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Redemption In The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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Everyone makes mistakes, it is a part of being a human. It can come in different forms, from a quick look at a paper during a test, being tempted to do something, or even saying something with no intention. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the movie, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the main characters attempt to achieve redemption from God after committing adultery and earn the respect of fellow members of their Puritan society while also finding good in themselves. In which, the author ties his message through the main character’s redemption by others, but nothing is more freeing than redemption that is self-realized. One of the vital characters, John Proctor, achieved his redemption through confessing his sin of adultery with Abigail …show more content…

Throughout the Scarlet Letter, Hester learned to handle her inner strength by accepting the “ SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom” (Hawthorne 46) and letting it empower her instead of weaken her. This showed that she was attempting to redeem herself by accepting her sin before God. Hester also caused the town to recognize that she was changing the meaning of the “A” from adultery to “Able...so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength”(Hawthorne 127). This showed that despite being an outcast of the Puritan society, she was redeeming herself by using her inner strength and physical capability even in the face of the shame that came from committing adultery. Hawthorne’s message was that it is possible to persevere in a resentful and dark world if people rely on their inner strength. Hawthorne depicts his message by using symbolism of the letter “A”. When Hester sewed her letter to her bosom, this illustrated that she is in control of her path of redemption and her power over society's

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As Garrison Keillor, a poet and writer, once stated,”Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” John Proctor, a character from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, could probably relate to this very sentiment. Throughout his play, Miller explores what it means to truly earn forgiveness through John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor’s marriage. Both characters learn important lessons about forgiveness, but John Proctor learns that in order to be forgiven it is important to earn back the trust that has been lost, it is important to be patient in order to earn trust, and finally it is important to show that he is going to the extreme of even destroying his reputation to be forgiven by Elizabeth for what wrong he has caused. Throughout the book, Proctor does things to try and show Elizabeth how much he is really trying to do what’s right.

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The new opinion of the townspeople further proved that Hester was capable of changing from an immoral woman to a respectable and strong female. After her self-inflicted temptation, Hester was able to prove herself to the people around her as well as proving to herself that she was able to change. Society around her now visualized her as a new person who was capable of finding her inner strength, and instead of labeling her as the woman who possessed the Scarlet Letter, she became a woman who was powerful and respectable. By being able to realize how her change affected the folks around her, Hester continued to leap down a positive path of accepting herself and beginning to let go of her rebellious ways, even though this is all she had known in the

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John Proctors redemption arc “I am bewildered by the death of love”(Miller). Arthur Miller is a man of beautiful words and putting them onto pages. Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge.

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Although John Proctor committed adultery, he is still a tragic hero because of his affair with Abigail, his mending relationship

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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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To commit a serious crime you have to be aware of all the consequences that come your way. So whether they are sorry or not, felons should not be granted forgiveness from society when they have committed serious offenses. As you see in The Crucible, Abigail Williams was never convicted of any major crimes but she was convicting others of conjuring with the devil with full knowledge that they weren’t. While talking to John Proctor she tells him that she is, “God’s finger” and if God wants Elizabeth condemned, “she will be condemned” (Miller, 44). This shows that she thinks she has all the power and is the biggest criminal in this play because she thinks she can play god in other people’s lives.

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Conformity is the thief of individuality and human curiosity. It blinds us from seeing the truth right before our own eyes, ruins our judgment and in the end makes us unrecognizable. What saves us is redemption; being honest, true to ourselves, and realizing our wrong doings. This idea is explored in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, where he tells the story of a superstitious, puritan town in Salem, Massachusetts, where the residents get entangled in a witch hunt which sets off false accusations, hysteria and ultimately death. Through the use of character actions, dialogue, and direct characterization, Arthur Miller uses the transformation of John Proctor to demonstrate that preserving one’s integrity and beliefs is more important than

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A single mistake can wholly compromise an individual’s ability to accomplish their dreams. Hillary Clinton’s blunder in handling the United States’ confidential emails could very well have cost her the presidency. Knowing the possible consequences if the truth of the situation was released, she fabricated lies in hopes of maintaining her political power. Similarly, throughout both The Scarlet Letter, a fiction novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Arthur Miller’s historical fiction play, The Crucible, people are willing to go to great lengths in order to maintain their statuses. Transpiring in 17th century New England, The Scarlet Letter follows a woman by the name of Hester Prynne who endures unrelenting ignominy after giving birth to

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John Updike described Hester Prynne, the main protagonist, as “a mythic version of every woman’s attempt to integrate her sexuality with societal demands.” In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne was used as a symbol of women’s struggle and acceptance to meet society’s expectations as a woman and especially as a wife. These expectations being; loyal, the proper mom for her child and following the guidelines of the Bible by not committing any sins, etc. She was labeled as an adulterer but above everything else she became a power identity and a symbol of bravery. Before understanding why Hester was a mythic version for all these reasons, it is important to first understand who Hester is, what she did and why she is such a crucial character in this 1850 romance novel.

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Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout the Scarlet letter to display the sin and indecency people see Hester as. The detail represents ,the deep beauty Hester has inside although most people do not see her as a beutiful women. The deep red is a representation of adultery which shows her being an oncast from society. The symbol of the letter “A” is repetitive throughout the novel and grows with Hester and overcomes this with time as people start to see her as a person again and not just a adulterer. Hester acknowledges her sin in her puritan faith but swears to secrecy on the father of Pearl.

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The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, demonstrates that all actions have reactions. A simple undertaking can have many unexpected consequences. There is no way to predict what will happen in response to an effortless act. John Proctor is a serious man who tends to speak his mind in any situation.

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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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In The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, John Proctor demonstrates courage by speaking out for what he believes in while knowing his consequences, admitting his wrong doings with Abigail to save Elizabeth’s life, and choosing to be hanged over having his name posted on the church door because the second his signed confession is posted, his and his loved ones reputations will be ruined. In the beginning of the play all John Proctor cared about was his reputation. However, ultimately he sacrificed his reputation by telling the court he committed adultery. John telling the court he was guilty ruined his reputation, which made all hell break loose.

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In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne shows strength and the ability to overcome great trial and turmoil in her life, yet the guilt and shame sometimes overwhelms her. She is forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” at all times as a reminder of her crime. Hester’s view of her scarlet letter varies throughout the book from a shameful curse to a familiar companion. Despite all of this, Hester still chooses to stay.

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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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