The Scarlet Letter The scarlet letter is a tragedy. The puritan society is responsible for Dimmesdale ’s downfall because its members expect him to be perfect‚ and he is not. His inability to give the people what they require from him ultimately leads to his downfall. Dimmesdale has an affair with Hester Prynne‚ a married Puritan woman. Hester gives birth to their daughter‚ Pearl. "Children have always a sympathy in the agitations of those connected with them; always‚ especially‚ a sense of any
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Symbols in The Scarlet Letter Symbolism plays an important role in many novels. Held with the distinction of implying important themes‚ symbols add depth to a story. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter takes place in Boston‚ Massachusetts‚ in the 1640’s. Embellished with symbols and hidden themes‚ the novel tells “a tale of human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne 46). In addition to human flaw and sadness‚ the novel reveals inhumane punishment and torture from the government and citizens
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The Scarlet Letter—by Nathaniel Hawthorne Short Response Questions: Respond to the following questions in 100-150 words each. Limit your answers‚ but do use text support where necessary. You may type on this document‚ save it as your own‚ and upload it with answers to turnitin.com. Use an appropriate MLA heading in the upper right. Do this by inserting a header. Use MLA parenthetical citation for all quotes. 1. Which character of The Scarlet Letter is innocent? In The Scarlet Letter‚ Pearl
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In The Scarlet Letter‚ Nathaniel Hawthorne displays many examples of love and hatred throughout the story. Though Hawthorne shows that love and hatred both have the potential to harm‚ hatred has a greater tendency to cause pain. This is clearly seen in Hester’s love for Pearl and Chillingworth’s hatred for Dimmesdale. Pearl is not the easiest child to love‚ but the attributes Hester has attained over the years have allowed her to show motherly love regardless. One aspect of Hester’s love is her
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Who’s In Charge Here? In The Scarlet Letter‚ the majority of the action happens not between characters‚ but within them. Guilt‚ passion‚ love‚ and hate all play key roles in the development of the novel. “The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne’s Psychological Themes‚” a critique penned by Frederick C. Crews‚ explores the inner workings of Hawthorne’s characters. He argues that characters in The Scarlet Letter act not of their own accord‚ but instead are ruled absolutely by “feelings that [they] neither
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Scarlet’s Change In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ the scarlet letter portrays the image and a story of a young woman who has committed adultery and is forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” on the center of her chest. Hawthorne tells about her life and how she goes through life with the excruciating burden like that of sin. When Hester Prynne is first accused of committing adultery‚ the puritan society refuses to acknowledge her for they fear the effects of the scarlet letter. As time progresses
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How Hester Changes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter is a story of love‚ sin‚ and self-realization. Hester Prynne is a beautiful young woman who commits adultery‚ and as punishment she has to wear a scarlet “A” on her shirt everywhere she goes. Her society shuns her and she can no longer have normal relations. Hester Prynne is defined by the scarlet letter and goes through many changes throughout the novel. The letter isolates her and she can longer have normal relations with society
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Kristin Moseley Professor Hooks English 101 20 July 2009 The Scarlet Letter: Literary Criticism Published in 1850‚ The Scarlet Letter is considered Nathaniel Hawthorne ’s most famous work‚ and the first quintessentially American novel in style‚ theme‚ and language. Set in seventeenth-century Puritan Massachusetts‚ the novel centers around the travails of Hester Prynne‚ who gives birth to daughter Pearl after an adulterous affair. Hawthorne ’s novel concerns the consequences of the affair
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directly connects the scarlet letter on her mother’s bosom and the sun’s failure to shine on her to the absence of sunlight in her life‚ through her sin of adultery. Though Pearl’s symbolic nature allows her to identify these truths‚ her position as just a child prevents her from understanding the intricacy that these truths hold. Pearl sees her mother as an example of what every adult is characteristic of. In this sense‚ Pearly believes that all grown women wear this scarlet letter of an equivalent
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The Aspects of Public Guilt V.S. Private Guilt The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne One of the main aspects and purposes of The Scarlet Letter‚ was to illustrate the differences between the public humiliation of a person about their sin’s‚ or the private suffering of a persons guilt and sin in their private acts. The fact that Hester had not just one of these‚but both to deal with in her life. Besides the fact that she kept
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