Guilt Obsession Within the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorne Reverend Dimmesdale drastically develops throughout the novel, from being a symbol of Puritan religion to displeasing the population of the Puritan expectations through his actions. His appearance as well as his privilege and prominence within the community alters radically. He begins the novel as the town reverend, and later, the shame of Hester accepting the entirety of the blame and the fact that he escaped with no punishment or shame from the town ultimately consumed him. Throughout the novel, it was revealed that he had a red mark on his chest in correlation to the “A” that was displayed on Hester’s chest.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jonathan Edwards wrote two different, but similar pieces of writing. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown” and Jonathan Edwards wrote “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” “Young Goodman Brown” is about a man taking a walk through the woods and finding something about his faith he didn’t know. “Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God” is about how a he used God in order to scare people into believing. These two writings can be compared by using three things; tone, way of deliverance, and the time.
Rappaccini poisoned his daughter Beatrice with the plants from his garden which are filled with poison. He poisoned her so she can become perfect and stronger than everyone else. Beatrice's breath kills flowers and bugs, and eventually she infects her lover, Giovanni with her poison. Rappaccini doesn't treat his daughter like the human she is. Just like in “The Birthmark” Rappaccini reduces Beatrice to an object of an experiment.
The existence of sin heavily influenced both the New England Puritans and Nathaniel Hawthorne. According to the Puritans, sin was a direct result of the Fall and sinners detracted from society. Covenants made with God proposed a collective guilt that the Puritans were eager to avoid. Unrepentant sinners damaged the community’s soul and were sometimes excommunicated or kicked out of their society. As a way to avoid sin, ministers preached against the various sins and threatened damnation for the degenerate.
Trust Experiences in life can bring out the best and worst of people, they teach life lessons, such as who to trust. In The Heretic's Daughter, Kathleen Kent explains that the basis of the Salam witch trials relies on lies and false testimonies. The words spoken by different individuals had influence over everyone. The individuals were brought into the public eye to demonstrate facts about the accused and not lies to cause grievances for everyone involved. Many young girls lied about the actions of the accused and in turn created what is known today as the Salam witch trials.
According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, sin is defined as either an offense against the religious or moral law or an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible. In seventeenth-century Puritan society, sin was highly disapproved of. The Puritans were members of the Church of England involved in a reform movement regarding purifying members to achieve a near-perfect society throughout the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. When a member of Puritan society committed a sin, there were several different extreme methods in which the Puritans could punish that individual; imprisonment, whipping, public humiliation, hanging, and worse were all viable options that one might go through if their sin was to be exposed. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Despite many people's attempts at making decisions soberly and impartially, most fail to suppress their inner emotions from causing havoc, or even realizing what trouble subconscious decision-making can get them into. Throughout “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Giovanni does not make decisions with his brain; but rather with his heart and his cravings. In the beginning of the story he is portrayed as a lonely man who just moved from Southern Italy into Padua for his studies. He soon finds a garden of an old scientist, Rappaccini, underneath his window, and sees Rappaccini's daughter, Beatrice. He is very fascinated by the garden and observes it daily, falling in love with her as well.
In chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne continues to portray the critical attitude Puritans had towards sins and repentance. Through the use of symbols, he exaggeratedly exposes how far a Puritan were to repent for their sins. From the moment Hester Prynne walks outside of the gate the women and men gathered immediately begin to gossip and badmouth her, besides not knowing anything about her other than the sin she committed. As she walks to the scaffold women begin to say her punishment of wearing an “A” is too light. They state that she can easily cover it, yet a woman rebuttals and says that she will forever “feel it in her heart” .To make things worse a woman goes as far as to say that she should be scalded with the
In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses three symbols to contribute to the overall theme of sin, these three symbols are the scarlet letter, Dimmesdale and Pearl. Dimmesdale is the minister of the town, he is also the father of Pearl. Pearl is the daughter of Dimmesdale and Hester, who to are not married. Hester committed the sim of adultery with Dimmesdale by having sex while she is married, then later ended up being pregnant.. They live in a puritan society, in which if they commit a crime they have a very harsh punishment.
“Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”(James 1:20). In the Puritanical society that Hawthorne illustrates the citizen’s goal is to please their divine Creator. Puritans believe that there are many different ways to please God, but they also understand that there are also many ways to disgrace God. If this is true then Chillingworth is not a good pupil of God. For, Chillingworth disgraced God by committing one of the seven deadly sins, and his fate was to cause his own destruction.
This play, The Devil & Daniel Webster, was written by playwright Stephen Vincent Benét in 1937 in the United States Of America. Benét was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States on 22nd July 1898. He wrote his published his first book when he was 17 and won a M.A( Master of Arts) award. During his early years, Benét developed a sense of interest in heroic fiction and poetry, he also admired those with patriotic values. Since he was brought up in a military family, Benét lived and applauded the values of honor, courage, duty and patriotism.
Are some sins better or worse than others? The story of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne leads the reader to believe that intentions determine the severity of sin. Presented sinners in the tale are Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. These three people commit sins including dishonesty, adultery, and murder. So which one of these is the worst sinner?
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.
Like other Dark Romanticists, Hawthorne often portrayed through their characters the psychological effects of sin and guilt on the human mind. Hawthorne’s ancestors held prominent positions in Salem in the seventeenth century. Major William Hathorne persecuted Quakers, and his great-great grandfather, Justice John Hathorne, served as a judge during the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne went as far as to add a “w” to his name to separate himself from his ancestors, although he held their memory close to him.
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.
