The Scarlet Letter By John Hawthorne - 1478 Words

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about Hester s punishment for committing adultery and how she and the people around her view and act as a result of that sin. The reader can view these punishments from the reaction at two distinctly different mind sets. One of these is the mindset of the Puritans. The Puritans are extremely religious and one can see that in their harsh decision making and social life with sinners. The other mindset is one of the Narrator. Unlike the puritans, the narrator views people and objects with more of a personal connection, how an object affects another object as opposed to how a object affects God. There are several symbols that show and develop this throughout the novel. One of these symbols is the symbol of the Scarlet Letter. The puritans view this as a sign of sin, as something that connects one with the devil. This opposes the narrator s view point of the scarlet A being part of Hester s identity, without it she is a different person. Pearl, Hester s daugh ter, is another symbol that divides the narrator and the puritans. The puritans view Pearl as evil, a devils child. This view differs from the Narrator s which comes from the vantage point of Pearl being an extension of Hester and how Hester would not have the will to live without Pearl. The third symbol is the forest. To the puritans the forest represents an area of evil, a location where the devil dwells. However, the Narrator looks at this ass a place of protection, a place where HesterShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of John Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 855 Words   |  4 PagesHawthorne’s critique on sin, more specifically addressing sin, is clear. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne claims that sin should public, and subject to punishment from the public not the individual; Hawthorne clearly evidences this with his depiction of Hester’s rise under the letter, Dimmesdale’s self-inflicted decline, and Chillingworth’s revenge-based transformation. Hester’s sin, in the Scarlet Letter is great. At the beginning of the novel, she commits adultery and is publicly shunnedRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne And John Proctor From The Crucible By Arthur Miller1585 Words   |  7 Pagessociety. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller both wrote about these conflicts. Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and John Proctor from The Crucible by Arthur Miller shared the same attributes and feelings towards things that affected their reputations. Both characters from the novels lived in the Puritan colonies of Massachusetts during a time in our history that adultery was considered a mortal sin and witchcraft was punishable by death. Hester and John both had opportunitiesRead MoreThe Theme Of Guilt In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1668 Words   |  7 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne is the author of The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne is a anti-transcendentalist which means he writes a lot about Pu ritans in the 1600’s. John Hathorne ( Nathaniel H. great uncle ) is also an anti-transcendentalist . The book that John wrote that goes with The Scarlet Letter is The Ministers Black Veil. It as well as this novel talks about Secret sin and how the world is good and people are dark and mysterious. Nathaniels book The Scarlet Letter talks about Secret Sin , RevengeRead MoreEssay On John Hathorne878 Words   |  4 Pages   Ã‚  Ã‚   Nathaniel Hawthorne was greatly influenced by his great- great grandfather, John Hathorne, to develop the novel The Scarlet Letter.   John hathorne was involved in the persecution of several people in the Salem, Massachusetts (encyclopedia). JOHN HATHORNE AND THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS   Ã‚  Ã‚   In the year 1692, the Salem Witch Trials began and John Hathorne was chosen by Governor Sir William Phips to be a judge during the trials.   Hathorne believed that Satan had the power to pressure people into harmingRead MoreSins inThe Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay1517 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred† (Hawthorne). As this sentence is read in the The Scarlet Letter, the reader will realize that the main theme of the book is the sentence above. Throughout the book, secret sin damages the lives, soul, and the integrity of the main characters. However, it could have easily been evaded through open confession of their sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose in writing this novel isRead MoreSummary Of Hester Prynne Essay1299 Words   |  6 Pagesasks a nearby man what was happening. The man tells him that Hester is being punished for having an affair with another man while her husband was away, not knowing that he was talking to Hester’s legal husband. After being led back to jail with a scarlet letter â€Å"A† sewn to her chest, Hester and her husband meet and talk with each other. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, is now learning about medicine and provides Hester with medical care while making her promise that she will not reveal his identityRead More Scarlet Critique Essay870 Words   |  4 Pages The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1850. It was based on the Puritans of the 1600s, which were revived in Hawthornes era. Hawthorne descended from Puritan heritage and harbored a sense of guilt and hatred for their way of life. He used many themes and literary techniques in The Scarlet Letter including symbolism and irony. He emphasized the individuals role in the community and the role of women in society. Hawthorne used romanticism as opposed to the classical correctnessRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter vs. the Crucible Essay703 Words   |  3 PagesThe edgy tale of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is comparable in many ways to Arthur Miller’s haunting play The Crucible. Both are set in Puritan New England in the 17th century and revolve around the harsh law enforcement of the time. However, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of a woman as she deals with her heavy Puritan punishment, whereas The Crucible follows hysteria as it spreads throughout an entire town. Hester Prynne, the main character of The Scarlet Letter, was found guilty forRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne960 Words   |  4 Pages3H 13 August 2014 The novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne and was published in 1850 (1). It is a story about the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, set around 1650 (2). The story is written in the third person with the narrator being the author. The common thread that runs through this novel is Hawthorne’s apparent understanding of the beliefs and culture of the Puritans in America at that time. But Hawthorne is writing about events in a societyRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1397 Words   |  6 Pages John Graves Professor Connie Caskey English 251: American Literature I 8 February 2016 The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 which is based on the time frame of the Puritans, a religious group who arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630’s. The Puritans were in a religious period that was known for the strict social norms in which lead to the intolerance of different lifestyles. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the puritan’s strict lifestyles to relate to the universal issues among