In the novel the scarlet letter, the scarlet letter is shown through the use of imagery and figurative language to demonstrate that judgment through society as well as sin is bad while the scarlet is a symbol of sin wrapped in good and beauty. Hester is able to take something that was meant to be a punishment for a crime she committed and turn it into something absolutely stunning. Hawthorne portrayed Pearl
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a novel that focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hawthorne revolves the theme around the four main characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth., and Pearl. Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ after committing adultery against her husband Roger Chillingworth, with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. As a result an odd child is born.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne about the weight of sin and guilt. The story begins in Massachusetts during the 1600’s. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of the story, has committed adultery with someone in the town, but no one knows who her lover is. As punishment for her sins, she must wear an embroidered scarlet “A” on her chest. Arthur Dimmesdale, the town's preacher, noticeably becomes quite ill once the scandal breaks out.
Both Dimmesdale and Hester commited the same sin of adultery, resulting in Pearl. However, because Hester confessed the sin early on, she had the rest of her life to try and change the purpose of her scarlet A to mean something more than just sin. Which she succeeds in, the people refused to interpret the scarlet letter for sin and instead for “Able.” Soon after, the people had almost forgotten what the original meaning of the scarlet letter was. On the contrary Dimmesdale doesn’t confess his sin and lives a terrible life of self-harming and guilt.
Hawthorne’s use of symbols in The Scarlet Letter serves as a mean to denounce the social behavior of the characters, such as the sinful soul of Hester Prynne, the troubled stand of Reverend Dimmesdale or the perverse
The scarlet letter shows a symbol of shame but instead conveys the opposite and shows who hester truly is. Her true identity and how strong she truly is. The meteor, to Dimmesdale meant that he should wear a scarlet letter too just like hester. The puritan community thinks it stands for “angel”, and is there because the governor died. Pearl shows a symbol of adultery and sin because she leads Hester and Dimmesdale to accept their sins even with her demon like traits pearl just wanted
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbols to reveal themes of the text. In Chapter 15, Pearl creates “herself a scarf” out of seaweed and incorporated the scarlet letter on to it; however, the scarlet letter was, “…freshly green, instead of scarlet!” (139). Pearl, herself, is the living version of the scarlet letter, and has always been wild, but later settles down. Similarly, the meaning behind the scarlet letter has always been “adultery,” but soon becomes a symbol of Hester and does not have a negative representation.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, sin is a common theme throughout the novel. In the seventeenth century, Hawthorne sets the novel in this time period to show how radical Puritans were when a person commits a crime. In Puritan times, adultery was a very serious crime that a person can be sentenced to death. The Scarlet Letter features three characters that have sinned. Those characters are Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.
The Scarlet Letter questions the human fallacy regarding sin and knowledge. The novel asks its readers whether they believe in their ability to comprehend the difference between right and wrong. Through the depiction of the prude mindset of the Puritan society - exaggerated in a way which truly emphasizes the idea of this fallacy, readers receive this question shockingly to where the message is indirectly concise, yet easily translated. Biblically, sin represents a lack of proper execution of one's knowledge.
There are many themes present throughout this novel but only one is truly visible in every chapter within the book. The one theme that sticks out, is sin. Sin is a huge part in puritan society back in this time. If a huge sin was committed, a public punishment must have taken place because of their beliefs. They had symbols for specific sinners, such as Hester.
After I read the quote described above, I had felt a great sense of happiness and satisfaction. Through reading Hawthorne’s writing, I had enveloped myself into the book, and my feelings became Hester’s feelings. With this final act of closure from Dimmesdale, I had been so relieved that something good had come from The Scarlet Letter. Throughout the entire story, sin had been established as a prime theme, and the recurring idea was that the leading figures preaching against sin are actually the ones committing it, and how the Puritan society itself was extremely controversial and hypocritical. With the theme of sin in mind before I started reading the book, I did not expect something so heartwarming to occur.
The Scarlet Letter is set in Puritan Boston during the seventeenth century. Hester Prynne, a young woman guilty of adultery, is freed from jail to live the rest of her life with two reminders of her sin, a scarlet letter A on her chest and her daughter, Pearl. Hester experiences both societal and self-judgment as a consequence of her sin, and her self-judgment later transforms into sincere guilt. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, and Pearl’s secret father, is introduced and utilized to illustrate and contrast the impacts of sin and guilt on individuals. Hawthorne highlights the impacts of sin and guilt on the two main characters in the novel to add variation and reveal their truths.
The most important symbol of the story is none other than the scarlet letter. The letter on Hester’s chest stands for much more than adultery, it becomes a symbol of aspiration. The symbol defines Hester, guiding her magnificent change and influencing her to become the outstanding figure she ends up becoming. On the night Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl stood on the town scaffold a meteor appeared with a scarlet letter resembling the one upon Hester’s chest. This meteor represents the sins that have yet to be revealed by Dimmesdale.
Effect of Sin and the Chance of Redemption Sin is a powerful action that has an everlasting consequence of guilt. Once done, the person wants to forget about his felonious actions; however, hopefully a person’s conscience is a constant, nagging reminder. In order to be free of the constant pain, redemption is pursued for even the person who sinned in public or private. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne proves that the truth of sin eventually need to be confronted in order for a person to stop suffering.
Sin seems to occur as naturally as breathing due to the human society’s willingness to do it without a conscious effort. Sin is perceived differently by different people. Some little things may be considered sin to some people, while to others it may not be considered sin. The Scarlet Letter contains many different uses of sin and how it affects the people around it. Society is not perfect, so sins will occur no matter what.
