Sin In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

"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

During this period, the colonizers from England felt dissatisfied with the Anglican church being too close to catholicism seeking to purify. They became known as Puritans. The place the most significant within the puritan colony is its prison, where the book begins. The prison doors are rusty, dark, and old, "Like all that pertains to crime" (47). However, next to the decrepit prison door is a rosebush that grew despite the poor conditions that serve as; "hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow" (48). The prison door symbolizes how life for Hester is right now becasue of the grave sin she committed. While the rosebush foreshadows what her life could become through the story. The author uses dense vocabulary throughout the book with words such as "phantasmagoric," "expostulation," "similitude," and "physiognomy." However, Hawthorne combats some confusion by directly explaining to readers what has happened for clarity; "the reader will remember... (110)" This explains what previously happened in case you forgot or did not

A child no older than seven could make connections that no adult has made, like connecting her mother to her secret lover, " as little Pearl had remarked, he kept his hand over his chest" (175). Pearl could draw the connection that the man kept his hand in the same place where the scarlet Letter resides on Hester's bosom. Pearls cutting questions and remarks make the adults and readers realize the disregarded truths and sins of the world. Her best judgment is Hester's secret lover's failure to admit his sin, adultery. Pearl's symbolism within the book makes her the most interesting character. I did not enjoy anything about Hester's husband being hell-bent on revenge. The husband changes his identity and career to put himself into a living situation with Hester's lover just for his revenge to not. He was "wronged," so he wanted revenge. It was predictable and boring. What kept me interested was the guilt that drove Hester's lover to torture himself; "He loathed his miserable self...under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge...wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself" (135). The dramatism of shame and guilt that tortures his mind due to the sin her committed gives him substance. His character is also ironic, as he, a reverend, and a religious figure, sinned. He went against his very being and was pushed for