Essays About Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, “The Scarlet Letter” identifies a symbol that is meant as a punishment and an outward display of sin, guilt, shame and disgrace. Hester Prynne is publicly exposed and punished for her sin of adultery, evidenced by the newborn baby girl she carries as she is led out of the prison amidst the…
The Scarlet Letter is a book of much symbolism. One of the most complex and misunderstood symbols in the book is Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne. Throughout the story Pearl develops into a prominent symbol of the “A”. In this essay the example of symbolism Pearl comes to represent will be explained. In the…
Response to The Scarlet LetterConfess thy truth and thou shall have eternal rest. I belive that is the moral to be taught in this novel of inspirational love, yet a novel of much sorrow. The impossible became possible in The Scarlet Letter, a story set back in the Puritan Times. In this response, I will…
The Scarlet Letter – Appearance versus Reality Appearance vs. RealityNathaniel Hawthornes, The Scarlet Letter, a dark tale of sin and redemption, centres around the small Puritan community of Boston during the seventeenth century. Things and places in The Scarlet Letter are not always what they seem to be. There are major differences in the appearance…
Hawthorne. The story’s setting is in the 1850’s during the puritan times in Boston, Massachusetts. Roger Chillingworth was one of the main characters along with Hester Prynne and Author Dimmesdale. Roger Chillingworth was a small, thin, and was slightly deformed in appearance with one shoulder being higher than the other. He was described on page…
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston. Relationships between men and women were very constrained and that is what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. Religion seemed to govern over…
In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans constantly look down upon sinners like Hester Prynne, both literally and symbolically. The use of the three scaffold scenes throughout the course of the novel proved to be an effective method in proving this theory and showing how Puritan society differs from that of today’s. In the…
Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she hasgone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this irrevocably harshsin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. “On thebreast of her gown, in a fine red cloth surrounded by an elaborate embroideryand fantastic flourishes of…
The Puritans, a religious group in New England in the early 1600s, believe in a ‘pure’ interpretation of the Bible and a sinless society, though inevitable in every society. Many Puritans commit adultery along with many other sins. This shows the many external truths about the Puritan society as well as today’s. Many of these…
The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the course of the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify Puritanic and Romantic philosophies. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the…
The Scarlet Letter – Morality Issue The Morality IssueThrough Hawthorne, the book The Scarlet Letter is written about love, sin, and most of all morals.Hawthorne creates many different perspectives on characters and their views.His vivid descriptions of the main trio of characters allow the reader to make there own decisions on who is morally right…
The Four Sins in The Scarlet Letter Sin is a word that is definetely not universally defined. Sin is relative to a persons religion, or lack there of. Sin also provokes punishment, be direct (by law) or by a moral lesson. Severity in punishment is also conditional to the society in which the sin is…
Children are, by nature, incredibly sensitive creatures. They can sense almost any emotion an adult might feel just by observing a particular persons body language and facial expressions. Such is the case with the youthful Pearl from the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorn. As the daughter of the adulteress Hester Prynne, the townspeople…
One of the most significant writers of the romantic period in American literature wasNathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne wrote stories that opposed the ideas of Transcendentalism. Since he had ancestors of Puritan belief, Hawthorne wrote many stories about Puritan NewEngland. His most famous story is the Scarlet Letter. This novel tells of the punishment of awoman, Hester…
A great deal of blood has been shed and many wars have been fought during the history of civilization; however, man’s greatest battle and most formidable enemy is only himself. Humans like to think of themselves as faultless, but sin is inevitable. Mankind is a sinful race; therefore, everyone has sinned. This has been made…
The Scarlet Letter – The PearlPearl: A product of NaturePearl is one of the most interesting and mysterious characters of the novel The Scarlet Letter. One tends to wonder why Pearl is the way she is. Why does she act so strangely and so differently than all the other characters? She acts this way because…
Description: The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850.
Originally published: 1850
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Text: The Scarlet Letter at Wikisource
Genre: Romantic, Historical| Thriller|Supernatural
Characters: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, Pearl, Natty Bumppo, Governor Richard Bellingham
Location:
The Scarlet Letter is set in Boston in the 1600s, prior to American Independence. At the time, Boston was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which had been established after the first group of English settlers arrived in Plymouth in 1620.
Narration:
The Scarlet Letter is written from an omniscient third-person perspective in which the narrator describes the thoughts and feeling of the main characters as well as the general sentiments of the townspeople, which shows how the characters function in their larger community.
Tone:
The tone of The Scarlet Letter mixes deep irony with sympathy towards the novel’s protagonists, contrasting the hypocrisies of Hester and Dimmesdale’s society with their own attempts to lead virtuous lives.