... illustrates the importance of one person in the community and how that individual has the capability to alter the outcome of himself and the community. Hester Prynne's strength and determination provide the perfect attributes to conquer her sins and the sins of others. The "A" that Hester Prynne bears in The Scarlet Letter shifts in meaning at least two times to mirror the character changes of Hester throughout the progression of the novel and the town ... 's acceptance of her. At the opening of the novel, Hester Prynne ... ...

• Word Count: 842
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... be perfect in a sense where they must hide how they really feel and live false lives. Sin, rather than power, is the basis of The Scarlet Letter and donates to the message that perfection is not achievable by a set of rules that is ever created by man. Although Miller and Hawthorne describe Puritan ... the books. The Crucible uses this power in a more apparent fashion by personifying this necessity for power through Reverend Parris, while The Scarlet Letter explains the inabilities of these powers, which in turn explains the devotion of these powers to absolute power. The overall differen...

• Word Count: 710
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 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

... cause her to lose her daughter, Pearl. Hester is also maternal with respect to society: she cares for the poor and brings them food and clothing. By the end of the novel the "a" changed meanings from adultery to able. The shame attached to her scarlet letter is long gone. Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester is portrayed as an intelligent, capable, but not necessarily extraordinary woman. It is ... in life. Many believe his confession was a symbolic act, while others believe Dimmesdale's fate was an example of divine judgment. The Scarlet Letter defines the relationship between the indiv...

• Word Count: 968
• 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

... their readers make their own decisions 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 ... 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 ...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• 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

... lover was strictly her own. Also, society in no way pressured her to commit adultery; she did so out of her own weakness. However, there were instances when the Boston community simply alienated Hester out of hatred and fear of the scarlet letter that she was forced to wear. Actions taken to remove Pearl from Hester's care are an ideal example of society overstepping ... the boundaries of regular punishment simply to expel any sense of happiness Hester has retained. The argument that Hester was not a fit mother because of her sin was used heavily against ... and society. Hester has bec...

• Word Count: 568
• 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

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 ... a romantic interpretation. According to Carpenter, "Hester did not sin at all: or that, if she did, she transformed her sin into a ...

• Word Count: 1505
• Approx Pages: 6
• 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