... he so adamantly wrote. The House of Seven Gables was Hawthorne's follow-up novel to the highly successful The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne, haunted by the sins of his ancestors, examines guilt, retribution, and atonement in The House of Seven Gables. The house has been in the Pyncheon family for over 200 years. However, the current owner of the house carries a great burden, as the land that the house sits on was acquired through dishonesty ... and immorality. "The terrible Nemesis that waits on the extortion of the ancestor, and pursues the wages ... ...

• Word Count: 646
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... greater significance lies within its relation to the modern world. In the novel, Hawthorne points out the rigidity of the Puritan society, and the enormous influence which the ministers and the church played on the thoughts, beliefs, and standards of the town. This idea may directly be applied to the modern world which continues to be influenced through "implied" standards. Comparative to the church and the ministers, modern technologies such as television, movies ... continues to enforce its standards through a mental oppression. Through the fear of rejection and derision, the people t...

• Word Count: 748
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Scarlet Letter was the story of Hester Prynne, an adulteress who lived during the Puritan era, and the pain and shame she endured because of her sin. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was educated on the beliefs and practices of the Puritans during this time, as some of his ancestors resided in the Puritan city of Salem, Massachusetts. Through Hawthorne's research of the Puritans, he beccame ashamed to be related to such a people ... as a symbol of the hypocrisy of the Puritans, for every spectator of the scaffold scene should have been, in reality, on the scaffold themselves. Hawthorne, ...

• Word Count: 548
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... characters possessing dissimilar qualities, to emphasize different aspects of the work. In the novel "The Scarlet Letter", the author Nathaneil Hawthorn's depiction of the two male characters, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, emphasizes the moral problems of the seventeenth century puritan society. Hence, their different characters contribute vitally to the plot of the novel. Arthur Dimmesdale, the Reverent and the protagonists" lover, was not a very powerful character. ... his society reflected his weak character. Dimmesdale was put into great pressure when he was notified by...

• Word Count: 328
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Kiran Thomas 10/27/02 English 10 Honors The Scarlet Letter: Chap. 1-2 Chapter One In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne sets a gloomy and dark mood. The descriptions of the peoples clothing " in sad colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats- , the "rust on the ponderous ironwork-, and the ugliness of the large building ("[an] ugly edifice") with its "unsightly vegetation" (45) all attribute to the dark and gloomy tone, from which it can be ... and other indications of age- and rust on the "oaken door" (45), and the overgrowth of vegetation surrounding the jail all create...

• Word Count: 808
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... being an adulterer eventually kills him. Hawthorne's story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. Hester's husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. While waiting ... for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child and she will not reveal her lover's identity, which is actually the beloved and eloquent priest ... them to ...

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

... various characters possessing dissimilar qualities, to emphasize different aspects of the work. In the novel "The Scarlet Letter", the author Nathaniel Hawthorn's depiction of the two male characters, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, emphasizes the moral problems of the seventeenth century puritan society. Hence, their different characters contribute vitally to the plot of the novel. Arthur Dimmesdale, the Reverent and the protagonists" lover, was not a very powerful character. ... to kiss his daughter Pearl whom he never got to kiss, hence, at the end of the novel, the latter...

• Word Count: 746
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to become aliens of their past. With no recollection of their former being, their prior self ceases to exist and becomes anew. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne inspires the audience to comprehend how sin and incessant guilt have adverse effects on individuals living in a reproachful society that does not condone indulgences. As he uses expounding third-person omniscient perspective, employs ... gravest in her subsequent life"(11). Such vivid descriptions of the remembrance Hester experienced is a (give me an adjective to describe the example, I can't think) example of the all k...

• Word Count: 855
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Guilt is a powerful feeling that evokes suffering of many souls. Dimmesdale's guilty conscience causes him much pain and results in his self-mutilation, periods of vigil, and deprivation of sleep. Hawthorne's use of omniscient narration creates a powerful image of Dimmesdale's feelings. With use of sympathetic tone Hawthorne creates an obscure atmosphere for the discussion of Dimmesdale's feelings of guilt and how he bears it. The feelings of torment and suffering experienced by Dimmesdale are delicately conveyed into the content of the novel by using complex diction and subordinate clauses. ...

• Word Count: 393
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... is universal; yet he is commended for his great talent in revealing his beliefs of anti-Transcendentalism in The Scarlet Letter creatively. These themes include his love of the destructive human nature and experimentation of questioning the standard instead of the Transcendentalist worship of natural instinct. Because The Scarlet Letter is based on a concept of his own, his writing, although still unpolished, it is developed better in plot, setting and ... character in this novel. This style of his writing is much more useful in portraying his moral idea. Well thought and splendidly cre...

• Word Count: 311
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... through the fatherhood of the devil. Terence Martin sums up the meaning of Hawthorne's best known book, The Scarlet Letter in three sentences: "Taking its form in Hawthorne's imagination, the total context of The Scarlet Letter inheres in the letter itself. Invented by the community to serve as an unequivocal emblem of penance, the letter has frozen Hester into a posture of haughty agony, has brought Dimmesdale to a death of "triumphant ignominy" on the scaffold, has victimized the victimizer ... -- Chillingsworth. Hawthorne begins and ends with the letter, which encompasses and transce...

• Word Count: 855
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter is based on the puritanical custom of affixing a giant red, letter "A" to anybody that committed adultery. The novel centers on the adulterous Puritan Hester Prynne. Throughout the novel, she loyally refuses to reveal the name of her partner. The novel is generally regarded as Hawthorne's masterpiece and as one of the classics of American literature. However, it also reflects the typical, partriarchical attitude of both puritan society and of ... of committing adultery. At the beginning of the novel, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter, A,...

• Word Count: 1505
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... consumerism. In the 17th Century, religion was the driving force that challenged people's freedom of thought. The Puritans of the 1630s added a new element of religious and social intolerance 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 been so p...

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

... and Pearl to join him on the scaffold. As Dimmesdale calls himself "the one sinner of the world" , reveals the scars on his chest, and acquires a kiss from Pearl, he reverses the flow of events which he has followed thus far. Dimmesdale serves as his own prosecutor and judge as he exposes himself and seals his fate. The Scarlet Letter is a novel that exemplifies the significance of adherence to ... Puritan tradition, and the fate of those who ... deviate from their doctrine. Although Reverend Dimmesdale sins, thus defying these principles, he continues to abide to Puritan rules because ...

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