Preview

Triad In Scarlet Letter

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
835 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Triad In Scarlet Letter
The Preeminent Triad
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is overflowing with important character relationships. These pairings and triads only become significant when power imbalance is considered, which allows the reader to predict future conflicts and recurring themes throughout the story. Relationships are directly linked to conflict, which is the most important part of any novel. There are perhaps a dozen crucial triads in the first eight chapters of The Scarlet Letter, but one stands out among the rest. The paramount triad in The Scarlet Letter is undoubtedly the relationship between Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.
The first four chapters of The Scarlet Letter introduce this paramount triad. Chapter
…show more content…
Chapter five is assigned to Hester, as it explains how Hester chose to stay in Boston, the scene of her crime, in order to punish herself. She chooses needlework as a career, and Hawthorne emphasizes her elegant skill when the Puritan Community continues to purchase her work despite the sinful source. In contrary, chapter six is devoted to Hester’s child, Pearl. Pearl is described as “a lovely and immortal flower”, with “wild, bright, deeply black eyes”, even though she is a dreadfully uncontrollable child which leads the townspeople to believe she is a demon of sorts. Moreover, chapter seven describes Hester and Pearl’s trip to Governor Bellingham’s mansion. Hester becomes furious when some children fling mud at her and Pearl, and in turn terrifies the children with an abrupt scream. Similarly, chapter eight is a tense situation as a result of the entire triad inhabiting the same room. Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Bellingham, and Wilson enter the mansion only to find Hester and Pearl. Under those circumstances, Dimmesdale is seen again as a godly person when he is described “to look not a little like that of John the Baptist in a charger”. On the other hand, Roger gained trust over the years and became an active member in the Puritan Community due to his medicinal skills. Hester reveals her purpose at the mansion is to prevent the unrightful taking of her child,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    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…

    • 52 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • 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

    Hester was convicted of being an adulterer, and the novels follows her story in a 17th century Puritan town. The tale focuses on Hester, her daughter Pearl, her lover Dimmesdale, and her husband Chillingworth. They are all enduring their own battles with sin, some coming out of it better than others. Pearl is a physical version of Hester and Dimmesdale’s consciences. Pearl serves as a living version of the scarlet A on Hester’s chest. She torments Hester, and pushes Dimmesdale to acknowledge his sins. Pearl serves as a major character in this classic tragedy, and leaves the character better off than they…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter talks about a story of a woman called Hester wears an “A” which means “Adultery” in a strict society, through whole story, we can see how this “A” affect not only her but also the people around her. Pearl as Hester’s daughter, the youngest main role in the Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses her to show us the most comprehensive analysis about different characters in this book. Because of how innocent and pure Pearl is, we also can see reactions of the society and people at that time as well as a little girl who grows up in a special environment how she deals with those treatments.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 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
  • Powerful Essays

    Sin, vengeance, evil, and redemption are all words one can associate when thinking about The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The character who takes the truest form of these negative words is Roger Chillingworth. Hester Prynne had married Chillingworth in England, however left her for many years. During those years, Chillingworth spent time with Indians learning their ways while Hester had an ill legitimate child with a beloved priest named Arthur Dimmesdale. When Hester Prynne begins her lifetime of public shame and guilt, Chillingworth makes his timely return and devotes his life to emotionally torturing Arthur Dimmsedale. Through his many years of vindictive vengeance, the reader sees his abundant physical traits, in depth visual symbols, and his theoretical view on transcendentalism that reveal his true personality.…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inner Struggles Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. In The Scarlet Letter, there is a constant battle between good and evil, saint and sinner, and light and dark. This was a difficult book to read because of the type of language used and how hard it was to get into.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Scarlet Letter

    • 1433 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The scarlet letter the story of a young woman which committed what was considered to be one of the most vile sins of her time. That sin was adultery and for committing such a sin her punishment was public humiliation in the form of a scarlet letter a worn upon her bosom. Hester Pryne the wife of Roger Pryne (aka Chillingworth) was left waiting alone for two years for the arrival of her husband in the new world for two long lonesome years she waited in hopes of the arrival of her husband. Within these two long years she meets a man the accomplice to her adulterous act, this mans name is Author Dimmesdale the local reverend of the town, she found comfort within this man for she had longed for companionship for she had lost hope and believed her husband to have perished at sea. Within the midst of their taboo love they gave life to a child, this child named pearl was that which linked Hester and Dimmesdale and that which exposed the sin which she had committed. This is a tale of hypocrisy, conformity, vengeance, and forgiveness all of these expressed within the story through each character Reverend Dimmesdale has been made weak both physically and y by hypocrisy for having assisted in the act of adultery when he teaches others to act holy and just he lost himself. Hester and her daughter pearl faced the pressures of conformity by the church and community this pressure made Hester and Pearl in some ways rebel against the ideals of society. Roger Pryne (Chillingworth) is consumed by vengeance as he searches for the truth as to weather or not Dimmesdale is the father he becomes obsessed and depraved in search of the truth. Forgiveness is shown through both Hester and Dimmesdale, Hester is forgiven by the town, Dimmesdale is forgiven by the town after he has died. These four themes are the basis which creates and brings this story to life because they affect all characters throughout the story.…

    • 1433 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter characters struggle to accept their own personal identities. Hester embodies the scarlet letter, while Dimmesdale tries to break his stereotypical religious identity.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Ring of Shame

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you. Come hither once again, and we will stand all three together!” In his feeble attempts to make public his hidden shame, Reverend Dimmesdale attempts to include himself in the infinite ring of ignominy that he, Hester, and Pearl have inevitably been trapped in. With this theme in mind, Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, uses the characters of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Peal to illuminate the them of isolation coupled wit the destruction of…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the romantic era people have read and studied the lust and temptation to give into sin. No matter who has sinned , sin plays a great part in all of their downfalls .The three main characters in Hawthorne's story "The Scarlet Letter". The three main characters are: Dimmisdale, Chillingworth, and Hester Prynne. These three main character’s sin are no worse than each other’s.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester Prynne is a good mother and she has been taking actions to prove so.…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays