent; however, it was highly hypocritical as the Puritans found pure entertainment in the downfall of others and completely neglected sinners rather than educating them. Puritan society thrived off of gossip and rumors, which goes against many biblical morals. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a 19th century transcendentalist, tells the story of how 1600s colonial Puritan society reacts to a woman who commits the sin of adultery in the 1850 The Scarlet Letter. In an excerpt from Chapter 13, the transcendentalist ideals of Nathaniel Hawthorne are reflected through
When you think of a Puritan society, what comes to your mind? Perfect, flawless, and a religion based on following God? Well, that is what it says on paper, but is it really that perfect? Throughout the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne jabs at the Puritans in an attempt to portray just how flawed they really are. After reading the book, you want to think that Hawthorne is telling the story of sinning in a Puritan society.
For instance, in Chapter 3 while Hester is up on the scaffold in front of society as a consequence for her sin of adultery,
In the first chapter of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's use of details, syntax, diction, and imagery help set the mood in the novel. In the first two paragraphs of the book, Hawthorne’s descriptions, such as "sad-colored garments", "gray, steeple-crowned hats", and "studded with iron spikes" connotate sadness, gloominess, and general unhappiness. Also, the group of Puritan settlers dressed in dark clothing surrounding the prison introduce a dark mood and fearfully apprehending tone. This shows that the Puritans are powerful and important characters in the story. Moreover, since the whole chapter is written in passive voice and does not comprise of a protagonist, a very ambiguous narrative tone is created.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter takes place during the 17th century in the harsh and unforgiving Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts, and follows Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in the aftermath of an irreversible act. The already married Hester Prynne has given birth to Dimmesdale’s child and has taken the consequences of their actions solely upon herself, refusing to reveal Dimmesdale as the father of her child. Hester’s sacrifice leaves them both with internal and external dilemmas as they try to continue their lives under the scrutinizing and unrelenting watch of their community. Throughout the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes the rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition, paradox, imagery, and diction to highlight
Davine Francis Mrs.Bauman American Literature, Block B 1 December 2015 The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth a Symbol of Evil Good and evil, both coexist in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's novel The Scarlet Letter. Roger Chillingworth is a prime emblem of evil. Chillingworth is the husband of Hester Prynne, but when he’s gone she falls in love with someone else.
Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne Quote - “If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow sinner and fellow sufferer!” (3.26) With this quote Dimsdale is talking with hester about the crime that she has committed and asking if someone else is being dragged into this. As with with him saying “and fellow suffer” is like him asking if there is a victimless person that got dragged into her crime that shouldn’t be there.
After reading the story of Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl in the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne portrayed the Puritan society along with the rules of double standards. The Puritans were a religious minority group who believed that the Church of England needed to be purified of the influence of Catholicism. They believed that women were culturally inferior to men and married women were expected to follow the edicts of their husbands and were unable to interact with local government on their own. Married women were also unable to sue for divorce. Widows were an exception and had no male figure to guide them.
In the story of The Scarlet Letter, there is proven to be symbolism throughout the story. It all starts in the 17th century in a Puritan town. We can see from the names of the main characters to nature that Hawthorne is a master at symbolism. Hawthorne wanted to teach the reader to look deeper into the meaning of things to find out the real truth. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale, burrs, and a meteor to prove that guilt will haunt you.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows a humorous tone to demonstrate the women in the Puritan society as masculine to highlight their descendants’ feminine appearance. The author begins the second chapter of the novel by describing the women in front of the prison wearing “petticoat and farthingale” to show how delicate the women are. Hawthorne proceeds with giving a humorous tone while being polite by stating that the women are “not unsubstantial.” The author uses a double negative because he doesn’t want to offend his audience, but proceeds to do it anyway. Hawthorne later compares the women with their descendants as softer by having the mother give birth to the child in “a fainter bloom” and “more delicate and briefer beauty.”
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional tale of sin, crime, and guilt, mixed with the beauty of love and family. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the tale, uses a rose to symbolize the beauty and pain of the story. This story of sin takes place in the 1600s in a Puritan town in the early New England colonies of North America. Hawthorne is a master of symbolism, using several symbols to represent good and evil, secret sin, his anti-transcendentalist beliefs, and how poisonous guilt can be. The most influential of these is how guilt can lead to the death of a man.
All of The Scarlet Letter is narrated by an ambiguous third person narrator who tells the story as an outsider looking in. Using this narrator almost as a “moral judge”, Hawthorne makes sure he or she is not unbiased or impartial. Hawthorne needed the story to posses an aspect of mystery and for this reason supplied it with an honest and subjective narrator who had no fear or restraints in telling the tale. Though it does make The Scarlet Letter a complicated read due to readers not being exposed to the characters point of view, it provides for a very unique and interesting perspective of the situation. As previously mentioned, the narrator possesses a strong sense of omniscience.
Amanda Vicente The Scarlet Letter Reading Response AP English Language Period J 16 August 2016 Journal Entry 1: Chapters 1-2 In The Scarlet Letter, the author sets a mood from the beginning of the book. The setting is old and beat up in front of an aged wooden prison with judgmental Puritans ready to tear a women apart. The Puritans are hypocrites and the author portrays that in the story.
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)
