The Symbolism of Red in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the color red to represent passion‚ the need for beauty‚ and individuality in The Scarlet Letter. In the story‚ Hester Prynne‚ a young woman living in a Puritan community during the mid-17th century‚ is convicted of adultery and forced to live her life in a state of exile‚ branded by the Puritans through the embroidery of a scarlet A on her chest. Her and her child Pearl live in the outlying forest and are
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misinterpretation of who she really is. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ Pearl is seen as an unworldly creature‚ incapable of any good. Her personality is unusual and difficult to comprehend‚ which prompts the puritanical society to question her ethical development. Pearl is constantly viewed as a mischievous elf-child by all the Puritans in Boston‚ yet Hawthorne intensely compares her to a glorious work of art. She is the representation of the Scarlet letter in human form. A child who is as significant
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their echoes are truly endless.” The word character can be defined as the features and traits that form the individual nature of someone or also known as their identity. The main character Hester is the person who struggles the most with the idea of character. The word character is essential to the novel in describing the main theme of identity to the audience. The scarlet letter is a defining moment in Hester’s life where she is faced with the dilemma of letting society decide her character or for
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Readers Response of ‘Scarlet Letter’ Despite the declination in the personal and societal standards of morality in the past century‚ it is still evident today that a universal standard of ethics does indeed exist in every civilization. Likewise‚ these communities administer consequences upon those who fail to meet up to those principles. The severity of the punishment inflicted rests solely on the offender‚ the offense and the society itself. For Hester Prynne‚ the penalty for fornication
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With his critical essay: "Hawthorne’s Awakening in the Customhouse" Loving gives the reader a psychoanalytical reading of The Scarlet Letter. Loving pays close attention to Hawthorne’s unconscious motives and feelings in his interpretation of Hawthorne’s writing. He is particularly concerned about the radical change of direction that Hawthorne takes in altering the initial course of his story by adding an unexpected ending. The ending‚ as presented to the reader in the last three chapters‚ undermines
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In the novel‚ The Scarlet Letter‚ by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ Hester commits adultery‚ disobeying the Puritan laws‚ and is punished with two constant reminders of her sin‚ the scarlet A and her daughter‚ Pearl. Hawthorne characterizes Pearl with contrasting personalities and roles she plays in Hester’s life. Pearl’s conflicting personality components‚ innocence and defiance‚ both derive from her isolation from society‚ which resulted from her mother’s sin. Pearl represents the conflict between good and
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The preface to Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter‚ “The Custom House”‚ serves to introduce the society and times in which the story is set; also‚ this essay provides the background story for the finding of the scarlet letter. The Custom House also provides a definition of what a romance is. Excerpts from “The Custom House” essay closely link to The Scarlet Letter’s text. Two notable examples of these parallels can be found in the descriptions given of the townspeople in Salem who live by ancient moral
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Sin and Forgiveness in The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses the theme of sin and forgiveness throughout The Scarlet Letter to portray the protagonists and antagonists of the story. Hawthorne uses comparative techniques through dark versus light‚ and nature versus civilization. With both of these he is giving underlying comparisons of sin and forgiveness. Hawthorne uses comparisons to show the reader that by having the inability to forgive‚ he/she is committing the sin of pride and is no better than
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The Scarlet Letter: A Symbolic Narrative After reading any sort of book or story‚ the reader may sit back and think about how the book was written. For example‚ one may look at the style‚ genre‚ and origins of the book. In this case‚ after reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ I took a look back at how this great author created such a great work of literature that we still read some 160 years later. What I found was that this is simply a piece of well-written‚ mind enhancing symbolic
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In The Scarlet Letter‚ Hawthorne uses the lives of Hester‚ Dimmesdale‚ and Chillingworth to emphasize themes of hypocrisy and sin within the Puritan society by stressing the relevance of forgiveness‚ the negative outcome of abandoning righteousness‚ and the austere need for compassion in the Bostonian community . Through Hester‚ Dimmesdale‚ and Chillingworth’s habitation among the Puritans‚ Hawthorne reveals to readers the need for clemency through the demonstration of themes about hypocrisy. First
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