... she really changed from her sinful ways? If so, is she going to leave for Europe with Dimmesdale? Towards the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester being punished publicly for the sin she has committed with Dimmesdale. In chapter 2, Hawthorne writes, "He laid his right hand upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward; until on the threshold ... of chapter 2, Hawthorne writes, "Could it be true? She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast that it sent fourth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to ...

• Word Count: 944
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... another way, and she was able to be rebellious to their way of life but still not be evil. Hester Prynne and Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale both symbolize sinners. On page 41 of The Scarlet Letter, when Rev. Dimmesdale is reflecting on what he has done, Hawthorne writes, "He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify himself." Rev. Dimmesdale is ... overwhelmed with the weight of the sin on his heart. Also on page 179, when Hester and Rev. Dimmesdale are talking about how Chillinworth (Hester's husband) has been getting his revenge, Hawthorne writes, "We...

• Word Count: 647
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• Grade Level: High School

... overrating morality" to the point in which they completely "suppressed art" (Hoffman 53). But art is something that even the firmest controls cannot always contain. Hester Prynne, heroine of the Nathaniel Hawthorne romance The Scarlet Letter, perpetuated her art in ways that went unnoticed, but also in ways that shouted out loud to everyone around her that her artistic creativity would not be ... Hester Prynne, having been sent to New England ahead of her husband, was condemned by her society because of her attempts to break free of the rigid Puritanical law-system by finding sexual plea...

• Word Count: 1145
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , in an earlier era, the Puritan era, women were even more subdued. They wore the plainest, drabbest clothes and sat meekly at their husbands" sides. Passion and happiness were considered a sin to the Puritan faith. Hawthorne was a rare man who believed that women should be allowed to rise above this stereotype. He believed that in many ways women were stronger and had ... woman, part of the sex considered to be powerless, was held in high esteem by the public. It isn't a coincidence that Hester was given a task as great as overcoming the burden of the scarlet letter and that she emerged...

• Word Count: 1087
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• Grade Level: High School

... characterization between the two lovers emphasizes the importance of cleansing oneself of sin. The writing structure in The Scarlet Letter also emphasizes this moral. In the novel, Hawthorne writes in long and descriptive sentences that imitates the thought patterns of both personas. The main character is Hester, and when she views the city, everything seems somewhat sad and peaceful. This feeling is portrayed by ... the feelings of each character as their personalities diverge. The many sub-themes in The Scarlet Letter also add to the main discussion by clarifying the crippling effects...

• Word Count: 890
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... people who go to church weekly repenting their sins. Hawthorne uses many symbols throughout The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne uses the colors red, black, and white to represent Hester's emotions and the emotions of those around her. The most frequently used color symbol by Hawthorne is red. Red most obviously represents Hester's sin, as shown by her scarlet letter. Her scarlet letter, like her sin, is something she must always ... . Pearl is also called the names "Ruby", "Coral", or "red Rose," and "a little bird of scarlet plumage," further extending Pearl as a red representation of Hester'...

• Word Count: 1044
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• Grade Level: High School

... -absent husband who becomes the greatest sinner by coldly seeking revenge.) Hester Prynne Arthur Dimmesdale (Publicly confessed adulteress (Secretly confessed adulterer who wears a scarlet letter as who punishes himself in her punishment.) private for his sin.) Pearl (The human embodiment of the scarlet letter, and her parents' sin.) The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, had a very unique style to his writing. He had a very eloquent style. ... would have written, which was: "Into my keeping, God gave her." His unique way of switching them around gave his writing style s...

• Word Count: 914
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, and countless others. The major dissent was towards religion, because this was the most forced element of Puritan fellowship. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Puritan New England, Hester Prynne was the main offender. The Scarlet Letter is an isolated drama of one woman's shame and guilt for her solitary sin. She is ridiculed and cast off from her community and the Puritans ... Arthur Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale. It had turned out that Chillingworth was Hester's former husband. He was a prominent figure in the society and had told Hester, in essence, to...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Judge Me Not, Love Me, Seek No Revenge Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, a dark tale of sin and redemption, centers on the small Puritan community of Boston during the seventeenth century. A young woman (Hester Prynne) comes to this town to find a place to live for her and her husband, but falls victim to the desires of the human nature. Hester falls in love with Reverend Dimmesdale, and ... ". She is forced to were a scarlet "A" on her breast for the duration of her natural life. Hester's husband Roger Chillingworth arrives to find his wife unfaithful and commits the rest of his life ...

• Word Count: 759
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• Grade Level: High School

... thee into my heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which thy presence made there!" (p72). Hester betrayed Chillingworth and in return he wants revenge on Dimmesdale. He does this by draining the soul of the Reverend and afflicting guilt upon him. Chillingworth's villainy also develops from his quest to discover his wife's lover. He ... enhances this by showing that he is willing to make Dimmesdale suffer and help Dimmesdale's guilt eat away at his soul in order to get the revenge he wants. One of Hawthorne's purposes in writing The Scarlet Letter is t...

• Word Count: 670
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• Grade Level: High School

... is also always doing something to further her mother's guilt. The first thing she recognizes in the world is the scarlet letter, she often throws things at the letter, and she even makes one for herself out of seaweed. Hawthorne even shows her as an A herself Hester make her a beautiful red dress that is vaguely shaped like an A, and the townspeople see her as a little ... even question whether it is worth living if your life is so tainted. Although it causes Hester great pain, it is better for Hester to suffer openly about her guilt in public because she eventually comes to terms with ...

• Word Count: 915
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• Grade Level: High School

... is also always doing something to further her mother's guilt. The first thing she recognizes in the world is the scarlet letter, she often throws things at the letter, and she even makes one for herself out of seaweed. Hawthorne even shows her as an A herself Hester make her a beautiful red dress that is vaguely shaped like an A, and the townspeople see her as a little ... even question whether it is worth living if your life is so tainted. Although it causes Hester great pain, it is better for Hester to suffer openly about her guilt in public because she eventually comes to terms with ...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Sins and Sinners of The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter is brimming with many sins and sinners as Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to portray throughout the story. Hawthorne's main characters in the book have committed major wrongs doing in the eyes of the Puritans. The main characters include Hester, Chillingworth, demmesdale and pearl, who has yet to commit a sin. Also, a part of ... this chaos are the townspeople who's Hippocratic verbal and physical actions influence the lives of Hester and her daughter, Pearl, in negative ways. Although the society, and many of the characters commit sins, ...

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... anyone or breathe too closely to someone. She spent most of her time in a garden built by her father. The Romantic Period caused Hawthorne to put a pair of lovers in each other his stories. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester fell in love with Dimmesdale after her husband was assumed dead. Alymer was interested in science, but he left his laboratory when he married ... sin because Hawthorne wanted to show what would happen when imperfections were not accepted and technology was used. Roger Chillingworth, Hester's assumed dead husband, in The Scarlet Letter, turned up alive and discovered his w...

• Word Count: 672
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• Grade Level: High School

... by Arthur Miller based on a true story, of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. On the other hand, The Scarlet Letter was an old-fashion, fiction novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both of these books consist of abundant similarities such as, they deal with the guilt of committing adultery, both focused ... books. In The Crucible, as well as in the Scarlet Letter both groups of people were told to abide by certain rules of the Puritans. In both books, the women were told to live simple lives and devote themselves entirely to their husbands. Hester Prynne, for example had to marry a man wh...

• Word Count: 577
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• Grade Level: High School

Minor Characters Verses Major Characters The minor characters of Governor Bellingham, Mistress Hibbins, and Pearl in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne play significant roles to the overall theme of the novel. These characters produce themes, and play important roles. Although they are minor characters, they are significant to the major characters ... him respectfully. Not only do they respond respectfully but they respond to him with the sympathy that he alone seems to be able to draw from them. In The Scarlet Letter Governor Bellingham witnesses Hester Prynne's punishment an...

• Word Count: 1147
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• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, is a book that was set at a time where the strict Puritan way of life was key. Hawthorne wrote about an intimate romance between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. The various relationships and feelings behind these relationships are intense, one can never really be quite sure of the true emotion. The moral of the story ... is to be true, yet each character is a hypocrite in some form. Hester Prynne came to Boston when she ... finds Dimmesdale and touches his heart, feeling the burden on his heart, the scarlet letter. From that po...

• Word Count: 995
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• Grade Level: High School

... refusal to reveal the identity of her lover only compounds her punishment. The scarlet letter "A" becomes synonymous with Hester and she is not to be without it. At this point, however, the letter is shallow in meaning, standing for the sin of Adultery. To resonate the "A" in the mind of the reader Hawthorne displays the letter in a variety of altered profiles. Besides being the beacon from ... to be the scarlet letter personified, and the most dramatic of the "A"'s is that which is on Dimmesdale's chest when he reveals his chest and sin. As well as appearing in various forms the letter...

• Word Count: 661
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Hawthorne explores the theme of a war between passion and responsibility throughout The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth are all each individually caught in a struggle between passion and responsibility. However, it is Roger Chillingworth who best manifests this internal struggle. As a result of Pynne's and Dimmesdale's affair, Chillingworth becomes torn between his responsibilities to them and his selfish desire to seek revenge ... on them. Chillingworth's desire for revenge ... merely exist in the shadows. Hester Prynne, Author Dimmesdale, and R...

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... have a deep respect for the law of God and a hatred for those who break it, which is why they have such harsh punishments when the law is broken (Source A). When Hester Pryne is announced for committing adultery, she must pay the price for the sin she has made. However, in the Puritan Society, their views can also be seen as hypocritical ... is filled with vengeance once he discovers Dimmesdale's true identity (Source C). He makes his life goal to get revenge on the two lovers for the pain they have caused him. However, throughout the novel, Chillingworth learns to show forgiveness for ...

• Word Count: 707
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• Grade Level: High School

Stephanie Jensen "Sin and Its Engulfing Role in the Community" ~An Analytical Essay~ In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses significant themes and Puritan ideals, such as the concept of sin. In the first chapter, Hawthorne indicates that the colony set land aside for the cemetery and the prison. This shows that the colonists knew there would be serious sin that required punishment, and that ... that she is proud of her sin rather than ashamed of herself. On the contrary, Hester accepts the sin and her scarlet letter as part of herself, in the same way she accepts Pearl. Pearl's ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... A goes from its original meaning of adultery, to meaning able. For Hester, being called able amongst the townsfolk is beyond a regular compliment. After being a complete outcast from the town and all its inhabitants, being respected by her peers is an amazing accomplishment for Hester. A third symbol Hawthorne uses in The Scarlet Letter is Pearl, Hester's daughter. She is her mothers pride, salvation, integrity, and devotion. ... Pearl's personality is a direct reflection of her meaning to Hester. Pearl is, oddly enough, the reason her mother is put in the situation she is put in ... e...

• Word Count: 777
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• Grade Level: High School

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is often interpreted by some readers as a tale of sin. However, the novel is much more a love story between Hester Prynne and Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale then anything else. Through the strong emphasis of love, Pearl's presence and Dimmesdale's Torture, the reader can identify the novel as a tale of romance. Commonly ... mind that she hates Roger because she loves Arthur Dimmesdale. Much like the town meeting, this scene was set up by the sin of adultery and Roger's revenge but only to later emphasize the romance between Arthur and Hester. In addition to t...

• Word Count: 767
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter By: Nathaniel Hawthorne Period 4 Adv. English 11 November 2, 1999 The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn begins by dealing with Hester Prynne's crime and sentence. She shows herself to be a proud woman in how she embroiders her bright red "A" with golden thread to be displayed to her community. She is a skilled ... this helped him gain "friendship" with Dimmesdale. Although I didn't understand at first that Chillingworth was actually poisoning Dimmesdale while he was supposed to be treating him, this aspect of his revenge made more sense, as I got further into the book. ...

• Word Count: 1043
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Suffering is a major theme in The Scarlet Letter; all the characters are affected by their own agony. Nathaniel Hawthorne suggests that suffering is necessary to be remorseful. Suffering ruins Roger Chillingworth, while it aids Hester Prynne in becoming rueful. When Arthur Dimmesdale finally confesses, his suffering assists him to be contrite as well. If Hester does not suffer, she will not become contrite or learn from ... her relief; it is only self-punishment and acts to erase the sin. From the suffering, as a whole, she learns to feel remorseful and repentant of her sin. Suffering and re...

• Word Count: 695
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• Grade Level: High School