... they [should not] not go there. If man dislikes "black night and yawning chasms,"2 then should he not even consider them? Shouldn't man seek out the sunshine, instead? The remedy is very simple: Avoid the darkness and seek the light. But, no. Mankind would never submit to this. He ... did not understand much about their universe. In a vain attempt to explain what befell them, the Puritans built up "such personifications [and] marvelous interpretations"32 as to reveal their own morbid fascination with the unnatural. Arthur Miller's The Crucible best illustrates this hypocritical attractio...

• Word Count: 3126
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between."(Act 3) Here Danforth demonstrates the emotion that puritans felt toward insubordination and defiance of Puritan lifestyle. Reverend Parris, one of characters who seek power within all the hysteria that has swept the town, is a prime example of a Puritan. Parris takes this time, now that every one is concerned ... experience allows the townspeople to see how it is to really be human and that committing sins is a forgivable part of human life. For example Hester and Dimmesdale prove to the townspeople that they don't ...

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

Sin and Guilt Eats Away It's hard to hide an illegitimate child in a small Puritan community. When Hester Prynne, the principle character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, a married woman whose ... husband was long away, gave birth to a daughter in her town of Cornhill, she was clearly identified as a sinner. As soon as her sin became public knowledge, she was punished for being an adulterer. And ... let the sin destroy her inner spirit. Wearing the scarlet letter had the long-term effect of helping Hester surmount her guilt, gather her strength and bravery, and move on with life. What...

• Word Count: 1175
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Ultimately Roger Chillingworth comes to represent true evil. Roger Chillingworth's outlook throughout the story and his actions were very dependant upon his need for revenge. His vow to seek revenge had a negative affect on his life and the lives of others around him. Lastly, his fatal flaw led him to suffer dire ... Furthermore, Chillingworth's major flaw has had many negative affects on the lives of others as well. To begin, the one that Chillingworth wanted to seek revenge on was Dimmesdale. At this point in the story Chillingworth thinks but is not sure that Dimmesdale is Pearls fat...

• Word Count: 1529
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... which determines right or wrong" (Webster's, 273). If someone does something that is morally wrong, then it is left on his or her conscience and they begin to feel guilty for the wrong they have done. If they feel guilt, then they suffer greatly throughout their lives, from lots ... do manage to drop their guilt and clear their conscience become productive members of society because they have reconnected with the rest of the human race. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the decision of the characters to either admit or hide the truth determines the quality of ... their liv...

• Word Count: 914
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . I believe Hester is the main character because without her, there would not be a novel. Reverend Dimmesdale would not have any sin to hide that would almost cause him death by not admitting to the sin. Pearl would have not been conceived. Lastly, Roger Chillingsworth would not have ... caused himself an early death by making it his sole purpose in life to seek revenge on Reverend Dimmesdale for inpregnating Hester. Hester travels through the story becoming only a shadow of her former self because of the sin she ... America, Hester settled in Salem, Massachusetts. She was soon employed ...

• Word Count: 481
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... his purpose to life soon changes to torturing Dimmesdale. He does admit he was wrong marrying Hester without expressions of love. But never wrong that he would seek revenge. "-what had I to do it youth and beauty like thine own! Misshapened from my birthhour, how could I delude myself with the idea that intellectual gifts might veil physical deformity in a young girl's fantasy ... me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life." Pg. 65. For Dimmesdale, he is ...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... character. Hawthorne represents Hester Prynne as having moral flaws, but in the end she is a good person. (Bloom 22). As Orson Scott Card remarks in Characters and Viewpoints, "The character story emerges when some part of a character's role in life becomes unbearable." (53). This is apparent in The Scarlet Letter because Hester ... that it is morally wrong. Hester's decision regarding Pearl reveals her high moral principles as a Puritan. By upholding her morals, she keeps her daughter and moves to an isolated cottage away from society. After Hester moves away from the village, the Purit...

• Word Count: 1429
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... walked down the street from the prison to the scaffold, the narrator talks about her realization of how foolish and cowardly she would be if she were to try to hide her mark with the product of her sin, her baby girl. She carries off her initial sentence of being ... quite imagine being in Hester's position with the kind of disgrace she was faced with. The narrator describes Hester as totally losing her womanly appeal and beauty over the seven years of condemnation. Roger Chillingworth confused me greatly until near the conclusion of the book. When he visited Hester I was ... have rais...

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

... same thing, the excessively devout town in which the setting takes place. The conflict in The Scarlet Letter that occurs between Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth is caused by the townintolerance for sinners. Hesterlife is spent in complete loneliness because of the way the town treats her. Chillingworth, ... have personally harmed him. Chillingworth tries to gain revenge on Dimmesdale, the man who commits adultery with his wife. The towndesire to seek out and personally condemn sinners is also the source of conflict in The Crucible. In The Crucible, the townspeople hunt out the witc...

• Word Count: 1327
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors." (50) She is not proud of what she has done, ... to their questioning "Never!... I will not speak!... And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!" (64) Hester's angry youth and pride however soon begins to fade as she recognizes her responsibility to her child and her need for repentance. After several ...

• Word Count: 785
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of Adultery, one public and one private. Hester Prynne, the bearer of the scarlet letter in public, is the central character of the book. However, the suspense of the story revolves around Dimmesdale and his private mark of adultery. Antagonist The antagonist is the effort to hide the identify of the ... male adulterer, who is Pearl's father. Both Hester and Dimmesdale fight to keep the identity a secret, but for very different ... governor in Boston for several terms. He first appears during the scaffold scene and addresses Hester. Later, Hester approaches him to seek his help in retain...

• Word Count: 1929
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School