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Puritanism in the scarlet letter
Puritanism in the scarlet letter
Theme of sin and redemption in scarlet letter
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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.
Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth all have sinned, although the question remains at the end of the book, has God forgiven the characters? Hawthorne writes where each side can be defended with points but the forgiven side exceeds the unforgiven. Whether or not from a biblical standpoint or an allegorical standpoint, there are a few signs in which the answer can be concluded. With all outlooks on the book and the story that it tells, they are forgiven.
In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, on June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathered to witness the punishment of a young woman, Hester Prynne. She has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet A on her dress as a sign of shame. Despite her mistakes, she was a classic independent hero to herself and her daughter. She works through the six stages of a hero journey through strength and perseverance. In The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus goes through a hero’s journey just like Hester.
Even if one make a regret able mistake, should that person be shamed for a past human error? Scarlett Letter takes place in Salem Massachusetts around the time frame where if something seemed strange to others you were accused of being a witch by all the Puritans and Quakers. If a person was accused of such accusations they were usually hung or stoned. Miss Hester Prynne’s is an independent mother who is doing all she can to make sure she keeps her child since it her against the world. In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's book, “The Scarlett Letter” the story ranges from compassion to forgiveness with Little Pearl as the symbol of savior in Miss Hester Prynne’s life.
In addition, it forces one to question one’s ethics, specifically Prynne’s case. Without this novel, people most likely wouldn’t understand Puritan cultures, nor be able to think deeply about one’s morals. * Audience Hawthorne writes in order to inform the world about Puritan society. Moreover, he writes to entertain his audience while allowing them to question its themes: sin, challenging authority, justice, women, and hypocrisy. He writes to specifically
Dimmesdale remembered all th pain and embarrassment Hester had felt on the scaffold where she was punished for the sin she had committed. He goes to the scaffold and lets the guilt build up. “And thus, while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his breast, right over his heart. ” Not just the guilt of himself and what he had done, but of what Hester had gone through and kept his secret all along.
Making Connections – The Arduousness of Lies Lies are often told spontaneously as the result of troubling events occurring to someone or something and are often used to manipulate segments of these events in order to attempt to alleviate the trouble or punishment given to the causer of the event. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the character Dimmesdale committed a sin and has withheld this secret for the rest of the town, while he watched the other perpetrator of the sin be punished, ridiculed, and isolated by the town of Boston. The pressure and guilt of lies is often too great of a force to withstand, judging by a past life experience, Dimmesdale reviled his secret to alleviate this dreadful feeling of pressure and guilt. At the age
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.
Adultery is the the act of having sexual relations with someone while in a monogamous relationship marriage. Hester Prynne has committed adultery. As a result, she has brought an illegitimate child into the world, that child’s name is pearl. Despite the child being born from a sinful act, she is something beautiful much like a pearl from a clam. Hester’s beloved daughter should not be taken from her because, they share a close bond that only a mother and child could have.
Mistakes and the Guilty Herman Melville said in Moby Dick, “To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme…”(chptr. 104).This is a statement that can fit any story or book, even The Scarlet Letter. The three prominent themes in The Scarlet Letter show that people are unforgiving, will judge, and their opinions will always mean something. The mistakes of others can make you feel guilty. The quintessential themes of The Scarlet Letter revolve around personal guilt and the judgments of others.
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.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is heavily centered on showing diverse ways the Puritan people could face guilt and sin. As the plot develops, the four main characters: Hester Prynne, Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingsworth, all reach individual climaxes by dealing with the effects of guilt and sin differently. Hester confronts the guilt of adultery head on by flagrantly wearing a scarlet letter on her chest, Pearl deals with guilt and sin by being a living symbol of Hester’s egregious offense, Arthur Dimmesdale confronts the guilt of sin privately which leads to mental instability, and Roger Chillingsworth faces guilt and sin by being consumed by the darkness it causes. There are several climaxes in The Scarlet Letter due to the main characters facing the central conflict, the effects of guilt and sin, in various ways.
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, Hawthorne effectively conforms to the conventions of the gothic genre for the purpose of characterizing the Puritan society as oppressive, portraying the hypocrisy found within the society and highlighting the consequences for not confessing
Puritans felt redemption could not be achieved because the sins were so wrong and so evil. Hawthorne used redemption to help develop the characters and the ideas the reader had on them. The whole book happened because of a sin that occurred, and that sin was the cause of many actions of the characters. Throughout “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne
