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Wearing The Scarlet Letter

            Everyone has committed a sin either knowingly or by accident. Some sins are committed out of love, like that of Hester and Dimmesdale in "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. While others commit the sin of hate just like Chillingworth. Hester was forced to bear the letter "A" (adultery) as punishment for committing her sin and for salvation. On the other hand, I must bear "H" (hate) in order to transform myself into a better person and to gain more knowledge of things that I wouldn't be able to see for myself without my Scarlet Letter.
             Hate is such a strong word, but it is also a strong sin. Hate means to have evil thoughts or thoughts of inflicting pain on another person by your own will. I have had those thoughts before and they are the cause for which I must bear the "H" for all to see. The "H" represents the side of me no one has seen or should see. As I walk through the hall of Hialeah Miami Lakes I can see scattered stares and hear secrets whispered. Little did they know I could hear what they were saying by just looking into their eyes. I felt the pain of Hester and the guilt of Dimmesdale when I first entered the school. I have also learned from the "H" that people place judgment on what they see and hear. They don't take the time to realize that all have committed sin. I just chose to change myself unlike them. The truthful sinner would always be looked up upon while the secretive saint plays in the shadows. However, that "H" does give me the same burning sensation when I"m .
             .
             in the center of those whispers and stares. The exposure of a sin can really wear you down in life. Who would have known that a single letter would ruin one's life?.
             Today's society doesn't really follow the Supremacy of Divine Will. The Supremacy of Divine Will is the belief that God wills his world. The world must be governed by his morality. The Puritans believed that the public abasement of the sinner or criminal would not only punish them but also grant them salvation.


Essays Related to Wearing The Scarlet Letter

1. Scarlet Letter-Sin and Guilt

... of herself. So in some ways, it was almost a gift that Hester's community knew of her sin. She could accept the punishment and continue her life and Pearl's, but most importantly, she didn"t the let the sin destroy her inner spirit. Wearing the scarlet letter had the long-term effect of helping Hester surmount her guilt, gather her strength and bravery, and move on with life. What Hester ... undergoes is more like resolution than penitence in the end. Her most important accomplishment was her ability to overcome her sentence. She ... of acutest pain, had won a victory"(250). By this Di...

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

2. Symbols and Imagery in The Scarlet Letter

... must wear this 'A' as a symbol of punishment. From the beginning of the novel you can see that Hester does not let the true meaning of the 'A' dictate her being. She flaunts the scarlet letter in a "haughty" manner which causes all of the townspeople to view her in a different light. The punishment that went along with Hester wearing the scarlet letter was for her to embroider it herself. When she sewed ... it, she did so in such an un-puritan way. The Puritan's believe in simplicity and ... they never wore anything bright and gaudy "In sad colored garments and grey, steeple-crowned ha...

  • Word Count: 1185
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The Scarlet Letter - Symbol of the Letter "A"

... the identity of the scarlet letter is revealed towards the end of the novel (Hawthorne 543). The letter "A" itself has many meanings contained within itself so therefore has different effects to Hester. The scarlet letter, "the burning reminder between the past and present", had many effects on Hester Prynne consisting of some positive ones and some negative ones. Because Hester Prynne was punished by wearing the scarlet letter ... on her chest every moment of the day, the ... symbol reminded her of her guilt and sin she had committed many years past. It was the symbol did not allow her...

  • Word Count: 1468
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography

4. Permanently Warping Effects Of Sin In The Scarlet Letter

... a dramatic effect on her emotional state and her thoughts. When Hester firsts walks forth from the prison, she begins her life outwardly wearing her shame in the form of the scarlet letter and she "must sustain or sink beneath it" (55). She could no longer borrow from the future to help her through the present-day grief. To-morrow would bring its own trial with it; so would ... guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate as shadowy, as the untamed forest- (136). Because of the life of solitude and isolation that she leads, Hester's thoughts alone can be free. She transforms f...

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

5. A Letter

... iron. I shuddered, and involuntarily let it fall upon the floor.""(Hawthorne 21). Hawthorne finds that the scarlet letter was wrapped up around a letter, after he drops it, written by a Surveyor detailing the whole affair of the scarlet letter. A red cloth can last forever if treated and stored properly but not all of the manifestations of the scarlet letter will last forever. The scarlet letter is brought to life by Hester's daughter, Pearl, who ... soul is still new and young while Hester's has had time to grow old. The last significant event in which Pearl is the embodiment of the sca...

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

6. scarlet letter

... because she believes that if she keeps the "A" on she will serve her punishment on earth so she can be forgiven in heaven. Another reason Hester's sin is not the greatest is because she is sorry for her actions. Hester proves she is truly repentant for her actions when she serves her punishment willingly by wearing the scarlet letter. Hester also tries to reason her sin ... through the fact that it was committed out of love. This is seen when Hester meets ... Dimmesdale in the forest. In the forest Hester becomes aware that she is in true love with Dimmesdale because she realizes that ...

  • Word Count: 2203
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. A Letter

... iron. I shuddered, and involuntarily let it fall upon the floor.""(Hawthorne 21). Hawthorne finds that the scarlet letter was wrapped up around a letter, after he drops it, written by a Surveyor detailing the whole affair of the scarlet letter. A red cloth can last forever if treated and stored properly but not all of the manifestations of the scarlet letter will last forever. The scarlet letter is brought to life by Hester's daughter, Pearl, who ... soul is still new and young while Hester's has had time to grow old. The last significant event in which Pearl is the embodiment of the sca...

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

8. Scarlet letter

... . She also tells her mother that someday she will have her own scarlet letter. When Hester pulls off the scarlet letter in the forest and tosses it beside the brook, Pearl grows hysterical; she refuses to come to her mother until the "A" has been replaced on her dress, the child has never seen Hester not wearing it. To Pearl, the scarlet letter is simply part of her mother. Pearl's behavior is a constant worry ... to her mother, and she feels that the child's impish ways are the result of the sin she has committed. The significance of the scarlet letter in the life of Dimmesdale, whose g...

  • Word Count: 1285
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Scarlet Letter

... garments and grey steeple-crowned hats, inter-mixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes." First describing the prison, the first scene of the book sets the expression for the first parts of the book, a gray and gloomy environment with a multitude of people to ... Hester wait by the brook in the forest, and Pearl tries to catch some of the transitory sunshine in the forest. Strangely, the sunshine seems to avoid Hester and "plays with Pearl."  The l...

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

10. The Scarlet Letter - Historical Accuracy

... servants were people who had signed a contract to work for several years to pay off their passages to the New World (Gundersen, J.R., 2014). In the movie Hester ask the auctioneer, "How many years did the servants have left on their contract?" (The Scarlet Letter). In The Scarlet Letter the governor asks Hester if she committed a sin. Hester replies by stating, "Who is to say what ... punishment for their crimes. The punishment used in the movie was making her wear the letter "A" for adultery on her chest all the time. One of the townswomen suggested to her husband to release her from ja...

  • Word Count: 1182
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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