Preview

Time Heals All Wounds In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
754 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Time Heals All Wounds In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
Time Heals All Wounds

Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter describes life through the eyes of 4 main characters, including a woman who was caught of committing adultery. Hester Prynn was the emotional martyr and symbol of the Scarlet Letter. Throughout the course of the story she undergoes change in her mentality state, the way her eyes perceive the World, and perhaps even the way she smiles. Her strength becomes the Scarlet Letter and her innocent Pear. She encounters much conflict (internal and external), throughout the story. Hester, once a prisoner of her sin, spent a long life held by its chains. This all transpired until forgiveness stepped in.
Hester became the symbol of her sin; adultery. But the main problem was forgiveness. How could someone forgive themselves when they were constantly reminded of their own mistakes?
…show more content…
As well as most of her emotions and thoughts. The author acts in favor of Hester by placing a character in the crowd. Whom silently fights for her through her compassion. Although this, a reader can feel benevolence and empathize towards Hester and her situation. Not in the sense of committing adultery or sins; but because she must learn to forgive those who have betrayed her. An obvious situation in life that many can feel compassion towards her for. As I’ve stated earlier in the paragraph the author has made Hester a third person omniscient character. Allowing the reader into Hester’s thoughts and motives for her actions. As a sympathetic reader you feel bad for Hester and her situation. Although she has clearly sinned, she has in a sense payed her dues and has redeemed herself from her actions. As a reader you find it unfair of what she must go through for others to find justice that again cannot be found unless there is forgiveness. Why must hester and her child suffer just for the town people’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter talks about Hester's adultery, which occurred in a time frame when people judged severely. In those days they publicly humiliated people to make them think twice before committing a sin. For example, they made her wear a letter A on her chest for seven years. Hester didn't hide from her shame or run from her problems. I felt that she dealt with it in a helpful servant type way.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The people started to believe she had fulfilled her punishment and started to forgive her. Citizens would talk amongst themselves about Hester’s good influence on the community. The individuals “‘had quite forgiven Hester. . . they begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of sin. . . but of her -many good deeds since. . . they would say to strangers ‘It is our Hester, -the town’s own Hester, -who is so kind to help the poor” (Hawthorne 111). No longer was Hester a disgrace to the community, instead, she became a role model. When talking to her ex-husband, he tells Hester, “Why, Mistress, I hear good tidings of you on all hands! No longer than yester-eve, a magistrate, a wise and godly man, was discoursing of your affairs. . . yonder scarlet letter might be taken off your bosom” (Hawthorne 116). The community, including the magistrate, believed Hester could take off the scarlet letter. They deemed Hester forgiven, however, seven years earlier they had wanted her to suffer. Initially, people looked down upon Hester, yet as time passed they started to look up to her as a role…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, depicts a story of a woman who is shamed by her community because she commits to adultery. Having to wear the embroidered scarlet letter “A”, Hester Prynne experiences shame, negative comments, and change. Hester Prynne withstands a frightening process, through this she transforms her physical appearance and beliefs, this can be depicted through her actions. Hawthorne then has Hester Prynne become accepting of her mistake through a violent cleanse.…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts major themes of the book through usage of various symbols. By utilizing symbolism, Hawthorne portrays humanity’s disposition towards those rejected by society and the effects of being an outcast, along with other various meanings conveyed in Hawthorne’s novel. The most obvious symbol, and the most important, is the scarlet letter that Hester is burdened to wear due to her conviction of adultery. Such symbols convey an intriguing message of hypocrisy that lies beyond the naked eye.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    While the protagonists differ in that Edna enjoys her newfound autonomy, whereas Hester perceives it as a punishment, they share key similarities in how they develop their self-identities, particularly through committing sinful actions, expressing discretional emotions of love, and accepting their positions of solitude, which allows the characters to form their individual values and recognize their independence. Though sin is typically perceived as detrimental, both works demonstrate that sin is a fundamental aspect that is required for one to develop their self-identity. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery, a sin that is recognized as being incredibly contemptuous and disgraceful in the Puritan society of Boston in the 1600s. Her punishment, to live her life forever bearing the Scarlet Letter ‘A’ on her breast as a reminder of her actions, is viewed as on par with the only other option, death.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anyone can see proof of her sin by looking at the intricate, scarlet “A” on her chest and by her child that walks by her side. Its because of these two reminders that Hester is changed, society has declared her an outcast and banished her from ever being allowed back into their webs. The isolation that Hester has to deal with is a cause for her change. Her experiences have forever changed her and can be see throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel Hester barely resists the urge to cover the “A” woven into her clothes, ashamed of what the mark means, and she is constantly aware of the eyes that see the mark over her heart (Hawthorn 50). As the novel progresses her shame is still there but she has developed more tolerance and realizes that the mark that she holds is proof of her penance. The scarlet “A” no longer means Adultery to others, it means Able. Hester no longer hides her mark, when passing others she points at the “A” over her heart to replace the normal greeting (Hawthorne 134). Hester has faced her sin head on repenting heavily and has been forgiven by the public; finding peace in her constant atonement. In the end of the novel she has accepted her sin and her burden and shame were gone: released from her soul (Hawthorne…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hester took her punishment as the scarlet letter, and she did not complain proves that she ended up as forgiven. Hester also took the scarlet letter and changed the meaning of it from “Adultery” to “Able”. This showed a big part in her earning forgiveness because she turned something intended to punish her, into something that people admire about her. One of the quotes from the story…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the chapter 6, Hester's strong sense of her child makes me very surprised, "……It was a face, fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and never with malice in them. It was as if an evil sprit possessed the child, had just then peeped forth in mockery." She seemed to feel a strong sin against herself to impose on her baby. This makes me feel she can not forgive myself, this strong sense of guilt stuck her, it can be said that she could not get out, or do not want to get out of her own moral criticism. But also let me feel the Puritan was the law of fancy, and even the law as a code of conduct for all. At the same time, the author said, "……or no, her mother no imagined-from the unsearchable abyss of her black eyes." It makes me feel I have resonance with the author.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hester is forced to deal with her guilt in public. She couldn’t hide from everyone that she was pregnant and had conceived her baby out of wedlock. Everyone in town knew that she had committed adultery and she was forced to wear a scarlet letter and “show [it] in the marketplace” as her punishment (52). This made her an outcast to everyone. She no longer had any friends because no one wanted to be associated with her. She also faced harsh scrutiny wherever she went. In order to be able to live without people judging her every day, she moved to “the outskirts of the town...not in close vicinity to any other habitation” (74). While living out in her secluded cottage, Hester started doing charity work to keep her busy. She would make clothing for the homeless as a way of distracting…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It's quite rare when one goes through life without committing a single sin. The wrongdoing can either be unintentional or completely deliberate, but a majority of the people throughout the world can admit to making some sort of mistake at one point. As we've generated a new norm, back in the Puritan Era, immoral actions were an immense deal. Peering into the life of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale subsequent to their sinning, this novel allows us to see what they faced throughout the years regarding shame and guilt. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, one will find that the novel is really based around moral consequence of sin and the act of redemption.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nature In Scarlet Letter

