Set in 17th century Puritan Salem‚ Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter‚ tells the story of Hester Prynne‚ who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Hawthorne’s novel is filled with much symbolism. In chapter 5‚ Hawthorne uses her clothing to reveal Hester’s self-perception as self-loathing‚ to depict society against her‚ and to explore the nature of her daughter’s conception. Hawthorne uses Hester’s needlework to portray
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feels incredible guilt. He commits adultery with Hester before the book begins. As the book begins it is revealed he is the true father of Hester’s child Pearl. Dimmesdale‚ afraid of losing his status and being humiliated‚ does not confess his crime. For this this he is rewarded and greatly punished. He is rewarded by keeping his status in the community. He continues to preach to his flock‚ for which he gains great acclaim. He is able to see Hester and Pearl whenever he wants. He is also free to leave
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which help the reader to go deeper in the text. Also‚ symbolism in The Scarlet Letter enhance meaning in the text by allowing the reader to understand the characters on a deeper lever. Three significant symbols from The Scarlet Letter include: Pearl‚ Hester‚ and The Forest. Pearl is a symbol of sin and treasure. She symbolizes sin because she is Hester’s child who committed adultery. The book states that she symbolizes Sin. "Pearl was a born outcast of the infantile world. An imp of evil‚ emblem and
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*Main Character: Hester Prynne Hester is the book’s protagonist and the wearer of the scarlet letter that gives the book its title. The letter‚ a patch of fabric in the shape of an “A‚” signifies that Hester is an “adulterer.” As a young woman‚ Hester married an elderly scholar‚ Chillingworth‚ who sent her ahead to America to live but never followed her. While waiting for him‚ she had an affair with a Puritan minister named Dimmesdale‚ after which she gave birth to Pearl. Hester is passionate but
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denounced them while simultaenously putting Hester Prynne‚ the adulteress‚ in a more benign light. For instance‚ when Hawthorne described Hester‚ he did it ina very eloquent way‚ pointing out he beauty and "perfect elegance". He never once pointed out a flaw of Hester’s‚ even saying that the baby in hand concealed her "A" portraying her in a much more innocent way. By covering the "A" with the baby itelf‚ it in a way shrouds the initial sin that Hester was even on the scaffold for‚ it merely
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blossom into something much greater. The puritans in this book do not agree with this logic very well‚ as they show many times through their public acts of hate towards Hester. The story about Hester and her sin’s impact on the naïve puritan town shows that good can‚ in fact‚ come from bad. Although initially it appears that Hester is doomed to live a horrible life because of the mark she bears‚ both Pearl and the A’s transformation can prove that something once viewed as unworthy can transform into
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Hawthorne uses the majority of the passage to show how Pearl and Hester act when out of the public eye. Also‚ he uses the theme of nature to show what Pearl is like‚ who she really is‚ and how she is accepted by nature. In the beginning of this passage‚ Pearl and Hester are walking in the forest because Hester wants to reveal Chillingworth’s true identity to Dimmesdale and she knows she will catch him in the forest‚ away from society. Hester chooses to speak with Dimmesdale in the forest‚ not only because
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Each character in The Scarlet Letter has their own sin and they deal with it in different ways. The most obvious of these characters is Hester. Hester’s sin of adultery was the basis for the first half of the story. Hester was constantly burdened made aware of her sin with the scarlet letter attached to her breast‚ but she was able to deal with her sin in a different way. “Elsewhere the token of sin‚ it was the taper of the sick chamber. It had even thrown its gleam‚ in the sufferer’s bard extremity
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This‚ I believe is how Hester dealt with her guilt and how Arthur ultimately died. Hester’s sin was public while Arthur’s was private. In Hester’s case‚ the shame was only momentary. While it never truly went away‚ overtime the shame‚ guilt‚ and sin were all pushed onto the back burner and stayed there only occasionally resurfacing. Even though Hester had her ever constant reminders of the letter A and the child that came from the sin
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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
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