Preview

Judgement In The Scarlet Letter

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
434 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Judgement In The Scarlet Letter
There are countless amounts of themes used in literature, such as love, heroism, survival, peace, war, judgment and many more. One particular theme that is used a lot that sticks out in literature is judgment. Judgment is the most used and most common themes in literature. Mostly you see judgment in stories when a character does something wrong, whether they did something wrong or not, it’s perceived by others as a wrongdoing. You also see judgment in stories when a character is different and others judge then because they are different.
You see the theme of judgment in stories like “The Scarlet Letter”. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter”, we see the theme of judgment and the conclusion that someone knowns someone else just

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In this passage Dimmesdale is speaking about Pearl standing on the other side of the stream refusing to go to him and Hester. The contrast between Pearl standing on the opposite side as them parallels the contrast in their lives. Hester, now not wearing the scarlet letter, and Dimmesdale are concealing their relationship and their sin in the forest, representing a world of secrecy. Pearl, however, is representing a world of truth by refusing to join them until Hester once again wears the ‘A’, which throughout the book has been Hester’s truth. The two separate worlds that they’re a part of cannot come together until they change; Dimmesdale wants Pearl to be the one to change by joining them in their new plan to escape to Europe and by joining them in their lie. Pearl however refuses to be with them until they join her in her truth. This is exemplified by Pearl not going to her mother until she wears the ‘A’ and by Pearl rejecting Dimmesdale. Pearl washes off Dimmesdale’s kiss after he once again refuses to hold their hands in public, showing yet again how much she rejects dishonesty. Dimmesdale refers to Pearl as an elf which is defined as, “one of a class of preternatural beings, especially from mountainous regions, with magical powers, given to capricious and often mischievous interference in human affairs, and usually imagined to be a diminutive being in human form”. This parallels to Pearl’s character very well because she is very capricious, her mood often changes very quickly and she can be really unpredictable also throughout the book she seems to be meddling in the affairs of Dimmesdale and Hester by not allowing them to live in secrecy. When Dimmesdale says Hester can never meet Pearl again it shows a strong divide between Hester and Pearl as Pearl is still very innocent and pure while her mother is conveyed as a sinner, similar to the way…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novels, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there are similar storylines with motives. The authors in both novels engendered tension within their characters by inducing an oversensitive scenario as in infidelity. The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible tend to delineate precedents of adultery within romantic triangles that cause a major controversy in which a pandemonium occurs due to the citizens of their hometowns feedback.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Undoubtedly, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth had all committed sin in one form or another, but Chillingworth’s sin lies on a much larger scale because while Hester and Dimmesdale repent for their sin Chillingworth fails to even recognize his own.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Capital punishment was wide spread in Puritan Boston. Although the Bible was a moral guide, societies were swarmed with crimes and sins. The punishments included severe whipping, imprisonment, slitting nostrils, and public execution on scaffold(“Puritan”). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, although the two main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale are guilty of the similar sins, they experience different punishments and outcomes.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever thought how blaming someone could cause problems for you and others? In The Scarlet letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne was blamed for being an adultness and ever took the blame for Dimmesdale, who didn’t say anything till seven years, which made him feel guilty not revealing to truth. Many readers think blame doesn’t affect anyone. However blaming can cause many problems for people who take the blame, just get blamed because of pure hatred, or a person regretting themselves for blaming others. Blaming causes problems for everyone! It affects everyone in a certain way.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A man without purpose is a man without life, which in this story is what happens to Roger Chillingworth. The townspeople were very judgmental people with very little compassion. Pearl is the “sin child” who is the daughter of Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Hester is the wife of Chillingworth, who has a child while he is gone, and later she wants to leave with Dimmesdale to live somewhere else, because she loves him. Dimmesdale is the great minister of Salem, Massachusetts and has committed a very large sin himself and has convicted other people of the same crime, making him a hypocrite.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    passed judgment on Hester and her sin is laid bare to the reader's opened eye.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes Puritan ideology to convey a philosophical reflection on sin and redemption. Adulteress Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A to mark her shame, and while her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is wracked with guilt, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge. Although all three characters contemplate redemption, it is only Hester that chooses to confront her sin; Dimmesdale and Chillingworth refuse. This decision is heavily influenced by their respective morals. Hester’s morals of truth, forgiveness, and honesty allow her to be almost fully redeemed in the eyes of the public, whereas Dimmesdale's perverse loyalty to the morally corrupt society that hinders his love for…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne suffers hardships in result of committing adultery. The townspeople punish Hester by having her wear a visible symbol of her sin: the letter A on all her garments (for adultery). In addition, she is made to stand on a platform for hours throughout a day, for the purpose of self-humiliation. Hester's sin impacts not only her own life, but also the life of the townspeople and her daughter Pearl. In this novel, hypocrisy reveals how people deal with guilt and sin. At first the townspeople seem to be the ones imagined as hypocrites. However, hypocrisy is also evident within Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale because they all say some things but do not hold true to their belief.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Revenge, the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for their wrongdoings against another, is characterized as a corruption of the mind of the affected individual. Throughout the history of literature, countless authors have incorporated the theme of revenge into their works. For example, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge on Minister Dimmesdale because of his crime committed with Hester. Similarly, in William Shakespeare’s, Othello, Iago devises an evil plan to avenge Othello of his rumored sin.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Knowledge and sin connect in the Judeo-Christian tradition in the story of Adam and Eve. Sin becomes the outcome in the story of Adam and Eve when they get thrown out of the Garden of Eden. After their banishment from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve must work and bear children. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale experience similar situations as Adam and Eve in the novel _The Scarlet Letter_ written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. For Hester, the scarlet letter becomes her ticket to go places no one else would dare go to. However, for Dimmesdale, the weight of his sin gives him close and personal sympathy with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so he feels a kinship with them. Hester and Dimmesdale reflect…

    • 2499 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Guilt is through the spirit and Pain is the body.” Everyone is sinful or guilty in a way, whether it is lying or doing adultery. It is mistakes that are caused by people. Because you will have to be guilty first in order to suffer the pain that was caused by their sin. Mr. Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne had to suffer his own sin and can’t find a way to confess to the society, no one understands what is he going through. Hester has to suffer from her own sin with everyone be disgusted by her, wish to not have any relationship with her. This is the same with John Proctor in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He had to suffer a sin of his own, due to the affair between him and Abigail Williams. Therefore he has to face…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne I came to believe that Adultery is a terrible thing and can have very bad repercussions, especially in the early to mid 1700s. Back then committing adultery was a very serious offense to not the just the community but to your family also. Adultery used to destroy family relationships and to this day it still does. Adultery is also more of a religious problem but also goes into social and legal consequences. When it talks about social consequences it is things like being exposed to the whole town and everyone knows what you did, things were very strict when it came to adultery. Not only were you exposed but because adultery was taking so seriously, whoever committed…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    some form of guilt and the effects of the public's opinion on their own personal sins.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shame affects everyone in their lives sooner or later. People don’t all feel it in the same way. In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne the main character Hester Prynne knows how it feels to be ashamed or embarrassed. She’s shamed because while she was married she cheated on her husband. She ended up having a baby with another man. To punish her she was commanded to wear a letter “A” for adultery, by the townspeople, to always be reminded of what she did. During the book Hester tries her hardest to not show her embarrassment but it still ends up coming out in certain parts. Another person that tries to be strong during what could be very shameful experience is…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays