Tiesha Freeman
P.2
The ongoing interactions
The Scarlet Letter is known for its enigmatic story telling nature through its author within an author within another author narration. Or simply yet Hester Prynne’s story, twice removed. Through this profound story of a young woman, Hester Prynne, living in the tenacious and pedestrian Puritan society of the New England…
In this case it is important to balance Hannah’s rights vs the duty of care towards her.…
Suszan-Lori Parks’ In The Blood criticizes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter because she dismisses religion as the only source of slut-shaming and brings the warning into modern times by demonstrating the downward spiral that Parks’ Hester cannot climb out of. By showing the audience how each aspect of Hester’s life holds her down, Parks’ reminds the reader that women are still demeaned for being sluts and that society is what drives the shaming, not just the religion in society. Hawthorne’s Hester is demonized in the eyes of her society but is able to stay above water with her skills and what she has. Parks’ Hester shows how someone who is low can get taken advantage of and can be drug down to an even lower place. When those who…
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, many concepts and ideas are represented and shown by using symbols. Hawthorne’s concrete symbols used to epitomize abstract ideas change meaning as characters, notably the main character Hester Prynne, grow and change. With its connotation changing from negative to positive, the symbol of the scarlet letter “A” represents Hester as adulterous, angelic, and able.…
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…
Throughout ‘A Christmas Carol’, a novella by Charles Dickens, it is apparent that there is an on going development and alteration of the character of Ebenezer Scrooge, whom the story is based around.…
Sin is considered to be a morally bad act in the Christian faith. In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans’ views on human nature were affected by their belief in original sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne allows the reader to see the significant role that sin plays in human experience and in the Puritan society in which Hester Prynne lived in through the use of symbols in his novel. The symbols that are present convey messages about how humans should deal with their flawed nature and the negative effects that sin has on the body, mind, and soul.…
Dark romance with a splash of mystery embodies the spirit of Nathaniel Hawthorne's enigma, The Scarlet Letter. Every mark of ink is purposely placed to provoke the reader to question every single emotion, motive, and action in the fictional Puritan New England society that Hester calls home in the mid-1600s. Hawthorne divulges the many layers of his multidimensional characters' unique identities and actions, but also leaves the reader's desire for clear character analysis unquenched. Combined with the characters' secrets and a hint of dramatic irony, he forces one to wonder who these characters really are. Hawthorne suggests that perceptions surrounding individuals, whether it is their views of themselves or others, are…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter follows the life of Hester Prynne after she commits adultery and is forced to wear the scarlet letter upon her bosom for the rest of her life. Hawthorne uses setting, allusion, metaphor, irony, and diction to set a sombre tone. In chapter 9, Hawthorne reveals the evil qualities of Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale’s disposition. In the battle of good and evil, good does not always win.…
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book depicting the struggle of a woman who is spared death after committing adultery in a strict puritan society. The woman, Hester Prynne, was spared death only for the reason to make an example to the rest of the community. Throughout the book you can see the theme of how sin changes lives appear in almost every chapter and is an important driving factor behind the plot. This theme is shown through the actions of the three main characters: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. These three characters act in this novel as the personification of sin in three different types of sin. A different sin by each of the main characters.…
The Scarlet Letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This essay discusses how Hester is a victim of her social pressure. She was punished for something she did to achieve her dream of having someone that loves her. Hester committed adultery with minister Dimmesdale and had a child with him, Pearl. Her punishment was to stand on the scaffold with her child and wear the letter A on her breast as a sign of her “crime”. Due to the strictures of the puritan society, Hester Prynne suffers from public shaming. She almost lost her only child, and was not able to openly love who she wanted.…
Imagine living in a Puritan society where everyone loves God, almost to the point of obsession, and will judge a person on anything they think defies his will. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about a women in a puritan society who committed the crime of adultery and has to wear a scarlet A on her chest to cause public shame. At the end of the book it is revealed that Arthur Dimmesdale was her companion in this affair. Dimmesdale is a very complex character who changes many times throughout the novel.…
passed judgment on Hester and her sin is laid bare to the reader's opened eye.…
The edgy tale of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is comparable in many ways to Arthur Miller’s haunting play The Crucible. Both are set in Puritan New England in the 17th century and revolve around the harsh law enforcement of the time. However, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of a woman as she deals with her heavy Puritan punishment, whereas The Crucible follows hysteria as it spreads throughout an entire town. Hester Prynne, the main character of The Scarlet Letter, was found guilty for adultery and sentenced to wear a red letter A on her chest to inform people of her sin. Similarly, The Crucible’s main character John Proctor admits to having committed lechery and is sent to jail for this and for being a witch. The antagonist of The Crucible is the girl with whom John Proctor slept, therefore breaking his wedding vows. Her name is Abigail Williams and she is set on winning the love of John Proctor at any cost. The antagonist from The Scarlet Letter is also a previous lover of the main character’s. Going by the name of Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s former husband wants nothing more than revenge upon she who betrayed him.…
When mentioning southern expansion in the years prior to the American Civil War, what places come to mind? While most people think of the west as the closest and quickest place the southern states could have expanded the institution of slavery, one does not typically consider Cuba as a likely location. The island of Cuba served as a valid choice for many southern expansionists in the name of slavery, not only because its land was well suited and had been exposed to slavery, but also it was believed that Cuban planters would be open to United States intervention. However, it was because of the efforts on the part of the Democrats and the Pierce Administration that made purchasing/taking the territory impossible, and further led to hostilities…