The weird ethical hazard to Hester in her loneliness was that it gave her moreover small chance for demonstrative interaction with other people. Hawthorne forced the readers to ponder that how a woman committing adultery is a major offence in a hypocritical society. Hawthorne symbolized Hester as an agent and a rebel who violates laws as Tony Tanner offered a likely justification by saying that:…
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Arthur Dimmesdale as a troubled individual. In him lies the central conflict of the book. Dimmesdale's soul is torn between two opposing forces: his heart, his love for freedom and his passion for Hester Prynne, and his head, his knowledge of Puritanism and its denial of fleshly love. He has committed the sin of adultery but cannot seek divine forgiveness, believing as the Puritans did that sinners received no grace. His dilemma, his struggle to cope with sin, manifests itself in the three scaffold scenes depicted in The Scarlet Letter. These scenes form a progression through which Dimmesdale at first denies, then accepts reluctantly, and finally conquers his sin.…
Through the Scarlet letter, an argument has arose that debates whether or not God forgives Hester and Dimmesdale. A variety of things points out and indeed proves to us that God forgives both of them.…
Hester and Dimmesdale are not forgiven throughout the story from what Hawthorne has said. They aren't forgiven because at death they are separated by dirt. Also Hester comes back and wore the scarlet letter as if it was needed.…
Nathaniel Hawthrone’s Scarlet Letter is praised as one of the most revolutionary and compelling literary works in modern American history. The narrator’s omniscient, descriptive lingustics enfore the story’s captivating plot as well as invokes insights on the moral fiber of each character. For some, the novel is an inspiration to readers in regard to the powerful protagonist, Hester Prynne, with her feminism and strength in the face of adversity; or by her daughter’s pure spirit, or even the devotion of the minister Dimmesdale to his congregation. As popular and coveted is the complex plot, Hawthorne’s literary talents excel within each paragraph. The story is historical in its characters and what they represent, but is exciting because of its constantly misleading irony. The author uses irony systematically throughout the book to keep the reader guessing, whether verbal irony in Chillingworth’s words, situational irony - Hester and Dimmesdale’s burst of joy before a tradgic ending - or the dramatic irony of Dimmesdale’s secret relationship with Hester. The deceptive techniques used by Hawthorne are what makes this elderly tale so relevant today.…
Hester goes against the gender norms that were set in the Puritan society. For example, Hawthorne claims that “[she had acquired] passports for regions where other women daren’t not tread” (Hawthorne, 1994, p. 137). Hester demonstrates the greatness of her personal strength in raising her daughter all by herself, and to fight back when the authority attempts to take Pearl from her. The portrayal of Hester as adulterous supports patriarchy and masculine hegemony because the father of the child in question is not mentioned anywhere in the book. Hester’s success is similar to Sybil ability to demonstrate that women are free as…
The Puritan Era was the most religious time in American history; committing any sin was seen as an act of rebellion. In that time the sin of adultery was taken very literally to an extent where the women were forced to wear the letter “A” across their bosom to show the people of the town what they had committed. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne’s sin results in such a punishment, but as the reader gets deeper into the book, a prominent and more profound understanding of Hester can be reached. It is through her struggles that Hawthorne gets across his primary themes. Hawthorne illustrates his theme through Hester's struggles that becoming an outcast can help one achieve a profound grasp of who they truly…
Hester and Dimmesdale differ in sins they commit. It is clear that they both commit adultery. However, the sins Hester and Dimmesdale commit have distinct nuance. First, Hester is a married woman. Her sin is definitely entitled as adultery. The book talks about Puritan world of Boston. It is when the Words…
There is a lot of commotion around the town discussing whether or not Hester’s punishment was enough to be considered just. Some of the people wanted a harsher punishment and not some weak punishment like being in jail for a couple of days. But the punishment the magistrates gave was a good one and they didn’t need to go to the extreme. Hester did break a major crime committed adultery and she will pay for it later on, she is going to be outcast of the town, and she will keep pearl so she will always remember what she has done.…
In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale expresses his admiration for Hester’s strength in remaining silent in the face of vitriolic accusations by the Puritan judges, as they forcefully implore her to reveal the name of her lover. One can interpret Dimmesdale’s quote as expressing amazement and reverence at Hester’s choice to shield her lover from the brutal fate that she has openly accepted for herself.... thus illustrating a woman’s capacity to love. The implication that men do not possess similar qualities of strength and generosity might be implied by Dimmesdale’s choice of diction in this reference, but it is, also, important to recognize, that Dimmesdale loves Hester, and that he recognizes his own lack of strength and compassion (and that of Chillingworth, as well). While David S. Reynolds’s article, Hester and Feminists of the 1840s interprets Hester’s characterization as feminist and Louise DeSalvo’s article, Hawthorne Lets the Patriarchs Win portrays her as anti-feminist, it is possible to interpret Hester Prynne as a heroic representation of a broader point of view… that of a heroine who transcends gender role by being a principled human being, primarily concerned with protecting the two people (Pearl and Dimmesdale) she most loves in the face of tremendous duress.…
“Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast… save when thy good – thy life – thy fame – were put into question.” These words spoken by Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter display her practice of situational morals and hypocrisy. Hawthorne displays this major element of human nature, hypocrisy in all characters save young Pearl who is blatantly unique from most people. Dimmesdale, Hester, and the entire Puritan community are hypocrites, and their hypocrisy manifests itself in the conflict of this novel. Hawthorne created a drastic difference between the inward and outward lives of everyone in this story and they can be related to the hypocrisy present in modern society. People never change, hypocrisy will always be present both today in the past.…
“Whose is the greater guilt therein when either’s conduct may dismay: she who sins and takes the pay, or he who pays her for her sin?” (Cruz 296). In the 1600’s, when a woman commits adultery and brings shame upon her husband she is often put to death as punishment. However, in Hester Prynne’s case she is shamed with a scarlet letter and excluded from society. In the novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Hester is forced to wear a Scarlet Letter “A” upon be bosom for the rest of her life. Yet, why is one person punished when the act of adultery must be committed by two? Hester’s partner in the sin committed, Mr. Dimmesdale, even though he was not revealed until the end of the story, would not have faced a punishment so severe.…
“When you point a finger at someone else, then three fingers point back at you” (My Second Grade Teacher). In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne jeers at the absurd Puritan era and crime and punishment. But the renowned author touches on a more personal theme, an issue that everyone has come across: self evaluation. Even though Hester Prynne, a honest adulterer, and Arthur Dimmesdale, a untruthful priest, are first to sin it is still viewed that Robert Chillingworth, an abandoned husband seeking revenge, has “violated the sanctity of human heart” (Hawthorne 234). To compare the sin that was brought on by choice and sin initiated by another should not be evaluated.There is no argument that Chillingworth’s revenge on Dimmesdale is evil, he plotted against Dimmesdale soon as he confirmed he was Hester’s lover. But the aggravators of sin, Hester and Dimmesdale, must be held responsible for the effects of their actions. Unlike Hester, Dimmesdale refuses to confess to having premarital sex. Adulturing is sinful but the lies, acting, and observing others take the full…
In the Scarlet Letter, God forgave Hester because she could take the letter off, and she got to live her life out after she had sinned.…
The downfall of an individual can grow from the societal influences of society’s compulsion to conform. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and reverend Arthur Dimmesdale endeavor to assimilate to the expectations of a puritan society. Throughout the novel, Prynne and Dimmesdale fight to make amends for their sin of adultery, and as the town glares a spiteful eye at Prynne, Dimmesdale hides away, still loved by all. Prynne makes a conscious decision to embrace her quarantine from the community’s shunning. However, Dimmesdale faces an internal battle of shame and guilt while concealing his immorality. Prynne and Dimmesdale suffer the fate of alienation, however, Prynne accepts isolation, becoming steadfast, while Dimmesdale…