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet letter, we are presented to a Puritanical society that resides adulteress Hester Prynne, whom must wear a scarlet letter to mark her shame. Within the novel, Hawthorne uses detailed descriptions of nature and introduces comprehensive characters such as Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl with the intention of portraying the central message of good versus evil.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hester Prynne Sin

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At first, Hester may seem to be the victim. The adultery she committed when her husband was at sea, leads puritan authorities to give her the bright red "A" for adultery. She is left to stand in shame of puritan citizens, feeling their stares, their whispers and their judgement. In the eyes of the people, she is the greatest example of sin.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter was the greatest writing of American Literature of his time and even to this day. His beliefs in this book are based on the ideas of the Romantics. The story of Hester Prynne and her journey, talks about her going against the nature of society and clearly stating that emotion is superior to reason. It is apparent in the novel Hawthorne believed emotion was superior to law, and humans are intrinsically good. The following quotes pulled out of the book, as well as the literary criticisms, all give examples as to why Hawthorne was believed to be a Romantic.…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    character sketch

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages

    But it is what happens after Hester’s affair that makes her into the woman with whom we are familiar. Shamed and shunned from the rest of the community, Hester becomes contemplative. She speculates on human nature, social organization, and larger moral questions. Hester’s tribulations also lead her to be a free and deep thinker.…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    But it is what happens after Hester's affair that makes her into the woman with whom the reader is familiar. Shamed and alienated from the rest of the community, she becomes unfilled and indifferent. "It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and Raulerson 2 luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine. (...) [T]here seemed to be no longer anything in Hester's face for Love to dwell upon" (150). Yet, Hester becomes a kind of compassionate maternal figure with respect to society: she cares for the poor and aids them. "Her breast, with its badge of shame, was but the softer pillow for the head that needed one" (148). In fact, the people in town start saying that the letter glistening on her bosom means able instead of adulterer. Hester's problems and experiences with…

    • 677 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays