... art, as in life, to trust intuition rather than analytical reason." Author of Hawthorne's Conception of the Creative Process, Richard J. Jacobsen, also goes on to say " on the intuitions of its great and warm heart, the conclusions thus attained are often so profound and so unerring, as to possess the character of truths supernaturally revealed" (Jacobsen pg. 18). It states here that tru! sting your intuition ... you. Morality and what is ethical also plays a necessary part to the development in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. "The mind's eye, or the imagination, is the instrument of mo...

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... reasons to stay alive and healthy for her. These are the reasons that the tone in The Scarlet Letter was generally positive and optimistic. Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in third person, but being as Hester is the main character, he tells the story through her point of view and her standpoint on the situation. He also uses a lot of symbolism. For example, the character Pearl was mostly all symbolism. Pearl is a symbol ... of her parents' sin, her parents' love, their passion, and their crime. Hawthorne carried the ... ...

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... they committed adultery together. Hester Prynne says to the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, "[t]hou wast my pastor, and hadst charge of my soul, and knowest me better than these men can"(Hawthorne 104; ch.8). Another ironic conversation is that of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth speaking about another sinner. Chillingworth is indirectly placing blame on Dimmesdale, while Dimmesdale is busy defending his ... silence about his sin. Neither man actually acknowledges switching the conversation from merely hypothetical to speaking of their own lives. Dimmesdale says, "[p]erchance he earnestly desired i...

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... , spirit, courage, and character could be victorious in battles where physical strength could never triumph. The shame Hester first felt when she wore the scarlet letter was almost unbearable. Instead of lying down to die, Hester took the scarlet letter and put it to good use. She used the crime sewn into the scarlet letter to allow her to pay penance and to suffer punishment. She sewed clothes and gave food ... startled to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped." How many people do we know who could keep such a proud,...

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... ! Love ... must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance that it overflows upon the outward world" (186). Extending this metaphor of the radiance of ! love, Hawthorne often refers to Hester's scarlet letter as glowing and thus figuratively lighting up the dark and cruel world around it. When Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold, connected to Hester by Pearl, another symbol ... Chillingworth's torture. "But for [his] aid, [Dimmesdale's] life would have burned away in torments;" by prolonging his life, Chillingworth allows the minister to confess before his death (157)....

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... . Rev. ed. New York: Free Press, 1965. Pg. 53. Johnson, Claudia. Understanding the Scarlet Letter: A Student Casebook for Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. New York: Greenwood Publishing Croup Inc., 1995. Pg.2. Leone, Bruno. Readings on the Scarlet Letter. San Diego: Green Haven Press Inc., 1998. Pg. 93. Matthiessen, F. O. "The Scarlet Letter." American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1941. Pg ... . 242-282. Reprinted. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 198...

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The Scarlet Letter Essay In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, there are many different themes portrayed throughout the book. Hawthorne develops these themes through many different symbols in his novel. Besides the obvious symbol being the Scarlet Letter, you can find many other examples of Hawthorne's use of color. The colors that he repeats in the book besides red are gray, gold, green, and black. Gray represents the strict Puritan society. Gold represents passion ... forest. Hawthorne also describes Hester's new life as "a tuft of green moss on a crumbling wall." The green mo...

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... , and as living reminders of human foibles. The symbols used in this book are the scarlet letter, Pearl, and the rosebush next to the rusted prison door. The scarlet letter was a stigma worn by someone who had committed a sinful act many Puritan settlements. The Puritans believed that public humiliation was a just punishment for these offenders. Hester was forced to wear the letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life, for having an ... a mark of significant importance and status. In due time, the letter became just that. When Hester returned to the community from England, she retri...

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... , 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 Hester's breast the letter "A" is presented in several forms. It is on the armor breastplate in Governor Bellingham's garden, in the sky on the night of Dimmesdale's scaffold vigil, continually little Pearl is pictured to be the scarlet letter personified, and the most dramatic of the ... "A"'s is that which is on Dimmesdale ... ...

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... 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 the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with ... believe that her punishment is enough and that she should no longer wear the scarlet letter. A few pages later, Hawthorne writes, "The scarlet letter had not done its office." (Pg 110) As the book goes...

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... in the Scarlet Letter. They suffer with the guilt of the sin of adultery that they committed. At the time, the Puritans looked down on this type of sin. Hester and Dimmesdale can be compared and contrast in the way they handled their scarlet letter, their cowardliness, and their belief of what the afterlife is. Hester and Dimmesdale both bear a scarlet letter but the way they handle it is different. Hester's scarlet letter is a piece of clothing, the "SCARLET LETTER ... , so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom" (Hawthorn 51). Dimmesdale on the other hand, has a scarl...

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... meanings of Hester's scarlet letter. Although the sense of the meaning "adulteress" is constant, the metaphoric, emotional, and moralistic meanings of the scarlet letter vary from positive to negative interpretations throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. The Puritan community was a dark, strict society, feeling indifferent to the humanity of the woman standing before them on the scaffold, with her infant daughter against her chest. The beautifully embroidered letter does not glow in the eyes of the people. The letter shapes the way they look ... at Hester and the way ... ...

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Scarlet Letter Essay Guilt in The Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter guilt and its effects are a constant theme. The story is based on the results of guilt as an effect of sin. The first character who is exposed to this guilt is Hester, who struggles more openly with this problem. On the other hand the Reverend Dimmesdale suffers alone with a searing guilt which ultimately leads to his demise. Hester is the most immediately ... affected by guilt, which is openly shown to the public by the scarlet letter, that she bears on her clothing. Another visible sign of her...

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10.09.01 Scarlet Letter Essay Guilt in The Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter guilt and its effects are a constant theme. The story is based on the results of guilt as an effect of sin. The first character who is exposed to this guilt is Hester, who struggles more openly with this problem. On the other hand the Reverend Dimmesdale suffers alone with a searing guilt which ultimately leads ... to his demise. Hester is the ... most immediately affected by guilt, which is openly shown to the public by the scarlet letter, that she bears on her clothing. Another visib...

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... of Puritan society. Therefore, Pearl assumes a position as the living version of Hester's scarlet letter, being sometimes decorated in red and embroidered in gold, where even Hester, the child's mother, knows what she represents, as seen on page 109. "She is my happiness! - She is my torture, none the less! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a million ... of her mother's actions and faults and serves as a reminder of Hester's sin, and is more of a punishment than a blessing, and should have the same place as the scarlet letter which ...

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... writes "a lovely and immortal flower." Pearl, to Hester, was a flower, at sometimes she was very happy, joyful, and full of life and color but on other days she was "wilting" which brought Hester much grief. In The Scarlet Letter it shows how if a person sins against God, he/ she will pay for what they did, even through that particular sin. Pearl brought some joy ... 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 introspect...

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"The Scarlet Letter" Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote "The Scarlet Letter" in 1850 in the highly religious area of New England. When it was written many people judged the novel solely on its story telling, whereas ignoring the loads of hidden themes that Hawthorne placed in the novel. "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne has many different themes contained in the novel, but the themes of Puritanism vs. Romanticism and the theme of reflection are the most prevalent. The Scarlet Letter is chock full ... in which she had been wont to gaze at it." Hester knows that from now on the image in the mi...

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... that Pearl deserves to have beautiful clothing. Another representation of Hester's love for Pearl is when Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale finish their conversation in the forest. Hester takes the scarlet letter off her breast, and throws her ignominy into the dirt. The world of which Hester has dreamed seems to have become a reality, and she is ready for it. Unfortunately, Pearl's tantrum shatters this fantasy ... Hester wants the letter to be her history, she knows that the scornful object will be her destiny. " I must bear its torture yet a little longer- (Hawthorne 207). Hester Prynne st...

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... out during daylight. Wearing her sin on her chest caused her to be isolated by the townspeople. They are all hypocrites for being the same 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 ... purity. Pearl, who has not committed any great sins nor does he hold herself back from anything, is always portrayed with the light shining on her. When Hester removes her scarlet le...

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... stories. Nathaniel Hawthorne strayed from this redundant theme in his story The Scarlet Letter. There are many different opinions as to what the main story, motive, or point of The Scarlet Letter is. Some believe it is about sin and adultery. Some contest it is about love. Others state Hawthorne was commenting on the laws of the Puritan communities. All of these may be correct. Hawthorne himself ... favorite subject of Hawthorne's as he recalls "Dimmesdale's temptation to blight a young girl's innocence with a single word" (123) and compares it to Hawthorne considering "The Scarlet Lette...

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... give of her little substance to every demand of poverty- (157) After seven hard, long years in disgrace, the scarlet letter began to take on a new meaning. Townspeople looked at Hester differently, as she contributed so much to their society. "They had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but ... of her many good deeds since. The scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun's bosom." (148) Due to Hester's caring and considerate virtues, the scarlet letter no longer stood for adultery and ali...

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... chapter we see a plant which stands out, "But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered with its delicate gems" (Hawthorne). This rosebush is like Hester, for it too stands out as wild and different. She wears her scarlet letter among the solemnly dressed Puritans as this rosebush wears its scarlet blossoms amidst a small plot of grass and weeds ... come of this, which is why it forebodes evil. Later on in that same scene, Hester and Dimmesdale decide to escape together. In a moment of joy, Hester removes the scarlet letter and tosses it...

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... this when Pearl points out, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom" (138). This is evidence that the scarlet letter is the cause of Hester's darkness. Later in the book, Hester is in the forest and she throws the scarlet letter off of her bosom. When she throws it on the ground, "forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into ... the obscure forest" (152). This represents how light accepts Hester only after ... ...

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... source of torment. The vagueness of the symbol, however, allows its meaning to evolve as the novel progresses, thus "the scarlet letter had not done its office" (Hawthorne 160). Later on, the letter comes to stand for "Able," as Hester is "Able" to Talbert 5 overcome hardship, Talbert 5 live through the shame, and thrive in the hypocritical Puritan society. Towards the end of her life, the letter grows to mean "Angel", and "the scarlet letter ceased to be ... a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness"(Hawthorne ... ...

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... the public's humiliation, Hester also receives the punishment of wearing a red scarlet letter A on her chest, which stands for adultery. As beautiful as this symbol is, it "was red-hot with infernal fire" (Hawthorne 82). The letter not only symbolizes the humiliation of the public, but also the deep burn that guilt evokes. The children in the village are taught to look at the woman who bears the scarlet letter "as the figure, the body, the ... of her mother. As she grows, her personality changes in the reader's mind to be pure because of her amiable nature. Pearl symbolizes the scarlet ...

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