... pillory. During Hester's first encounter with the pillory, just after she is released from prison bearing the scarlet A, her reception by the townspeople is defined as "Meagre, indeed, and cold, was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ... ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself" (Hawthorne ). The words "meagre", "cold", and "sympathy" represent the insufficiency of the townspeople's empath...

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

... had the reputation for strong discipline, their religious beliefs, and harsh punishment for those defying their beliefs. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that portrays the Puritans as cold and unfeeling. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne goes to detail on how revenge can be a powerful force. In "The Scarlet Letter" Nathaniel Hawthorne presents three main characters that commit evil ... , where each act is at a different degree of sinfulness. These three sinners (in the eyes of the Puritan community) are: the beautiful Hester Prynne, the esteemed Reverend Dimmes...

• Word Count: 881
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man's revenge has blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart." Hester and Arthur are sinners but not as bad as Chillinworth, because he has "violated in ... cold blood" which, is according to Puritan society (Encarta) is an unpardonable sin. Hawthorne writes in The Scarlet Letter, that if a person sins they cannot go back and change what they ... ...

• Word Count: 647
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... sins get worse as the story goes on. These three sinners, in the eyes of the puritan community are the beautiful Hester Prynne, the esteemed Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and the cold-hearted doctor, Roger Chillingworth. Like Hawthorne, I believe that evil is the nature of man but that there are different magnitudes of evil; some choose to fight it, like Hester, and ... , Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hes...

• Word Count: 1211
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... between the two of them and for Pearl, their daughter. Darkness and light symbolize the ongoing struggle between good and evil. The darkness is generally associated with Chillingworth, and the cold acts of revenge he exacts on Dimmesdale. The light stands for truth and purity and Pearl's free nature. A major theme in the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the consequence ... , Chillingworth's physical deformities become more noticeable. This causes the town's people to gradually separate from him. Dimmesdale says that Chillingworth's sin is even greater than his and Hester's becaus...

• Word Count: 2338
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... was a poor man and could not afford a train ticket, suicide seemed to be the only solution of getting away from Zeena. Ethan and Mattie planed on crashing their sled into a tree suspecting it would kill them, but it only left Mattie Crippled from the neck down and Ethan with a horrible limp. In Hester's case the result of her affair was a child ... ...

• Word Count: 560
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... to know it" (194) Pearl also fit in with natural things, including the forest, as seen in many parts of the novel. " A squirrel, from the lofty depths of his domestic tree, chattered either in anger or merriment, -- for the squirrel is such a choleric and humorous little personage, that it is hard to distinguish between his moods, -- so he chattered at the ... ...

• Word Count: 2041
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... is the idea that for the city to be prosperous each person will have to do more physically and spiritually for each other and the community as a whole. Though this overall design is good for Christians it does not encompass religious freedom for all. Winthrop later in the document states that if they stray from the set path and worship other ... , the puritans would not accept Williams" brand of religious freedom. The pilgrims and Winthrop's beliefs embodied the freedom of denomination and worship in Christ, however they lacked the freedom of overall worship, praise, and denomination in ...

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... " (Wagonner 154). There were also a few other elements added to the effect of his fiction such as irony and witchcraft. Neither one of these was major, but contributed to the overall effect and helped in conveying the themes. Hawthorne uses irony in the sense that the reader assumes something has happened, because there are small clues, but Hawthorne never comes right ... ancestors" (Moore 37). There are many elements in all of Hawthorne's works that accumulate to convey his points and themes. Each one plays a very important part in contributing to the overall effect of Hawthorne's seemi...

• Word Count: 3188
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• 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 and most importantly to the novel. ... plays their own part to show their significance to the basic story of the novel. Which hints that the minor characters of The Scarlet Letter play significant roles to the overall theme of the no...

• Word Count: 1147
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... it's time for a description of the solemn way Puritans observe any act of punishment, from the execution of a hardened criminal to a child's whipping, all "solemnity of demeanour" and "meager and cold" The second scaffold scene focuses on Dimmesdale, the minister and Hester's lover. It occurred really early in the morning when the sun wasn't up and only few people awake. Nobody ... ...

• Word Count: 560
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... a new colony was by no means an easy transition and adjustment for these people. They were in a new land with new rules, new resources, and new neighbors. The colony faced a cold winter in shabbily built homes with a famine that led settlers to eat mussels and acorns to live. By spring, Puritans learned to depend on farming as a necessity for survival. Everyday ... ...

• Word Count: 1790
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... plays with her daughter, appreciates her. It creates a moral backdrop where nothing is expected of anyone, where everyone is accepted and differences are forgotten. The common people are sober and cold, and are unforgiving. The women begrudge Hester for her youth and beauty. The men thinks she makes unwise decisions. They don't realize that she was abandoned, they just listen to ... ...

• Word Count: 995
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... 's role in Puritan society. Mary was made to do hard work as punishment, this was something that she had never encountered in her Christian society. One night when Mary was cold she moved a stick from the fire to keep her warm. According to Mary, "a squaw moved it down again, at which I looked, and she threw a handful of ashes in mine eyes ... ...

• Word Count: 1420
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Hester, but instead lets her live with the shame of her crime. Dimmesdale tells Hester that "the old mans revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart." (1345) This statement shows how demonic Chillingworth has become, and he will follow them to the ends of the earth to fulfill his longing ... ...

• Word Count: 759
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the Puritans to the prison. It is such a contrast that allows a development of sympathy on Prynne's behalf. The women in the assemblage outside the prison doors can be described as cold and haughty, and the almost holier-than-you attitude that the women use to suggest greater violent torture for Prynne all attribute to the coldness of the women. Hawthorne includes ... ...

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

The British didn't see much promise in early Northern colonial America -They left it to the crazy french -This place had rocky shores, cold long winters, short growing seasons, no mining possibilities, no major cash crops NEW ENGLAND -Life in England wasn't great, and with even worse times ahead many were driven to New ... ...

• Word Count: 793
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... her beauty came back"(191). By freezing her world into a small circle containing only Pearl and herself, she shields the two of them from the scorn of an upright and cold society. Through her life of suffering, she emerges a stronger person, a "with a woman's strength" better able to handle life's painful moments (150). Hester's strength of character in public her way of ... ...

• Word Count: 1594
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• Grade Level: High School

... witches at the stake, thieves in the stocks, or a murderer hanging from the gallows. In The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold was viewed more as a place of judgment, "Meagre, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such by-standers, at the scaffold- (Hawthorne 63). Indeed, the scaffold was used for castigation, but it was also a place of ... ...

• Word Count: 723
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• Grade Level: High School

... order to preserve my well-being I made a jester for her to keep quiet. Not fully knowing or understanding what was going on I asked a man beside me. He gave me the cold particulars of the terrible story and from then on I was determined to find out who the father to Hester's baby was. Over the course of many years I became apart of ... ...

• Word Count: 816
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... . She's an outcast herself, just like her mother symbolizing the sin itself, constantly reminding both Hester and Dimmesdale of what they have done. Her strange behavior has her seem like a cold, un-real elf like creature, but as her father, Dismmesdale, who first denied he is her father, acknowledges that she is his daughter; she transforms and is no longer elf ... ...

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

... us against the dangers of allowing oneself to believe that all is well when we are in fact under attack. Both works are similar, the fact that their tone is cold and calculating, and utterly precise in the analysis of just what God's wrath is and why you don't want it to be directed at you. Their main point was giving ... ...

• Word Count: 746
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• Grade Level: High School

... with fear because of the stories that had been told about disease and starvation. The men and women who decided to make the journey endured the heat of summer, the cold of winter and the shortage of food. The harder dilemmas were those having to do with their new found religious freedom. They had the freedom to govern themselves as good ... ...

• Word Count: 1239
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... sin that a human being can commit? How is sin measured? Is it homicide, adultery, or robbery? "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne have theme that is very substantial to the overall effect of the novel. In essence, this is a story of sin, punishment and the importance of certainty and truthfulness. One theme which plays a big role in "The Scarlet Letter" is ... ...

• Word Count: 778
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Winthrop struggles with life as a family man, church member, and leader. He had little time for his family as he gathered ships and passengers for his journey to New England. Overall, Winthrop develops into a greatly talented leader who was respected by many Puritans. The time Winthrop served in office he came under criticism from time to time. He was mostly criticized ... ...

• Word Count: 751
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School