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Psychological exploration of the characters of The Scarlet Letter
How does nathaniel hawthorne use symbolism in the scarlet letter
In the scarlet letter how does hawthorne use symbolism
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Hawthorne uses many forms of rhetoric to portray his characters, but relies heavily on pathos in the instance of Hester Prynne. She’s a member of an inherently misogynistic society, and because she’s a woman, her every act is scrutinized. As punishment for her act of adultery, Hester is ordered to adorn her chest with a permanent scarlet letter. Although the audience is well aware of the atrocity of the sin she’s committed, Hawthorne’s writing sparks a feeling of empathy within the reader. Throughout the novel, the reader is exposed to several clear uses of pathos.
Character Foils In The Scarlet Letter Those who contrast each other make for engrossing storytelling. Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates this truth often in his romantic narrative, “The Scarlet Letter”.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s rosebush in The Scarlet Letter represents the prisoners who are living within the shadows of the prison. Throughout the novel Hester, a prisoner, is seeking redemption, so she’s willing to sacrifice her reputation for the sake of her daughter. The rosebush is a symbol for those who are suffering or going through a difficult time. The rosebush is growing in the shadows of the prison, as are the prisoners who have a chance at redeeming themselves. Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne overcomes several challenging obstacles that come her way and try preventing her redemption.
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.
In stories or real life, individuals are influenced by their life changing experiences whether it was huge or small. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, built and wrote the characters with positive and negative influences in the story. Throughout the story, Roger Chillingworth’s character reveals and changes because of the influences from revenge. Since he is Hester Prynne’s husband, Roger Chillingworth became the antagonist when he realizes his wife committed adultery. He decides to take revenge on the man who Hester loves.
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne ultimately concludes the book by using rhetorical devices. The inevitable fate of Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne, and Reverend Dimmesdale eventually clash and a fatal disaster occurs. Chillingworth's evilness has met up with him. As all is revealed to the public, one’s intuition is proven to be more powerful than expected. As they all gather at the public square on Election Day, Hester and Pearl observe from afar as the parade goes by.
Many tend to focus on either the consequences of sins, or the causes of them. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist Hester Prynne is widely considered as the most controversial character in the piece. D.H. Lawrence’s criticism “On the Scarlet Letter” displays his views of how Hester Prynne is depicted, as well as how she should have been depicted, in the novel. Lawrence utilizes the literary devices of choppy syntax, biblical allusions, and satirical tone to emphasize his opinions on the characterization of Hester Prynne.
In 1964, Lawrence Kohlberg, a psychologist introduced the idea that humans evolved through different stages of morality. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne male characters exemplify a moral development as the story unfolds. In particular, Arthur Dimmesdale’s morality differs from the beginning of the novel to the ending of the novel. His morality undergoes continuity and change by constantly changing from selfishness, social order, and social contract. Dimmesdale undergoes the morality maintaining the social order and being considerate of others to eventually being selfish and only thinks about himself.
In the classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he utilizes youth, fraud, and symbolism to immerse the reader into his story. His more direct use of youth and symbolism reveal that a person, no matter who they may seem to be from the outside, can be the greatest sinner of all. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, fraud is quickly revealed through the innocence of youth.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner. In the novel, Hawthorne portrays Hester as a strong, resilient woman, though the members of her community
Although in NH’s gothic novel, The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth presents as a well-respected physician. As the story progresses, Hawthorne’s wicked imagery and evil symbolism reveal his true nature to illustrate him as a dark and sinister figure obsessed by revenge. In the first appearance of Roger Chillingworth at the Scaffold scene, he comes across as being likable and calm, yet he is seen as hideous but intelligent with wrinkled features. “...stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume” (58).
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.
His novel The Scarlet Letter expresses this very idea by exposing the follies of mankind and the potentially detrimental effects of sin through Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth
Psychologist Sigmund Freud developed an idea that there is more than one aspect to the human psyche. The human psyche rather is structured into three separate parts including: id, ego, and superego. In a similar manner, Tennessee Williams has three main characters in his Southern Gothic play, A Streetcar Named Desire. In addition to the human psyche as the three mentioned categories, Freud introduced psychoanalysis, which is the belief that people could be cured through developing their unconscious thoughts or motivations into their conscious decisions, receiving insight (McLeod). Characters are shaped by their thoughts and actions, as this is present in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Nathaniel Hawthorne creates allegory with his characters in his novel and short stories. The way that Hawthorne creates allegory with his characters us by showing their struggles with morals, their need and misinterpretation of love, and the effects of others opinions. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his characters to symbolize a concrete object which is used to represent something more abstract (Dibble 37.) In the novel The Scarlet Letter we see multiple examples of struggles with morals.
