Preview

The Scarlet Letter Mood Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
163 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Scarlet Letter Mood Analysis
The mood developed in the excerpt is one of a longing to go back to how it was. What is lost is the love that Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale share, which is not lost due to them not loving each other but that they can not be together, due to Puritan society. To develop the mood Hawthorne used the fallen tree, that Hester and Dimmesdale sat near as a metaphor for how their love has fallen but still exists, which is made even stronger when the word “fallen” is also used to describe Hester. Hawthorne also uses the repetition of “another” to demonstrate how immensely the couple want to be together, which makes the loss of their relationship even more tragic feeling. Another example of something lost is the liveliness that Dimmesdale once embodied,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Irony in Scarlet Letter

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Iroquois creation story is similar to the biblical story of creation. In the Bible, God is credited for the making of the universe and all the non-living things and living things, including mankind. The Iroquois creation story talks about two worlds, one is full of light and mankind and the other world is full of darkest and monsters. This description is comparable to the idea of heaven and hell. According to the bible, heaven is a place full of light, beauty, and this place is where God and his angel reside. While hell is a place full with darkest, pain and anguish. The sky woman is the creator of the universe, just as God is the creator in the biblical story. The good son (good mind) can be compared to Jesus. While as the bad son (bad…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne establishes the character Pearl as having tenacity and peculiarity in her personality and traits. First, Nathaniel Hawthorne exaggerates Pearl’s qualities to establish her as an odd child and a separate person from the Puritan town she lives in. In chapter 7, after the governor asks Pearl who created her, she answers by saying ‘no one created her rather her mother plucked her from a wild rose bush near the prison.’ Hawthorne follows Pearl’s remark with, “This fantasy was probably suggest by the near proximity of the Governor’s red roses, as Pearl stood outside of the window; together with her recollection of the prison rose bush, which she had passed in coming hither.” (Pg. 77) Adults are not…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne wants to portray to the reader how Hester is feeling about not having the same rights as men, so he uses imagery which paints a picture for the reader. When he says, “wandered without a clew in the dark labyrinth of mind”, he is showing how her mind was confused about what to do about her problem. Hester wants women to have to same respect and rights as men, but knows it would take a lot of work to get there which causes her mind to be confused about what to do. Another way that Hawthorne uses imagery to show the reader how Hester is feeling is when he says, “whose heart had lost its regular and healthy throb”. This phrase restates how Hester wants women to be the same as men, which causes her to not act like herself nor feel like herself.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “To Hester’s eye, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale exhibited no symptom of positive or vivacious suffering, except that, as little Pearl had remarked, he kept his own hand over his heart,” (Hawthorne 177). This hand that is over Dimmesdale’s heart is covering up his own sin and causes him to have his own scarlet letter. Dimmesdale’s truth constantly is knocking at his heart and soul, begging for a chance to be revealed. He drives himself…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reverent Dimmesdale 's journey through the story shows how his insecurities effect his decisions. Dimmesdale often let his thoughts of rejection from his life as a loved godly man take away from what he needed to do. He shows, by these actions, a want to be accepted that is so strong that it can overpower his churchly values. Dimmesdale 's inner-conflict with his conscience demonstrates how his need to fit in with society overpowers his value to have a pure repented heart.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of “The Scarlet Letter” chooses to use a number of different symbols in vital scenes throughout his book. In the story, the reader will recognize a number of different images that have much deeper meanings contributing to the plot of the novel. Hawthorne produces a detailed image for the reader and makes the symbols clear in his writing. Symbolism is a major aspect of “The Scarlet Letter”, without it, the story would not be as highly regarded as it is today.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale experiences a world of hurt inflicted by Chillingworth, and Hester is aware of it and doesn’t try to stop it. Consequently, the reader is unsure if there is still a connection between Hester and Dimmesdale. On the other hand, the two are linked by “... the iron link of mutual crime, which neither he nor she could break. Like all other ties, it brought along with it its obligations” (Hawthorne, 145). Dimmesdale helped Hester in numerous ways, yet she watches him face seven years of emotional and physical torture and pain and failed to return the favor. Dimmesdale was miserable after each sermon because his true thoughts and feelings could not be shared and expressed to the public. Hester differed in how she was serene through her isolation. Hester’s lack of action demonstrates how her personality became…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The fact that every new colony starts with a prison and cemetery immediately demonstrates how Hawthorne frowns on the ideologies of the Puritans in colonial times. Instead of focusing on majestic and wistful details of the colonial Puritans, Hawthorne focuses on the darkest details. Hawthorne also establishes the somber tone of the novel with the gloomy and harsh detail, which he expands on with the women and their gossip pertaining to Hester with malicious ideas such as branding the A on Hester’s forehead and even death.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale preached to the town “ Ye have all shuddered at it [Hester and the scarlet letter]!... But there stood one in the midst of you, at whose brand of sin and infamy ye have not shuddered!” This ironic moment of Dimmesdale added to his warmth because he publicly implied that he is the person who Hester been with seven years ago but does not dare to pay for its price until now. Only character of great passion could expel their long due guilt and not die in regret, much like…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, the forest means different things to different people. To the honorable and respectable members of Puritan , the forest is an evil and frightening place where witches lurk and the devil resides. To Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, two people unable to speak their minds in Puritan community, the forest offers a place of refuge where they can be true with each other. To Pearl, the forest . The symbolism of the forest setting’s inherently good and bad natures offer a deeper insight into the emotional complexity of Hawthrone’s characters.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne uses diction to showhow Hester’s precious Pearl hurts her on the outside. Even though Hester loves her daughter and her daughter brings her joy, there are certain things about Pearl that frighten Hester and torture her. The auther is able to show this in the quote, “It was as if an evil spirit…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mood In Scarlet Letter

