... at her daughter and then fingers the scarlet letter which will remain a part of her from now on. At the thought of her future, she squeezes her daughter so hard that the child cries out in pain. Chapter Three: The Recognition Summary On the edge of the crowd Hester notices ... of hypocrisy as regards the scarlet letter are, "a venerable minister or magistrate," people who are viewed as models of "piety and justice." Chapter Six: Pearl Summary Hawthorne discusses the choice of the name Pearl. He indicates that Hester chose the name to represent something of great value- ... widely diffu...

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• Grade Level: High School

... a clearer and a complete meaning of 'Rappaccini's Daughter', we will try to link between some symbols in the story and the writer's life. Among the tools which helped us reveal part of the hidden meanings are the short story, some biographies, and some criticism. In other words, light will be cast on symbolic elements of culture, settings, characters, and events in ... between Beatrice's and Sophia's purity, and love relationships in 'Rappaccinni's Daughter' and in Nathaniel Hawthorne's life. Beatrice not only symbolizes Sophia, but she also symbolizes Hawthorne. Thus, in this...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . When viewed in a mirror no longer its Hester's beauty the first thing we notice, but rather Hester's "A" has now become the most noticeable part of not only her physical features, but her spiritual being. The reflection of Pearl Prynne in the mirror uncovers her hard shell and brings out the ... a smile, and never with malice in them." This quote shows that Hester sometimes regrets Pearl's birth. Nathaniel Hawthorne's use of mirrors plays a crucial part in portraying the hidden side of Pearl Prynne. Pearl is shown in a negative light, the town viewed her as a child of witchcraft and evi...

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... - (74). As the story progresses we see Dimmesdale become weaker physically, due to his moral torment ", who's health had severly suffered" (119). In Chapter 8, we see him through Hester's eyes, as a man who "Looked now more careworn and emanciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester ... , or whatever the cause might be, his large dark eyes had a world of pain in their troubled and melancholy depth" (124). For a large part of the novel Dimmesdale becomes both, very sick physically and mentally, as a result of Chillingworth's "friendly care". Chillingworth, Hester's wronged husb...

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• Grade Level: High School

... secret that Priscilla was her sister would be one possibility, but if we are meant to believe, as I believe we are, Zenobia's assertion in the chapter "The Three Together- on the night that Zenobia kills herself that "It is only three days since I knew the strange fact that threatens to make ... winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart. (Irving 71) The first part of this description sounds very much like the early relationship of Priscilla to Zenobia discussed earlier, but as the book progresses, this f...

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... the role model they have, in their minds Reverend Dimmesdale is a saint and he is their guide or path to heaven. Hester Prynne follows the puritan idea on idleness. In chapter 5 page 56, Hawthorne describes Hester making richly embroidered clothing at all hours for public officials. "Deep ruffs, painfully wrought bands, and gorgeously embroidered gloves"- "-there was a frequent and characteristic ... demand for such labor as Hester Prynne could supply." In addition she kept herself busy by caring for the sick and dying such as Governor Winthrop. In chapter 12 page 105, Hester is describ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... The Machine in the Garden. Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (New York 1964) Chapter 1: "Sleepy Hollow, 1844" Leo Marx" The Machine in the Garden is considered one of the landmarks in American cultural/literary studies. Whereas Marx" study is on the one hand part of a long tradition, highlighting the contrast between the ideal Arcadia and the corrupting influences of ... certain products of the collective imagination meet"). Literary expressions range from Washington Irving to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville (Moby Dick), and Twain (Huckleberry Finn), to "contemporaries" such as...

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... The Machine in the Garden. Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (New York 1964) Chapter 1: "Sleepy Hollow, 1844" Leo Marx" The Machine in the Garden is considered one of the landmarks in American cultural/literary studies. Whereas Marx" study is on the one hand part of a long tradition, highlighting the contrast between the ideal Arcadia and the corrupting influences of ... certain products of the collective imagination meet"). Literary expressions range from Washington Irving to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville (Moby Dick), and Twain (Huckleberry Finn), to "contemporaries" such as...

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... her punishment with dignity, grace, and ever-growing strength of character. From the moment Hester Prynne is introduced into the plot of The Scarlet Letter in chapter 2, "The Marketplace", the reader realizes she is very prideful and strong. As an adulteress, she is forced to endure ignominy from her peers and ... Scarlet Letter. The best example of this courage is her willingness to stay in Boston, the town where both the sin and punishment took place. In chapter 5, Hester arrives at a reason for her to continue to be a resident of New England, Here, she said to herself had been the sc...

• Word Count: 909
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• Grade Level: High School

... is quite frequently, Hawthorne conveys formal and proper language which assists the reader in understanding the Puritan culture and the ancestry of the Boston inhabitants. In chapter 23, Roger Chillingworth kneels down toward the dying Reverend Dimmesdale and says "Thou hast escaped me!" In response, the reverend says, "Thou, too, ... Man" when Hibbins says, "Will thou [Pearl] ride with me, some fine night, to see thy father?" The mistress is even "present" in chapter 12 when Dimmesdale appears on the scaffold. Although Hawthorne writes that "The minister beheld there the appearance of a...

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... her punishment with dignity, grace, and ever-growing strength of character. From the moment Hester Prynne is introduced into the plot of The Scarlet Letter in chapter 2, "The Marketplace", the reader realizes she is very prideful and strong. As an adulteress, she is forced to endure ignominy from her peers and ... Scarlet Letter. The best example of this courage is her willingness to stay in Boston, the town where both the sin and punishment took place. In chapter 5, Hester arrives at a reason for her to continue to be a resident of New England, Here, she said to herself had been the sc...

• Word Count: 912
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... scarlet letter as a symbol of her own experiences and character. Her past sin is a part of who she is, to pretend that it never happened would mean denying a part of herself. This is reinforced in chapter twelve in a conversation with pearl: Hester character represents the very few people in the society ... though their experiences whether a sin or not, they do not allow society to judge them, but learn from their experiences, knowing that it is a part of themselves. Like Hester it is the extraordinary circumstances which she is encounters that shape them, not society's rules and disillu...

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... how the townspeople has interpreted it as 'angel' when it has been seen in the sky. Another use of symbolism is through nature that is used for the most part in the forest for this novel. The forest symbolises both good and evil, where nature manifests truth and freedom, yet can be dark, foreboding and evil. Another good example of ... the use of major element of Romanticism in the novel is in the first chapter where Hester leaves the jail house, on one side of the portal, is a rosebush. This rosebush is a powerful symbol of survival as it has survived. Throughout the novel, the ro...

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... role of Eve. He convinced Beatrice that it was a terrible thing to be poisoned and brought her a vial with a cure in it. Giovanni convinced her to drink it. In Genesis chapter 1 and 2, Eve convinced Adam to eat an apple off the tree that God had warned them to not touch which got them expelled from the garden. Therefore, Beatrice death was ... because the tree of knowledge discovered to Adam and Eve the difference between right and wrong. The flowers in Rappaccini's garden are beautiful; also, they are deadly plants. In Genesis chapter, just as God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the ...

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... , the novel opens after the sin has been committed and Pearl, the offspring of the sinful, but natural, union is three months old. As Hawthorne himself states in the opening chapter, the novel is about human weakness and its resulting sorrow. Hawthorne's focus of attention is the effect the sin has on Hester and Dimmesdale. They constantly suffer from shame and ... the fact that the most respected member of this Puritanical society, the Reverend Dimmesdale, is Hester's partner in sin. THE TITLE OF THE BOOK The title is significant to every chapter of the book, as the scarlet letter is di...

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... over anyone, let alone himself. On the contrary to Stewart's statement, it appears that Dimmesdale is actually a hypocritical coward. Worse, he is a self-confessed hypocritical coward. Dimmesdale has only one part in the whole story. His role is centered on his self-torture that he inflicts on himself because he hasn't the guts or "power" to confess. This story would not ... , not only affects the plot, but also changes it from how she allowed it to progress previously. She not only established the plot, but also aided in its transformation from chapter to chapter. The definition of a pr...

