... but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage- (127). At first, Hester only has penance because she has yet to be sorry for what she has done. She illustrates this in the making of her scarlet letter, " fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom!" (45). She is very proud and dignified. This pride illustrates that she is not sorry, and not ... not remorseful; he is never able to obtain compunction. Dimmesdale explains the darkness of Chillingworth's sins to Hester: "' We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! ...

• Word Count: 695
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and guilt as well as growth. The first instance is the symbolism of the rosebush being close to the prison at the beginning of the novel. Hawthorne implies that the roses of the rosebush are there: to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to ... out of Puritan civilization, the forest is the embodiment of a comfortable friend for her. The main purpose of the forest in The Scarlet Letter is to be a place where the truth can exist. Nat...

• Word Count: 1017
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... 's want for revenge can lead to impulsive action and this yearning may cause a person to drive him or herself mad. From the beginning of the book it's evident that revenge is the defining theme in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. It is what drives the book's antagonist Roger Chillingworth into taking action and pursuing Dimmesdale who had wronged him along with Hester Prynne. Surprisingly he tells ... after Dimmesdale. He evolves from a regular man out for revenge because someone had wronged him into a madman. He finds the answer he longs for in the darkness of the night on Dimm...

• Word Count: 666
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... puritan woman full of strong passions, Hester Prynne is the main character in the story. Employed as the village seamstress, she is strong and caring, helping anyone she can when he or she is in need. With a penitent heart, Hester travels through the story becoming only a shadow of her former passionate loving self. The letter that Hester was forced to wear upon her bosom, the scarlet letter was ... not only a symbol of her adulterous sin, but of the women herself. The letter masks her beauty and passion as the story goes until it is what she is known. Other ... -was that SCARLET LETTER...

• Word Count: 1015
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... of the ultimate evil. First, Hawthorne sets Chillingworth up as the antithesis of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the obvious Christ-like symbol of the novel. Chillingworth avidly sets out to ruin Dimmesdale. As the narrative voice says when referring to Chillingworth's discovery of the Dimmesdale's secret, "All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him, the Pitiless, to him, the Unforgiving!" (96). The capitalization of the ... hunched. He is compared to weeds and such. His profession is described as being much like w...

• Word Count: 307
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... earthly one-(1342). While Dimmesdale awaited her appeal, he placed his hand over his heart "a habit the reader will recognize further through the novel. The second scaffold scene occurs seven years later at night. Out of remorse and seven years of private penance, Dimmesdale makes his way to the scaffold and stands in the cool night air. Unlike Hester, however, he has no audience, and even if ... someone were to see him, they would not recognize him in the darkness. This scene is a slight progression toward the final one, for Dimmesdale invites Hester and ... Pearl to stand with him. P...

• Word Count: 492
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... pure, but Chillingworth's revenge is deadly. Hawthorne adds Cillingworth to the novel as Hester is receiving her punishment for ery, which compels Cillingworth to his hatred and revenge. Cillingworth devotes his life to revenge, which leads him to a state of darkness. Cillingworth has an idea of who the father is, but needs evidence. Throughout the novel Cillingworth lets his vengeance control his life. He gives ... the minister potions to make him feel better, but in reality the potions are slowly killing him. Cillingworth does not want to kill Hester, but instead ... lets her live wit...

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

... red. While colors add symbolic depth to the novel, lights and darks also contribute to the symbolism of Hawthorne's book. From his application of these light and darks, one can conclude that darkness correlates with exposed secrets while the light of the sun is representational of spurious innocence and hidden secrets. Therefore, the reader can anticipate Hester's choice of a small cottage in the woods as her humble abode. Likewise, it is no ... and Dimmesdale, each with their own hidden secrets, choose the town as a place of residence. As Nathaniel Hawthorne manipulates lights and dark...

• Word Count: 543
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School