In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the letter A is given to the characters Hester and Dimmesdale. According to the law of the Puritan society and the strict interpretation of the Bible, adultery is one of the deadliest sins that led to the deadliest punishment - execution or corporal punishment. The letter A came to symbolize different things for each character. For Hester, the Scarlet Letter symbolizes her adultery and for Dimmesdale, it is a reminder of his hidden sin. The characters are ... " (Hawthorne 109). Dimmesdale tries to confess his sin to the community during h...

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... is thereof death" (Hawthorne 56). Different cultural upbringings and different thoughts influence truths to be understood differently. The Puritan belief encompasses that an adulterer must be put to death, yet instead, the ministers did not enforce their laws completely like the way it was meant to be. In a sense they did kill her, not by hanging, but by turning her and her child ... attempt to protect Minister Dimmesdale. Pearl and Hester are "tainted" because they have sinned and once a woman's reputation is sullied it is nearly impossible to clean it up. Society judges women quickly ...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... were not permitted to cut their hair, and when out in public they must wear a scarf. During the 1850's Puritan goals were to purify the Church of England (Internet Source 2). To purify the Church of England would require rules that allow little room for tolerance. "Spare the rod, spoil the child"(KJV, Proverbs) was abused. If one did not go by their standards they may very well ... would argue that Dimmesdale was not a father, most would have to disagree. It is not that he was not a father, for Pearl was the evidence of the act he committed. However, the reality was that he was not a go...

• Word Count: 2000
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... ). This only seeks to add an increasing amount of depth and understanding of the character Hester. While she was facing a considerable amount of hardship and misfortune during her life in Boston, it was the time in which she truly found her own identity and place in the Puritan society. No matter how unconventional the means were by which she achieved this status, she did so completely on ... her own. Coming back to the place where such dark times are a highlighted part of her ... her being completely disrespected by the society that she lives in, and by the end she is earning their rig...

• Word Count: 1347
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School