... have confessed seven years earlier. After he has finished his confession Dimmesdale rips open his shirt to reveal the letter "A- on his chest. The whole population of Salem gasps in horror and disgust as they find out that their minister is an adulterer. (Hawthorne 173-176). The last supernatural manifestation of the scarlet letter is when Dimmesdale goes atop the scaffold at night and gives ... his false confession. "We impute it, therefore, solely to the disease in ... just died. Dimmesdale sees it as a sign from God that his confession was not enough. Of all the ways that the scarle...

• Word Count: 1536
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... have confessed seven years earlier. After he has finished his confession Dimmesdale rips open his shirt to reveal the letter "A- on his chest. The whole population of Salem gasps in horror and disgust as they find out that their minister is an adulterer. (Hawthorne 173-176). The last supernatural manifestation of the scarlet letter is when Dimmesdale goes atop the scaffold at night and gives ... his false confession. "We impute it, therefore, solely to the disease in ... just died. Dimmesdale sees it as a sign from God that his confession was not enough. Of all the ways that the scarle...

• Word Count: 1529
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ). Pearl is a beautiful, misbehaved child. The first thing that Pearl ever notices is her mother's "A' across her chest. As a child, Pearl throws rocks at the scarlet letter, making a game out it. Growing up, Pearl is not accepted by anyone. She screams at other children, knowing that they do not accept her. Not knowing what ... until Dimmesdale acts like her father she will not accept him in her life. In order to act like a father, Dimmesdale must accept his sin and come open to the public. ""But wilt thou promise,' asked Pearl,' to take my hand and mother's hand, to-morrow noontide?'"(H...

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• Grade Level: High School

... and Pearl, who have long suffered in silence. Ironically, Hester is "freed" by the confession, no longing bearing the Scarlet Letter alone. But Dimmesdale is also freed; although he dies after the confession, he is finally freed from the guilt of unconfessed, hidden sin and the evil hold ... he suffers inward guilt and shame that manifests itself in outward, physical deterioration. (It is ironic that Hester, who openly wears the Scarlet Letter as a symbol and confession that she is a Sinner, is freed from the inward destruction of her sin; Dimmesdale, a minister who openly represents Goo...

• Word Count: 1929
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• Grade Level: High School

... guilt, however, and we would realize the relative ease of time in our room. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne similarly develops the concepts of guilt and the freedom gained by confession. In the first of three distinct scaffold scenes, Hester Prynne stands alone under direct scrutiny from the ... glance that would not be abashed - (46). While she could have "hid- from the full force of this scaffold penance, her dignity holds her open to the consequences of her actions. As a woman, moreover, Hester is contrasted with the gossiping dames of the crowd. While they are manlike and ...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Black Veil," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Young Goodman Brown," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "The Great Stone Face," and "Ethan Brand." Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is considered by many to be the greatest ccomplishment of an author hailed as the master of the American short story. It is set in Salem, ... was exposed and punished. Hester Prune has sinned, and society places the scarlet letter on her breast as a reminder of this transgression. Hester Prune confesses to adultery in the marketplace. The scaffold as a place for confession is civilized and controlled by the townspeople...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... cares for the poor and brings them food and clothing. By the end of the novel the "a" changed meanings from adultery to able. The shame attached to her scarlet letter is long gone. Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester is portrayed as an intelligent, capable, but not necessarily extraordinary woman. It is the extraordinary circumstances shaping her that make her such an important figure. Dimmesdale ... , Dimmesdale has an unusually active conscience. The fact that Hester takes all of the blame for their shared sin goads his conscience, and his resultant mental anguish and physical weaknes...

• Word Count: 968
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... but Arthur's. He is the persecuted one, the tempted one. He it was whom the sorrows of death encompassed . His public confession is one of the noblest climaxes of tragic literature." The argument over the protagonist role in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne runs undeniably deep. At first glance it appears that the protagonist of the story is Hester Prynn, however Randall ... reproductive organs and their brain at the same time, so saying that it was Dimmesdale's decision is almost entirely a lie. He waited with open arms and Hester, the protagonist, initiated the building of th...

• Word Count: 855
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• Grade Level: High School

... of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and fervid eloquence, and, with his hand on open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and a future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest ... Veil." In the novel, Hester Prynne has guilt, but no inner guilt that she is hiding from anyone. Everyone knows she has sinned, and it is all out in the open for everyone to know. Everyone else in the community hides their secrets, and t...

• Word Count: 3188
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ). Pearl is a beautiful, misbehaved child. The first thing that Pearl ever notices is her mother's "A' across her chest. As a child, Pearl throws rocks at the scarlet letter, making a game out it. Growing up, Pearl is not accepted by anyone. She screams at other children, knowing that they do not accept her. Not knowing what ... until Dimmesdale acts like her father she will not accept him in her life. In order to act like a father, Dimmesdale must accept his sin and come open to the public. ""But wilt thou promise,' asked Pearl,' to take my hand and mother's hand, to-morrow noontide?'"(H...

• Word Count: 1029
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... is a women living in seventeenth-century New England. She is convicted of committing adultery. At the beginning of the novel, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter, A, on her dress as a sign of her guilt. She steadfastly refuses to reveal the identity of her adulterous partner. However, her husband eventually realizes who ... who is portrayed as the one to blame for his "fall." In the novel, the public confession of her lover, Dimmesdale, the "sinful" priest seems to absolve him of his sins by making such a public confession. The same is not true for Hester. She is doomed at the end...

• Word Count: 1505
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... than the personal character that is seen without looking into Hawthorne's use of imagery to convey characterization. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Scarlet Letter, Pearl, is a symbol of sin and adultery in the sense that she leads Dimmsdale and Hester to their confession and the acceptance of their sins. A beautiful daughter of the town's adulteries has sometimes demon like traits. She is also the ... it is a symbol of Hester doing the right thing in being humbled for her indiscretions. In conclusion, one of the most important reasons that The Scarlet Letter is so well known is the way Ha...

• Word Count: 964
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• Grade Level: High School

... but mildly attempted to do so several times. When he gathers strength to hint that he a sinner, he does it so indirectly that his confession considered a sign of his humility, his congregation with "deep awe and wonder" still loves and praises him more (241). The more the people ... for this child with her honor; therefore, the name has importance, meaning valuable but costly, for she Hester's "only treasure"(82). As the living scarlet letter and a constant reminder of her parents" sin, She displays signs of wildness, rebellion, and freedom. She happiest out in nature, where her carefree...

• Word Count: 1594
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• Grade Level: High School

... She was a beautiful woman who was strong and the other women crowded around her because of jealousy. In that remarkable forest scene in The Scarlet Letter, the long repressed/suppressed sexuality of Hester is suddenly exposed when she releases her hair. The reader immediately recognizes that the complex art of her ... is. Hester began to fade away to nothing. She was no longer beautiful and did not have that glowing appearance in her anymore. The scarlet letter had taken over her appearance."Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, becau...

• Word Count: 1408
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• Grade Level: High School

The Power of Guilt Repressed guilt and emotions will inevitably destroy a man. This was surely the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, a novel set in Puritan times that describes what guilt and sin truly are. Two main characters that live with guilt and sin ... term of confinement was now at an end. Her prison-door was thrown open, and she came forth into the sunshine, which, falling on all alike, seemed, to her sick and morbid heart, as if meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast (72). As an outcast Hester will live a life ... in very separat...

• Word Count: 748
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School