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... identity for herself as a woman, completely devoid of her past sins, and in turn is shown to be a positive and empowering role model. In the final chapter and scene of the novel, Hawthorne indicates that although life for Hester in the past was, at times, a struggle, Boston will always be her home. One ... on shaping her identity. Hester even continues to wear the scarlet letter, no longer because of its negative connotation, but because it played such a prominent part in her life that she does not wish to eliminate. Free will again comes into play in this aspect of the novel. Hester mak...

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... ~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 ... world 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 birth also implies that treasure can sometimes become the end result of sin. Hawth...

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... and a bad way. It reminds her of the affair with Dimmesdale and the committed sin, but indirectly, that reminder made her grow into a strong independent woman. The letter becomes eventually part of Hester's identity. It is rather ironic that the town's minister is the one to have committed adultery. Even though in the beginning of the book Dimmesdale comes up as ... what he did. Dimmesdale has been feeling guilty ever since Hester was shamed for the affair. He envies Hester for being able to be true to herself. For example, in chapter 17, Dimmesdale says to Hester, "Happy are you, Heste...

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... governed by the rules of Mother Nature, where things happen freely without boundaries of human control. However in the city, the rules are governed by Human themselves, which is not part of the natural order. But there was a more real life for Hester Prynne here, in New England, than in that unknown region where Pearl had found a home. Here had been ... the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, and yet with reverence, too. This passage appears in the final chapter. It concludes with the book's theme of individual iden...

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... to Chillingworth. This is disturbing as he has resorted to mutilation instead of confessing. The letter on his chest also represents that his sin will never leave because it is a part of his body rather than Hester's is only a piece of cloth. Before that, Chillingworth keeps digging into Dimmesdale's soul to try to "cure" him, when he is really trying to ... he does not have to suffer anymore. However other symbols show that he is not redeemed because the scarlet letter was engraved into him, showing that it will always be a part of him and also when he talks to Hester about how they wi...

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... story, the 'A' is a symbol of her guilt and shame. It represents the sin Hester has committed, and is a constant reminder of that sin to both herself and the community. In chapter five, Hawthorne writes "Another peculiar torture was felt in the gaze of a new eye. When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter, "and none ever failed to do so ... a scarlet A on this bare chest.  Upon admitting his guilt at his death, "Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell ...

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Coping with Sin The first mention of sin in the bible is mentioned in the fifth chapter of Romans, written by Paul. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have ... an elderly woman muttered, "I don't like it. He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face." "Our parson has gone mad! cried Goodman Gray" (210). The strangest part from the effect of the veil is that it influences his whole image, and makes him appear ghost like from head to foot. Surely, all the people who came in ... ...

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... a scientist, he found a way of going about getting this revenge. Chillingworth is the "man of science", characterized by pure intellect and reason with no concerns or feelings about others. In chapter 9, Hawthorne describes the scarcity of Chillingworth's scientific peers in the New World: "Skillful men, of the medical profession were of rare occurrence in the colony. " These men of science have ... out of shame. He was no longer capable of bearing the grief that infected him. It surprises me that Chillingworth never considered forgiving Arthur Dimmesdale for pursuing love- a perfectly ...

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... joyless, but essentially evil. (Bloom 13-14, 97, 100) The person that is affected most by the scarlet letter is Hester Prynne, for many very obvious reasons. It is a large part of her daily life, and each of her actions is watched very closely by the community. Because of her public shame and constant ridicule, Hester becomes an outcast to society ... implies that he should wear the mask of shame like Hester does, even though the community interprets the "A" in the sky as angel, marking Governor Winthrop's entry to heaven. In Chapter 10 of the novel, Chillingworth discovers what is beli...

• Word Count: 1366
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• Grade Level: High School