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page

    Many authors have a special symbol in their novels that holds a meaningful purpose. Mood and tone help provide the meaning behind the symbol to the reader. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses mood and tone to enhance the symbol of the rosebush in many ways. To begin with, the tone of Chapter 1 is melancholy. The scenery of the chapter is very gloomy and dark. “ A Throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray…” (33). The quote sets the scene of the beginning of the novel knowing that is it gloomy and promotes sadness. On the contrary the mood of chapter 1 is optimistic. The mood shows the beauty and promise that the rosebush holds. “ This rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history;... had merely…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale lived in secret with his guilt buried within him, while Hester lived out in the open with her sins and guilt displayed upon her chest. As a result, Dimmesdale underwent physical and emotional torment every day, allowing his conscience to suffer so much pain. Dimmesdale tried to find a way out of this life of guilt when he begged Hester to “be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him-yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 65).Dimmesdale tried to convince Hester to help him reveal his sin. He so badly wanted to let his guilt free so that he was not internally tormented any longer. This shows that Dimmesdale is an internally fragile individual who needed help from Hester, an internally strong individual, furthering exhibiting the contrast between the two characters. Dimmesdale’s fragile inner state is shown further, and the contrast between he and Hester is developed even more when he asks, “‘Is not this better...than what we dreamed of in the forest?” Hester did not believe it was better for them to “both die, and little Pearl die with [them]” (Hawthorne 249). Dimmesdale was too afraid to live with his guilt, so he would rather die than do so. He was willing to let Hester and Pearl die for his hypocrisy, his sins, and his guilt. He was a good man at heart, but hypocrisy evidently had a very negative effect on his…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Both chapters cover a variety of insights into both Hester’s and Dimmesdale innermost decisions and thoughts. The purpose of “Hester at Her Needle” is to give readers an understanding of why Hester stays at the scene of her crime, as well as how she ostracized in society as a result. In “The Interior of a Heart,” Hawthorne also delves into the minster’s inner anguish, and his quest to find an alternate route to absolution, even as he is raised up by society for doing so.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays