Essay: Public Humiliation and The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter deals with the controversial issue of adultery in puritan society. ... However, the Scarlet Letter raises the question of whether or not public humiliation is an appropriate and effective form of retribution for those who have committed crimes. ... Hester sees the scarlet letter as a representation of her character. ... To remove the scarlet letter would be like denying a part of her identity. ... Therefore, the scarlet letter was ineffective in changing the way either character felt. ...

• Word Count: 402
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, "The Scarlet Letter," the major characters revolve around the letter mentioned in the title. ... The townspeople question Hester on who the father of the child is, and she refuses to tell them. ... For example, in chapter 17, Dimmesdale says to Hester, "Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! ... Wilson asks Pearl an essential Puritan questions: "Who made thee?... In conclusion, the scarlet letter "A" on Hester's chest is the biggest symbol in the book, along with Pearl. ...

• Word Count: 958
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

She continues to wear the scarlet letter there. ... The novel begins to seek into the heart and conscience of Arthur Dimmesdale when Roger Chillingworth questions him about his thoughts on sinners and their secrets. ... The Scarlet Letter is overflowing with symbolism. ... The Scarlet Letter "A" is the central symbol of the novel. ... The scarlet letter also forges a link between the characters. ...

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

She is forced to sew a scarlet-colored letter on the front of her dress in plain view of anyone who might encounter her. ... Hester derives her sense of self-identity from the Scarlet Letter. ... Her fabrication of the Scarlet Letter evokes indignation and resentment from the townspeople. ... Why did she not leave and begin her life anew without the stigma of the Scarlet Letter? ... One would reasonably question such a seemingly unprecedented response. ...

• Word Count: 1295
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter is a wonderful piece of literary work. ... The various types of characters in The Scarlet Letter help create a dim feeling to readers. ... Hester's doubt about her promise to Chillingworth in not to reveal the name of her husband led Hester to ask such a question. ... The Scarlet Letter was a book that met all guidelines and does not require any editing. The Scarlet Letter was a novel that can be beneficial to students in the future. ...

• Word Count: 789
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter is a book revealing lives of sin, social identity, and humanity. ... Through the crowd's remarks and the narration of Hester's thoughts, it can be concluded that the scarlet letter stands for "adulteress." ... The latter turns away and begins inquiring about Hester. ... Pearl delights in the scarlet letter and enjoys emphasizing the symbol on her mother's breast. In fact, it is said that when Pearl was a baby, the first feature she noticed about her mother was the scarlet letter on her breast. ...

• Word Count: 3653
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne unveils the tale of two lovers in a Puritan society: one a minister and the other a lowly embroiderer. ... The society then rejects the mother, Hester Prynne, and forces her to wear a scarlet letter, the novel's namesake. ... The writing structure in The Scarlet Letter also emphasizes this moral. ... The many sub-themes in The Scarlet Letter also add to the main discussion by clarifying the crippling effects of sin. ... The Scarlet Letter contains rich character development to illustrate the consequences of both methods of dealing with transgress...

• Word Count: 890
• Approx Pages: 4

In the novel "The Scarlet Letter," Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the customs and cultures of the puritan society. ... Any true educator can see how there are many elements that can be taught through The Scarlet Letter. ... The Scarlet Letter is able to teach readers this history about the Puritan society through the actions of each character in the novel. ... The scarlet letter "A" upon her chest is also her badge of shame (Source C). ... The Scarlet Letter is a novel that can teach all high school readers about the effects of their sins. ...

• Word Count: 707
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Pearl, is an effective and dynamic character in, "The Scarlet Letter." ... Pearl is unaware of who her father is, and it is Hester who refuses to answer her questions about her past. ... In the final chapters of The Scarlet Letter, Pearl gains knowledge far beyond her years. ... Pearl questions Mistress Hibbins about what the minister hides. ... Her character acts as a mysterious and interesting symbol in, "The Scarlet Letter." ...

• Word Count: 845
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne creates a story where every emotion is shown. ... The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. ... Jimmy Eat World's two lines summarize The Scarlet Letter and all the characters, "Someone's gonna ask you what it's all about. ... - These two lines ask all the questions about the book. ... Both The Scarlet Letter and A Praise Chorus explain how life has unexpected twists and turns. ...

• Word Count: 634
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The scaffold scenes are one of the most important events in "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. ... The first scaffold scene in the scarlet letter focuses on Hester Prynne. ... " and also that, "He would consider taking the scarlet letter off of Hester, Chillingworth gestured not to say anything about her husband and Hester didn't. ... He had the scarlet letter on his chest. ... He wasn't questioned by anyone. ...

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

Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes characterization techniques of morality throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. ... This is apparent in The Scarlet Letter because Hester's life becomes unbearable through her trials as a sinner in the Puritan society. ... Hester takes the scarlet letter off her breast, and throws her ignominy into the dirt. ... Pearl has never seen Hester without the scarlet letter, and no matter how much 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). ... Art...

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

She looks at her daughter and then fingers the scarlet letter which will remain a part of her from now on. ... Hawthorne points out that the first thing Pearl saw in her infancy was the scarlet letter. ... Pearl later played a game where she threw flowers at her mother and jumped around in glee every time she hit the scarlet letter. ... Hester is unable to answer her question and remains silent, thinking about the fact that some Puritans think Pearl is the child of a demon. ... Hawthorne comments that, "the child's whole appearance...was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarl...

• Word Count: 5572
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

Dimmesdale: The Bearer of the Scarlet letter Who should bear the stigma of sin? ... Hester cannot hide the consequences of her mistake, so she is exposed to public judgment and forced to wear the scarlet letter. ... The argument for Dimmesdale as a protagonist lies in the answers to the following questions. ... Do his actions bring about the climax of the story? ... In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is not only one of the main characters, but also the protagonist's helper. ...

• Word Count: 1627
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a classic tale of human frailty and sin and the hardships that are caused by a single mistake. ... At the same time, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of one woman's struggle to find meaning in living after disobeying the highly regarded word of God. ... The Scarlet Letter uses dark romanticism as Hawthorne attempts to explain the sinfulness of human nature and why people act as they do. ... Although Hawthorne writes that "The minister beheld there the appearance of an immense letter A (p.152)," one must consider and question ...

• Word Count: 1296
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Symbolism in the Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne contains abundant symbolism, which is used to unify the novel and add deeper meaning. ... The most important symbol in the novel is the scarlet letter, which affects each character in a different way. ... (Bloom 91-92) Pearl is also greatly affected by the scarlet letter, but in another way. Although she questions Hester about the "A", she is not told the true meaning. ... (Novelguide) Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbols very well in his novel The Scarlet Letter. ...

• Word Count: 1366
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter is a novel that's deals with the topic of sin in Puritan society. ... The Scarlet Letter is a novel that deals with the theme of sin. ... This statement puts a big question mark on the true lives of the Puritans. ... When the townspeople become aware of what Hester has done, they forced her to wear an ultimate sign of punishment, the scarlet letter. ... Wearing the letter made Hester the talk-about of the town. ...

• Word Count: 802
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In The Scarlet Letter the main character that changes is Hester. ... Towards the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester being punished publicly for the sin she has committed with Dimmesdale. ... Some even 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.... The letter and punishment was supposed to teach Hester to not sin, and she still lies to Pearl about the meaning of the letter, another sin. ...

• Word Count: 944
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter One belief that people live by is that evil is the nature of mankind, yet there are others that feel man has good intentions but those intentions can be overrun by the devil. Nathaniel Hawthorne points out that the former is true of all people in the novel The Scarlet Letter. ... In the novel, Hester received a scarlet letter, "A," for her sins, which she had to wear upon her chest for the rest of her life in Boston. ... This caused so much mental and physical anguish that she eventually questioned why she should live if it weren't for her Pearl. ... The major t...

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

The Scarlet letter deals with guilt, fervor, and hypocrisy in a tough Puritan society. ... For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as "her passport into regions where other women dared not tread," leading her to "speculate" about her society and herself more "boldly" than anyone else in New England. ... The scarlet letter has a similar theme. ... we know why hester wears the scarlet letter. ... The Scarlet Letter is focalized through Hester, and sometimes dimmesdale. ...

• Word Count: 471
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The character Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter first appears as a beautiful and defiant young woman, but as the story progresses Hester matures and becomes devoted and strong. ... Hester Prynne is charged with the crime and sin of adultery, bears an illegitimate child, is made to stand on a scaffold to be publicly ostracized, and made to wear a scarlet A on her chest for the rest of her existence. ... Hester shows this same defiance when she is questioned on the scaffold for the name os her child's father she replies to their questioning "Never!... ... The...

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

Literature, as a whole, would be much more appealing if authors let their readers make their own decisions about the events or characters in the story. The ambiguousness of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves many of the actions, events, and issues involving the characters up to the reader's own assumption. ... A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. ... Openly showing Hawthorne's attitude about irresponsibility as diminishing the integrity of a person and those a...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an anti-transcendentalist and believed in the dark side of man, hence his dark romantic novel The Scarlet Letter. ... The Scarlet Letter defines the American Romanticist movement while using symbolic characters and places that give the book seemingly two different stories. ... She presents Hester with the question "wilt thou go with us tonight? ... When rumors spread through town about Hester and her adulterous letter, they would say that it would glow when she would walk through the forest, thus revealing the forest as a somewhat witchlike place. ... His literature als...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

The first few chapters introduce the theme of sin, when they tell the reader about the prison, the scaffold, and how Hester is being publicly condemned for adultery. ... The women of the town criticize her for embroidering the scarlet letter, the symbol of her shame, with such care and in such a flashy manner. ... Chapter five deals with one of the major questions of the book: why does Hester choose to stay in Boston when she is free to leave? ...

• Word Count: 295
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter "Thou shall not Commit Adultery" is written in stone on the Ten Commandments and those who commit this dreadful sin shall suffer the consequences. ... The literary sensation "The Scarlet Letter" written in 1850, by Hawthorne was a descriptive novel that takes back the reader to time where Puritans governed the land and sin was not tolerated, especially the hellish sin called adultery. ... (p. 1369) Dimmesdale stood up there and tore into Hester with these questions to which he knew all the answers to. ... It seemed as if this secret burned the same letter A that Hester ...

• Word Count: 1126
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School