... none of them were as successful as "The Scarlet Letter". It was set in Puritan Boston in the early years of a Massachusetts Bay Colony. Many things can affect what happens in a story and one of those things is setting. In the Scarlet Letter, there is the symbolic significance of various settings: the scaffold; the forest, which ironically becomes an oasis of freedom for ... Hester and Dimmesdale, though everyone else views it as the devil's territory. The scaffold in the town center symbolizes the harsh judgments in Puritan society. Puritan culture exhibits an unforgiving policy ... n...

• Word Count: 1003
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... such a people, and developed a strong dislike for their ideas and their hypocrisy. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne used diction and certain symbols to display his disgust of the Puritan society. Hawthorne's specific word choice helped show his feelings toward the Puritans. First, Hawthorne described the Puritans as "being the most intolerant brood" since they "scorned their hearts, and reviled their tongues" when they found out ... a symbol of the hypocrisy of the Puritans, for every spectator of the scaffold scene should have been, in reality, on the scaffold themselves. Haw...

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

... /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 ... and rust on the "oaken door" (45), and the overgrowth of vegetation surrounding the jail all create images in the reader's mind of the tone and mood of the novel. Th...

• Word Count: 808
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... as a little evil elf or an imp, the change symbolises that her mother at the same time is to be relieved from the agony which she has carried for such a long time, now she is relieved of it as Mr. Dimmesdale were to tell to the public that he is the father of Pearl, and the spell of the scarlet letter is to be broken. Pearl is not presented ... as the small evil imp, as both Hester and ... Pearl are about to be accepted by the population....

• Word Count: 612
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... , as there is fair authority for believing, it 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 ... the rosebush grows contrasting with the depressing backdrop offering a sort of sweetness to this tragic story. In this tale, practically every main character ... ...

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

... From what I have learned about the Puritans, I believe they were good people, but they went so far off the deep end with their religion that they sacrificed their plain old human kindness and forgiveness. They just didn't understand that there were other things in life than their religion. Hawthorne's presentation of the Puritans throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter is not much different from my ... own opinion, though he leaves out even the slightest amount of good characteristics that they might possess. The Puritans had many hopes for their new settlement; they had left their home...

• Word Count: 513
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate