... to America, expanding on the blueprint created by the Pilgrims. Known for their strict, repressive society, the Puritans barred all forms of deviation within their community, as described in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Set in the mid-1600s, The Scarlet Letter epitomizes the religious intolerance of Puritan society. By the mid-1800s, however, the religious fervor that had ... and emotional growth, which she translates into charitable deeds. This deviation, contrary to the harsh conformity of Puritan society, provides Hester with an avenue for personal growth and independence...

• Word Count: 789
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... about the events or characters in the story. The ambiguousness of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves many of the actions, events, and issues involving the characters up to the reader's own assumption. One of the issues posed by Hawthorne during the story is that of responsibility. Hawthorne illustrates that the lack of responsibility is harmful and should be held with contempt through ... the character Arthur Dimmesdale, the unholy minister whose guilt of being an adulterer eventually kills him. Hawthorne's story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlem...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel which portrays the message of sin and punishment, through the outcome of an adulterous relationship between Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne portrays the tension between Dimmesdale's guilt and the fact that he cannot confess to his sin. Dimmesdale's pain intensifies as his sin corrodes his morale, but he remains steadfast with ... point. The conclusion of the novel is a failure in comparison to the rest of the work, in that it undermines the deep-rooted philosophy Dimmesdale has held about his positi...

• Word Count: 1174
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Anne Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door, -we shall not take upon us to determine." In The Scarlet Letter, author, Nathaniel Hawthorne effectively sets the mood for this dismal novel. The ugliness and rust in the prison and cemetery seems like the last place for any kind of beauty to be. But ... wept for Dimmesdale's death along side one another. They were both viewed as iniquity, and equally offered an unadulterated side to be considered by both readers and the Puritan society. Hawthorne's attempt to display hypocrisy was successf...

• Word Count: 561
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... . Shunning can be described as the act of social rejection or emotional distance. Almost like treating a certain person as though they don't exist. The act of Shunning is viewed in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter when the protagonist Hester Prynne commits adultery in the puritan society. The type of shunning that is done by the townspeople against Hester in centuries past by ... ...

• Word Count: 1654
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commits adultery with Hester Prynne. The townspeople find out about Hester, but she doesn't tell anyone that Dimmesdale was involved. Since the townspeople knew Hester committed adultery ... ...

• Word Count: 391
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate