The Scarlet Letter‚ written by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ deals with many difficult issues. One of those issues is the topic of sin. Throughout the story the main protagonists‚ excluding Pearl‚ struggle with their past sins and how they deal with it. One line spoken by the narrator about Dimmesdale’s sin‚ “This had been a sin of passion‚ not of principle‚ nor even purpose” (187) suggests that there are different types of sins. In this case sins of love or passion versus sins of hate or principle. Hawthorne
Premium
Scarlet Letter Vocab Words | Definition | Romanticism (n) | Appeals to the imagination use of the “willing suspension of belief”. Romanticism stresses emotion rather than reason. | Puritan (n) | Religious reformers that emerged during 16th century. Puritan sought to cleanse the culture of what they regarded as corrupt‚ sinful practices. | Sepulchers (n) | A small room or monument cut in rock or built of stone‚ in which a dead person is laid or buried. | Inauspicious (adj.) | Not auspicious;
Premium Romanticism Art Europe
In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter‚ the respected minister Arthur Dimmesdale deceives his community‚ preventing the townspeople from seeing the truth that he has sinned and hidden his secret. When his guilt finally overcomes him‚ he fantasizes about confessing the secret of his adultery to his congregation seven years after he committed the sin‚ but the people do not believe what he says. Rather than believing him‚ they believe the deception he has been showing them. He shows the community a perfect
Premium Salem witch trials The Crucible John Proctor
happen all the time in the real world and the fictional world. One of the examples of suffering in the fictional world can be seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book‚ The Scarlet Letter. Several people in the book are intimate with the definition of suffering‚ some suffering longer and more than others. In this book‚ the one person who had the most suffering placed on him was the well-known minister‚ Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale has dealt with horrible internal guilt‚ has been mentally tortured by someone
Premium The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester Prynne
"To be fully human is to balance the heart‚ the mind‚ and the spirit.” One could suggest the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ that one should not violate the sanctity of the human heart. Hester was well ahead of her time‚ and believed that love was more important than living in a lie. Dimmesdale’s theology and his inclinations render him almost incapable of action; Chillingsworth dammed himself‚ along with Dimmesdale. Hester was “frank with [Chillingsworth].”
Premium The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Marriage
In The Scarlet Letter‚ by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ Roger Chillingworth‚ who is a former physician‚ is the evil figure throughout the classic novel. In Moby Dick‚ by Herman Melville‚ Captain Ahab‚ who is an experienced captain‚ portrays as the evil character also. Both figures from the novels represent an excellent example of evil-natured men who are out to get vengeance on someone or something for the wrongdoing to them. First‚ Chillingworth and Ahab are both trying to seek revenge
Premium
but‚ if entrusted to the wrong set of hands‚ it will lead to major destruction. Power has been given to everyone just in different amounts. What people do with the power they have is up to them‚ but‚ in many instances‚ it is misused. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ Hawthorne creates a story that shows the abuse of power by people in different social statuses in Puritanical society. The abuse of power between the Puritans in Hawthorne’s story and people in American society today displays
Premium Salem witch trials The Crucible John Proctor
Relationships through the Scarlet Letter show in many forms. In this book ‚ the most prominent secret to the reader is the one most guarded. Hester and Dimmesdale’s relationship is shown at first when they meet in the woods. Through the beginning of the book‚ Hester refuses to reveal her fellow sinner though to the reader It is obvious that they both have feelings for each other. Both torn by the separation they must endure‚ and bound by the fear of society finding out their secret‚ they hide. Hester
Premium The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne Nathaniel Hawthorne
The manner in which one obtains their morals and journey through life differs; some establish morals and venture life with observances of fairness‚ while others endure the tumult to find humanity on their own. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s‚ The Scarlet Letter‚ Hester‚ a sinful woman‚ learns to establish a new identity under her branded “A”. Hester develops a new sense of morality‚ as her story darkens to an end foreshadowed by the symbolic rose bush. The rose bush merely symbolizes the commencement of
Premium Woman Marriage Love
brings loneliness‚ and few have been able to show as well as Hawthorne how private and bitter loneliness can be...Hawthorne also indicates that guilt repressed is far more devastating in its effects than guilt openly acknowledged...” In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ the protagonist‚ Arthur Dimmesdale‚ committed a sin of adultery but he publicly confessed his role in the indiscretion. The fact that Hester takes all the blame for their sin irritates his conscience‚ and he physically
Premium The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Confession