... mother when he went to her to take Pearl away. The reader was alerted to Pearl's apprehension while she was playing with the brook and her mother had taken of the scarlet letter. As Hawthorne reveals certain facts from different points of view, we learn certain truths about the society. It was made clear that with a Puritan mindset, the townspeople came to deeply hate Hester; and Hester, with a slightly ... more liberal mindset, came to be lonely and less hateful towards her adversaries. All in all, Hawthorne's portrayal (point of view), of Hester ... ...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... it and travel with Hester throughout the novel. If this had been done in today's society, Hester would have had much more privacy, and although there are many more nosy people in this world today then in the past, her punishment would remain with her husband not with the local courthouse. In conclusion, The Scarlet Letter is a satire because, although it does prove the characteristics of Puritan faith, it disproves them as well ... . The town is supposed to live among each ... ...

• Word Count: 568
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Stephanie Jensen "Sin and Its Engulfing Role in the Community" ~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 required punishment, and that every person would eventually die and would need a cemetery. They ... , and they try to resolve and overcome it. The Puritan leaders, such as the Governor, see mortal trials and tribulations a...

• Word Count: 1128
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter "A"." pg. 51. Viewed from a Puritan perspective, she is a sinner, and sinners are the least moral and basically useless to the Puritan community. From my perspective, Hester is the most moral character in the Scarlet Letter. For that she follows her own morals, she cares for others more than herself. She rather suffers than reveal Dimmesdale ... ; I do not see his doings as wrong, but more of a purpose. Dimmesdale is not a bad character in terms for the reader, but he is the lea...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... self-mutilations. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has many opportunities to acknowledge his wrongdoing. He could have confessed during the first scaffold scene as Hester stood in front of the townspeople. Dimmesdale preached to her about her sin, although he was her co-sinner. He could have admitted his sin and endured the wrath of the Puritan society as Hester does, but he lacks the courage. When Dimmesdale ... went to the scaffold during the night he had the opportunity to tell Reverend Mr. ... Wilson of his sin, but he neglected to do so. Pearl asked the Reverend to...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter In the center of a town, a scaffold sits for sinners to undergo public humiliation, but in the end, it serves as a step towards an Emersonian self-reliance. The ideological view of the old Puritan society was replaced by transcendentalism in America. People such as Emerson and Thoreau changed the views of the public, with words and actions. The scaffold similarly served as a link for the characters in the Scarlet Letter to separate their ideals from the ideological society in which they lived ... . Though the role of the scaffold was different, some sort of absolution was al...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret"(200). Dimmesdale acknowledges that his pain is caused by the sinful secrets that he keeps hidden and that Hester does not feel this pain because she has been punished for her sin. Both Hester and Dimmesdale committed the same sin, but suffered different consequences because of their punishments. Society ... In the seven years of his life that follow his daughter's birth, he does not lead a normal and truthful life. This proves that public confession saved Hester from punishing herself with torture as Dimmesdale had don...

• Word Count: 942
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... a breastplate of a suit of armor, "the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it"(72). The reflection of the scarlet letter is made to look larger than life, just like society blows it out of proportion in the beginning of the novel. This occurs during a time when ... existence shows the novels theme. The theme of guilt in The Scarlet Letter is a rather prominent one. The moral of the story is also bas...

• Word Count: 915
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter- Effects of Adultery Puritan society had placed great importance on a person's reputation. Without an honorable reputation a person is not worthy of respect from others in their society. Characters in this novel go through their lives struggling with themselves and trying to cope with the guilt and shame associated with their actions. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter," he shows the lasting ... effect that adultery has on Chillingworth Dimmesdale, and Hester. Roger Chillingworth's first reaction to the crime of adultery ... profound effect on her life. H...

• Word Count: 681
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... a breastplate of a suit of armor,the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it?(72). The reflection of the scarlet letter is made to look larger than life, just like society blows it out of proportion in the beginning of the novel. This occurs during a time when ... existence shows the novels theme. The theme of guilt in The Scarlet Letter is a rather prominent one. The moral of the story is also based...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... cannot even bring herself to tell her own daughter the true reason for the scarlet letter, which seems everyone but Pearl knows. Hester states, "I will keep thy secret, as I have his" which shows her intent on keeping her secret (Hawthorne 45). Many of these secrets are somewhat acceptable in our society, which contrasts the different generations. In today's world many people commit sins on a ... When someone broke a rule of the bible they would be punished as if they had committed a serious crime. The quote "The law we broke! The sin here so awfully revealed!" shows how little the disti...

• Word Count: 558
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Sin and Guilt Eats Away It's hard to hide an illegitimate child in a small Puritan community. When Hester Prynne, the principle character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, a married woman whose husband was long away, gave birth to a daughter in her town of Cornhill, she was clearly identified as a sinner. As soon as her sin became public knowledge, she was punished for being an adulterer. And a story can get ... to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty- (157) After seven hard, long years in disgrace, the scarlet letter began to take on a new meaning. Townspeople looke...

• Word Count: 1175
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... construct what Hester's life may have been like before her sin. She came from a well-to-do family in England and has many happy memories from her infancy and years of girlish innocence. Hester's life is dramatically changed in the way she is treated by society. The general knowledge of her sin made her subject to public scrutiny every day. She was generally scorned and ... ostracized by the townsfolk when business took her into the city. In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged ... since her sin. Hester assumes a freedom of s...

• Word Count: 1186
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness . The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers ... ,""stern and wild ones,""and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss."" Dimmesdale cannot tell the Puritan community he is the father of Pearl, which cau...

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

... lean to accept their guilt and confess. Hester Prynne evolves through out the novel and is able to face situations and trails in her life that challenge the moral foundations of her society. The young Hester Prynne had committed the act of adultery and received her punishment with defiance and haughty pride. Hester first appears in the story emerging from her jail cell with her bastard child, at ... ready to give... None so self-devoted as Hester..."(147) She fed the hungry of the village, was often at the bed side of the sick, and used her talent for sewing to cloth her poor neighbors....

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

... sin, when they tell the reader about the prison, the scaffold, and how Hester is being publicly condemned for adultery. These chapters also show the reader that the society is depicting the political reality of Hester's World, the Puritan society. The Puritans intended to create a "Utopian" society, but it can be seen in these chapters that this world already knows sin. 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. This seems to declare that Hester ... ...

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

... ) As time passes, Hester's endurance and determination shines through. Many people in the Puritan community "refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength." (p113) Pearl grows in her understanding of life in the Puritan society and in her understanding of her mother and father. The scarlet letter matures into a symbol of Hester's perseverance, while Pearl continues to enhance herself ... as a subject of Hester's past indiscretions. It is clear that Pearl is as much a blessing to Hester ...

• Word Count: 765
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... act of revenge. It is apparent that Chillingsworth is separated from his sole, because all the goodness in his heart has been sucked out by Hesters sudden affair with the minister. The significance of the scarlet letter is alienation and disparity. Hester Prynne is an outcaste from the Puritan society, and lives a distance away from the town. Arthur Dimmesdale is alienated from his self; he is unable to be his true ... self. Lastly, Chillingsworth is separated from his soul; his archetype is transformed from a scholar to a shadow. In essence, all three characters in Hawthorne's" A Scarl...

• Word Count: 970
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Prynne, the leading character of The Scarlet Letter, and Edna Pontellier of The Awakening, are both women with striking similarities and distinctions. Both of these women live in a culture in which women have no rights and must live a life predestined by their society. Mutually Edna and Hester strive for independence, although they do not share the same reasoning behind their aspirations for independence, they do share the goal. The two ... and they both accomplished their goals of independence. Hester and Arthur finally confess their love for one another towards the end of the novel and...

• Word Count: 998
• Approx Pages: 4