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Literary analysis of scarlet letter
Themes of the scarlet letter
The scarlet letter theme essay
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Literary analysis of scarlet letter
Themes of the scarlet letter
The scarlet letter theme essay
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Recommended: Literary analysis of scarlet letter
“Love, whether newly born or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.” That is a quote the novel, The Scarlet Letter, a novel written during the Romanticism era of literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of The Scarlet Letter and the Minister’s Black Veil. The Scarlet Letter takes place in the 1600s in the Puritan town of Boston. Hester Prynne is the main character, and the subject of humiliation after she is caught committing adultery and gives birth to a child, Pearl.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the protagonists of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, stands as a highly conflicted character. The source of his divide stems from the consequences of private sins, and is prevalent within the first paragraphs of Chapter 12, “The Minister’s Vigil,” where the narration chronicles Dimmesdale’s surroundings as he dream walks through the town in a state of limbo. He is portrayed as a model citizen who lacks moral imperfections to the general public yet suffers privately from the juxtaposition of his sins to his position within the community. In this specific passage, Hawthorne uses somber diction and imagery to illustrate Dimmesdale’s strife, while portraying his internal conflict through the formation
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is commonly considered a classic, most likely due to it’s intense examination of the human soul. The Scarlet Letter is a novel about Hester Prynne, a woman who commits adultery and is therefore required to wear a scarlet ‘A’ on her chest, her lover, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, her legal husband, Roger Chillingworth, and her illegitimate child, Pearl. Throughout the novel Hester and Dimmesdale keep the fact that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father a secret, and explores the consequences of their actions. Through the development of the previously listed characters Hawthorne provides great insight into the human condition, especially through the development of Dimmesdale.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, reveals many aspects of human nature. One of Hawthorne’s prevalent themes is the way in which hidden sin affects the human soul. Through the progression of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hawthorne explores the dynamic way in which hidden sin ultimately induces more suffering than open ignominy, using figurative language and contrast to convey his message. Immediately before Dimmesdale gives an impassioned plea for Hester to reveal her partner in sin, Hawthorne indicates through imagery and contrast that Dimmesdale’s sin does not yet have a great impact on his livelihood. Hawthorne notes that Dimmesdale’s “eloquence and religious fervor had already given the earnest of high eminence (46).”
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.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, he explores the prodigy of love, crime, and revenge. It revolves around a sinful act of passion that impacts Hester Prynne, an adulteress forced to wear a scarlet letter “A”on her bosom; Reverend Dimmesdale, a respected minister in the puritans community; their daughter, Pearl; and Roger Chillingworth, Hester 's husband. Most of the characters portrayed can be analyzed as embodying both “good” and “evil” qualities. Dimmesdale is especially viewed as an ambiguous character. Dimmesdale’s moral ambiguity comes from his internal conflict between his devotion to the church and the guilt he feels for not receiving blame for his sinful act of co-adultery with Hester.
Eva Meza Ms. Orr English III: 5 Due Date: November 25, 2014 Day Versus Night In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, day versus night is a reoccurring motif. Throughout the novel, people conceal their true identities and desires in the dark.
Rosebush/Symbol- One example of symbolism in the Scarlet Letter is the rosebush where Hawthorne says “Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative”. I think that the rosebush represents the past and when the crimes in the colony weren’t as severe. The rosebush’s colors are the joy that the town experienced back before all of the adultery and major crimes had been committed. Hawthorne chose the rosebush because the rosebush also has thorns that go along with the beautiful petals, which represent how there are always bad things that will happen and those are inevitable.
Chapter 18 of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is titled A Flood Of Sunshine. In this chapter, Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne resolve to leave the Puritan colony together along with Pearl. Sunshine and floods are both elements of nature yet one brings light and sunshine and the other brings destruction and grief. Similarly, Arthur Dimmesdale is caught in a struggle with two parts of his nature that juxtapose each other.
The sunlight entering the dark forest casting joy and rejuvenation upon the shadows parallels the emotions that come with casting something off that has defined her for so long. The relief is felt within Hester when the conflict is resolved between social obligations and personal feelings. The release Hester feels comes from and end of fighting her responsibility to the community by wearing the scarlet letter and being defined by her sin. All her life in the puritan community had been a struggle to keep her spirited personality against the community trying to brand her as a bad person and once she is free from the community’s judgements, represented by the letter, the pleasure felt comes from the release of her life long
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter depicts the flaws in the human nature of both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Although each character possesses their own belief and values, both played their part in the sin committed. However, there is always a cause for an individual’s wrong doing and in the case of both Hester and Dimmesdale it, “had been a sin of passion, not principle, nor even purpose” (Hawthorne 152).
“Nature could pity and be kind to him.” Outside the rusted prison door, a symbolism of death and contemn, lives a wild rose bush. Although the great pines and oaks have fallen, it has managed to preserve its beauty. One might say it preserves its beauty for the criminals walking by to face their punishments. Within Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, many symbols are used to disguise both the personal and religious beliefs during the 17th century; Among the various symbols, the scarlet rose bush is one of the most significant.
However, he also uses these allusions to create a new side to his narrative as evident when he describes Hester’s resilience, and to create a new element in the plot as evident in his description of Dimmesdale’s penance and need for redemption. Therefore, Hawthorne demonstrates an effective use of allusions to craft a religious and detailed narrative for The Scarlet Letter by reviewing on parallels between the Bible and the novel’s main characters. There’s more to The Scarlet Letter than these allusions though, and there are many questions to answer about this book. These questions may never be answered fully, but by reading the novel itself, we might find the right places to start searching for answers and formulate our own opinions on the matter. What’s important from this novel is the realistic warning about what might happens when an individual place themselves too highly among others, a message Hawthorne writes to warn against the fervor of transcendentalism of his time.
The Scarlet Letter covers much pain but the underlying romance throughout provides readers with a little happiness. Throughout the book, readers are rooting for the future romance between Hester and Dimmesdale. In being exposed to Dimmesdale’s extreme guilt as well as Hester’s constant suffering, everyone desires the happy ending where they run away together in order to make better life. The underlying tone being romance and devotion, Hawthorne continuously plays on the idea of forbidden love. He subtly expresses this idea through Dimmesdale’s emotional remarks such as “love, whether newly born or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world” (Hawthorne, 282).