... blessing. She is a reason for Hester to live revitalizing her sprits whenever she has the urge to give up. Pearl is always drawing or crafting the letter "A- in the sand, with seaweed, flowers and brambles. "In the afternoon of a certain summer's day, after Pearl grew big enough to run about, ... now he knows who Hester's fellow adulterer is. He then jumps around impishly throwing his arms into the air celebrating. The second instance that the letter "A- manifests itself on Dimmesdale's chest is after he gives his Election Day sermon. When he has finished giving his sermon Dimmesdale wa...

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

... shed upon this question as Chillingworth uncovers the secret Arthur had tried to keep intact. It is visible to him as he pulls aside Arthur's ministerial robe and discovers a scarlet letter A upon his chest. Although Hawthorne lets this aspect of the novel remain unclear, this engraving on Arthur's chest suggests that the burden of his sin had seeped so deeply within ... generally associated with Chillingworth, and the cold acts of revenge he exacts on Dimmesdale. The light stands for truth and purity and Pearl's free nature. A major theme in the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is t...

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

... the Puritan society becomes not only bigoted and joyless, but essentially evil. (Bloom 13-14, 97, 100) The person that is affected most by the scarlet letter is Hester Prynne, for many very obvious reasons. It is a large part of her daily life, and each of her actions is watched very closely by ... Dimmesdale is physically deteriorating and should repent through confession. In the center of the novel's action, a meteor passes across the sky in the shape of the letter "A". To Dimmesdale this implies that he should wear the mask of shame like Hester does, even though the community interpre...

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

... . Among his most brilliant stories are "The Minister's 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, Massachusetts. In this strictly ... harsher judgment impose upon her, while the town beadle proclaims the virtue of a society in which sin was exposed and punished. Hester Prune has sinned, and society places the scarlet letter on ...

• Word Count: 2453
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... after this story was published, did women start rebelling against their so-called "position" in society. Hester would have been very proud. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an amazing story of Hester's strength in exposing and accepting her sin, choosing to wear bold apparel, and helping Dimmesdale ... deal with his inner conflict. She is truly a model for advocates of the early women's right movement. Although the scarlet letter burned a hole to her heart, Hester wears it and never denies it, which shows a true strength from within. When she was subjected to ... here. Lo...

• Word Count: 1678
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... Massachusetts; late 1840. A young woman, Hester Pryne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, a scholar much older than ... father is actually the Devil. She is wise far beyond her years, frequently engaging in ironic play having to do with her mother's scarlet letter. Her name came from her mom, she was her mom's only treasure. 3. Hester is punished for her infraction of social norms. Explain how ... The ...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... of evil. Every scaffold scene represents a time in which a character takes a step towards self-reliance and has changed in various ways. The Scarlet Letter begins with the three-hour punishment of Hester Prynne. The first scaffold scene takes place in the market place in front of society. Hester Prynne has ... it be true? She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast, that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. Yes!-these were her realities,-all else had ...

• Word Count: 1995
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... scaffold scenes and many characters that are all related and tied together. The story is essentially about Hester Prynne who is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter as a symbol of her adultery. Hester's life is torn between two men, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister and father ... guilt leads Dimmesdale to create the novel's second scaffold scene. In this scene Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold, clutching his naked breast which held the scarlet letter, permanently etched there. On the scaffold he screamed aloud, without power to restrain himself. He then e...

• Word Count: 1498
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... some two-hundred years before the narrator's time. He later decides to write a fictional story based on the events from the manuscript and calls it The Scarlet Letter. The narrator then goes into his book which takes place in 17th century Boston which was a Puritan settlement. A young woman is guided out of a prison ... with a child in her arms and the letter "A" patched against her breast. An elderly onlooker asks of what is going on and a man in the crowd explains that the lady is Hester Prynne who carries ... while waiting, Hester had an affair with another since she had given birth ...

• Word Count: 1497
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The Metamorphosis of Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are many characters that transform; one of them is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale committed a great sin of the puritan society, he slept with another mans wife ... himself; he whips himself, has all night vigils and does not get much sleep. He also clutches his chest a lot in away that reminds Pearl of her mother, Hester's scarlet letter "A" By this point in time Hester Prynne's husband has found out about Dimmesdale's secret and has been tormenting Dimmesdale with it. Arthur Dim...

• Word Count: 1308
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... rather than by the heart. Forgiveness was not in their vocabulary. It was more important to consider justice served by outward ridicule, mockery, and branding the letter "A" on a person's garment, which stood for Adulterer, than to try to redeem the person through forgiveness, prayer and personal involvement. Because his act of ... that of her and Pearl, forces Hester to draw her own justification for her actions. These actions illustrate well in the fact that she unashamedly embroidered the letter "A" on her garment in a 5 very fancy and beautiful pattern. The embroidery was so detailed...

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

Good vs. Evil Within The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the contrast of good and evil through the Reverend Dimmesdale and through his physician, Roger Chillingworth.   He also emphasized the necessity to "Be true" through Hester's vow ... some good, as Dimmesdale proved that even in the purest of beings, there is often corruption within. Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth represented two completely opposite poles in The Scarlet Letter, and yet, they did have some things in common.   For one, they both yearned for Hester to be true not to her word, but to their conscien...

• Word Count: 1430
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

According to Anne Marie MacNamara, Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter goes through several stages of spiritual growth; preparation, communication, transformation and finally revelation. To further understand why Dimmesdale is so hard on himself we must first Learn a little back ground ... ...

• Word Count: 1813
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... is friends with Chillingworth as they should be enemies. When Chillingworth opens Dimmesdale's shirt, he is overjoyed. Obviously what he found should be the scarlet letter carved into his chest, it is the only thing that could bring so much joy to Chillingworth. This is disturbing as he has resorted to mutilation ... Christianity and to teach her good morals. It is hard for her to do this because Pearl is a wild child and is a basically the scarlet letter in the flesh. "She shuddred to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in o...

• Word Count: 1619
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... of sin, the punishment that comes from it, and the repentance that some undergo to cleanse themselves of that sin. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the author uses the scaffold scenes to depict the idea of private versus public sin. The first scaffold scene establishes the tone for the novel. ... in which Arthur summons the strength to come forth and knows that if he doesn't, it will be the end of him. The great scarlet letter in the sky is the other public recognition that comes forth from the second scaffold scene. It is the voice that suffices for Arthur's silence ... . Unf...

• Word Count: 1460
• Approx Pages: 6

... would often breakdown under the heavy burden of 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 ... . The embrace that she gives her baby is, thus, her own embrace of her sin. Hester also reveals that this embrace covered her scarlet letter, but that " wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm," ... the ...

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

... corrupt themselves, and subsequently the entire human race. They degrade from perfect creatures into sinful individuals influenced by temptations, greed, pride, and evil. Similarly, Nathaniel Hawthorne's characters in The Scarlet Letter develop into less humane creatures as a result of the evil around them. The influence of evil leads to the corruption and degradation of those characters' souls and identities as members ... remains pure to her emotional role as a member of mankind. By accepting her sin and its consequences, she strengthens her understanding of humanity: "[ ] she felt or...

• Word Count: 1412
• Approx Pages: 6