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.
Punishment of Puritans for their sins occurred harshly and frequently, and these punishments ranged from fines, branding, and severe whippings to hanging and death. Many of these penalties involved public humiliation of some kind, which made it extremely difficult for townspeople to accept by their peers after they had sinned. Because the Puritans believed religion was immensely important, the community was often reluctant to allow citizens that exhibited sinful behavior to achieve redemption (Cox). However, in the case of Hester Prynne, an adulterer in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter, the townspeople eagerly made amends with her. This novel narrates the life of Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and courageously accepted the repercussions
In chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne continues to portray the critical attitude Puritans had towards sins and repentance. Through the use of symbols, he exaggeratedly exposes how far a Puritan were to repent for their sins. From the moment Hester Prynne walks outside of the gate the women and men gathered immediately begin to gossip and badmouth her, besides not knowing anything about her other than the sin she committed. As she walks to the scaffold women begin to say her punishment of wearing an “A” is too light. They state that she can easily cover it, yet a woman rebuttals and says that she will forever “feel it in her heart” .To make things worse a woman goes as far as to say that she should be scalded with the
In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses three symbols to contribute to the overall theme of sin, these three symbols are the scarlet letter, Dimmesdale and Pearl. Dimmesdale is the minister of the town, he is also the father of Pearl. Pearl is the daughter of Dimmesdale and Hester, who to are not married. Hester committed the sim of adultery with Dimmesdale by having sex while she is married, then later ended up being pregnant.. They live in a puritan society, in which if they commit a crime they have a very harsh punishment.
Scarlet Letter They said to him, “Teacher this woman has been in the act of adultery. Now in the law of Moses they commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Smith 1). The Bible, which is the foundation for many religions, says this about the punishment for sins in Ezekiel 18:20. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, gets punished for infidelity by the donning of a scarlet letter “A” for eternity.
Hester Prynne: A Symbol of Sin In Robert Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is a struggling single mother who committed adultery. Hester Prynne’s husband sent her over to the Puritan colony and was supposed to come over very soon. When he was on his way, Hester’s husband was captured by Indians and kept as a slave. Hester had her daughter, Pearl, out of wedlock.
In the beginning of the novel, Hester Prynne is shown leaving the prison carrying her daughter with a crowd of Puritan women shaming her. Hester commits adultery, but instead of receiving the death sentence, she was given a scarlet letter to wear every day while on the scaffold. The scarlet letter is a symbol of her
Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, there are multiple instances where sin and redemption driven by the small Puritan community, aid to the plot of the story. In the midst of the novel is a young women named Hester Prynne. Hester is a women who becomes completely defied by the Puritans and receives multiple consequences due to her actions. Hester has gone against the religion and committed adultery, and now is viewed as an extreme sinner. The Puritans believe that Hester is not worthy of anything and requires a great deal of thorough repentance.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses a variety of symbols to add a deeper understanding throughout the whole story. The symbol of a door helps the readers understand the relationship with the theme of the story, the sins and guilt of Dimmesdale and Hester, and how the Puritan society is strict and bound by punishment. Throughout the whole story, Hawthorne shows how the theme of guilt and sin is shown throughout the whole story of the the bad people of the puritan community. Dimmesdale and Hester cannot escape their own sin, but throughout the whole story, them keeping it in made them to feel guilty on the inside. For Hester it showed to the reader in chapter 5 “Her prison-door was thrown open, and
In the novel The Scarlet Letter we are taken to a much stricter time in life. Where laughing and dancing were considered to be out of norm. The year is 1642 and we are introduced to a young woman who has been convicted for adultery. The author fills the book with many characters, each character committing their own sin. As a reader we are challenged to base an opinion on each character based on the sin they have done.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter," set in Puritan Boston in the mid-17th century, portrays the moral wilderness as a commentary on the dangers of societal conformity and the importance of individual freedom and expression. Through the story of Hester Prynne, a woman ostracized and condemned by her community for committing adultery, Hawthorne explores the oppressive nature of societal expectations and the importance of individuality. In the novel, the Puritan society in which Hester lives is characterized by rigid social norms and strict religious beliefs. These norms and beliefs are enforced by a harsh legal system and a powerful spiritual hierarchy, which punish anyone who deviates from the prescribed path. The result is a society
"The Scarlet Letter" is a romantic historical fiction by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published by Ticknor, reeds, and Feilds in 1850 in Boston, Massachusetts. The book starts with Hester Prynne entering from the prison door to a scaffold to receive a public shaming from her puritan society. She appears on the scaffold holding her illegitimate child and refusing to reveal the father's identity. The child is the byproduct of her sin, Adultery. Her sin for all to see is represented on her bosom with the scarlet letter "A." The book follows her making a new life for herself and her child after being branded by her sin in the religious town, capturing Hester, her daughter, her disguised husband, and her secret lover dealing with secrets and sins that
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a narrative revolving around the historical events of the fictional character Hester Prynne. Hester is a young Puritan woman who has been convicted of having an adulterous relation after becoming impregnated by a man in the recently settled colony of Boston, Massachusetts. Hester is tried and found guilty by the town’s council of reverends and officials which includes Arthur Dimmesdale, who is the most revered and loved reverend in the colony. Hester is sentenced to three hours of public humiliation, via standing a platform in front of the town, and a lifetime of wearing a scarlet A on her dress. While holding her daughter Pearl atop the platform, she spots her husband, who had sent her
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story shows excellent character and development through the use of the unique concept surrounding the idea of hiding sin, like Reverend Arthur DImmesdale, and being publicly humiliated for it, like Hester Prynne. The book takes place in colonial Boston during the 17th century, revolving mainly around Hester Prynne, a new mother. The story opens with Hester standing in front of the colony on a pedestal of sorts, holding her newborn baby girl, Pearl. It is revealed that the baby was born as an act of adultery after Hester’s husband was presumed to be dead at sea.
