Within the American novella, authors such as Hawthorne and Wharton value the presence of the wilderness in their respective narratives, but to differing levels. The representation of wilderness within the authors’ narratives is used to express the inner most feelings of their characters, whilst being simultaneously presented as a physical threat that shapes the lives of others. Wilderness poses as something to be feared and is characterised in a hostile way, emphasising how some characters are in fact inextricable from...
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Humans tend to change themselves in order to be like someone else, or fit in. Social media is a huge impact on this. For example, commercials about fit people being happy and enjoying life; while other people are envying them sitting on a couch thinking “why can’t I be like that.” Humanity is always trying to perfect the reality and fighting about who has the “perfect life”. Ever seen those shows where people get surgery to change the way they...
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The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the essence of morbidity quite adequately. The novel itself does a good job of showing a plethora of characters and the morbid nature of them, but the most morbid of them all is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale has committed a grave sin, and the sin is wearing away at him throughout the course of the novel. The Scarlet Letter provides many quotes and excerpts that reveal Dimmesdale’s inner morbidity, and even...
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In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne tells the story of an affair between Hester Prynne and Rev. -Arthur Dimmesdale two members of the Puritan community of Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1640s. When Roger Chillingworth, Hester's long-lost husband, arrives in the colony and discovers the affair, he is consumed by a desire for revenge. For Hawthorne, revenge is an all consuming cancer, destroying the mind, body, and spirit. In the devastation it creates, revenge proves itself possibly one of the greatest...
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“Men are punished by their sins, not for them.” - Elbert Hubbard[HK]. Punishment is always caused by one’s sins whether that be public disgrace or being punished by their own conscience [BRG]. In Hawthorne’s classic, The Scarlet Letter, several characters receive punishment, both just and unjust, for their sins [TH]. Hester receives punishment both publicly and privately, Dimmesdale receives punishment by keeping his sin private, and Chillingworth receives punishment by seeking revenge for Dimmesdale’s sin against him [OS]. Hester receives...
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In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne details the account of a tale of sin and redemption within a small Puritan community located in Boston during the seventeenth century. Hawthorne explores the entangled relationship between Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth through the scarlet letter and personal passions to illuminate the presence of hidden truths and motives within all aspects of society. A contrast between appearance versus reality is illustrated through the scarlet letter’s evolving appearance, signifying the complexity of human nature, and...
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Guilt, hypocrisy, love, pain, hidden secrets, these are just a few of the main points that Nathaniel Hawthorne seeks to bring to light in The Scarlet Letter. In a time when The Red Scare was sweeping the nation; Hawthorne dared to defy the groups of accusers in such a time. His use of Hester, Dimmesdale and the costly effect of their actions, is presented in a way to hold a mirror to society and accentuate the prevalent and often ignored...
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Hawthorne had a revolving theme of the Puritans being intolerable and cruel. His particular views on the Puritans in the book 'The Scarlet Letter' shifts from harsh criticism, sympathy, and admiration. He had a more rooted connection with his puritan ancestors and underlined their strengths and weaknesses. While reprimanding Puritan ruling as a whole, he shows understanding for people like Hester, who fail victim to it. He also acknowledged the hardworking men that built their town up. The letter A...
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The Scarlet Letter mainly covers the sin of adultery, while The Crucible covers witchcraft. Both have obvious similarities like the setting and the crime, but both have major differences. The author of The Scarlet Letter is Nathenial Hawthorne and the playwright of The Crucible is Arthur Miller. The Scarlet Letter is about Hester Prynne committing adultery with Arthur Dimmesdale and becoming pregnant with his child, while she had a husband known has Roger Chillingsworth. Roger discovers who the father of...
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Our identity is fictional, written by parents, relatives, education, and society. Parents and relatives form children to follow their principles. Society demands that we present an identity that can be comfortably cataloged. We are no longer accepted for ourselves. Judgment based on culture, religion and a plethora of other expectations has created a world filled with formidable situations, filling the minds of many with despondent thoughts. Culture and societal expectations affect the growth of our society and change many identities....
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People have come a long way to turn our society purely reliant on technology. When the ideas of Romanticism spread across America in the 18th century, people began to reject industrial and technological progress, and instead praise nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a renown Romantic philosopher, heavily glorified nature in his works. He states, “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city...
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In lots of novels, some characters’ functions in the story are being symbols. For instance, piggy in Lords of Flies and Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester’s daughter—Pearl not just play a simple child character in the story, she is also a constant reminder of the scarlet letter and Hester’s sin because Pearl’s dressing is similar to the letter, her drawing attention to the letter and she is banished by the society with her mother’s sin....
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Explain how the setting and mood are immediately established within the first few pages of each novel. Cite specific words and phrases that situate the reader. In the novels, the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Awakening By Kate Chopin, the authors illustrate the mood and setting in the first chapter. In the Scarlet Letter, the mood had been set to be dull. Hawthorne had to pave the tone to be that way since it started in a prison....
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, religion dominates society as the main element of life and work but nature can be seen attacking religion in many ways. Religion in the novel is a prominent factor in the feelings of society towards Hester. Nature, on the other hand, sympathizes with the main character and such, giving hope and God’s light. These two factors go up against each other as religion attacks and nature heals throughout The Scarlet Letter. Nature in the...
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Mapping the Plot Overview Mapping a plot reminds students that all narratives follow a predictable pattern and that identifying a climax, or turning point, requires that they first identify a major conflict. Students will use this worksheet to map the plot of The Scarlet Letter. There may be several possible climaxes, and students must defend their choice with textual evidence. Pass out this worksheet before students begin reading the text. Punishment, Guilt, and Shame Overview Exploring a text’s themes provides...
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The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the life of a Puritan woman named Hester Prynne who commits adultery. Hawthorne uses the repetition of various motifs throughout the novel because he wants to convey to the reader that sin should not prevent a person from living. From the very beginning of the novel, Hawthorne employs the motifs of flowers and weeds in order to juxtapose Hester with Puritan society. While describing the prison as a gloomy and lifeless...
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Hester Prynne is the most important character around whom all the events and incidents of the novel ‘The Scarlet Letter’ center. She committed the sin of adultery and fell a cruel victim to the stern Puritan law. The Puritan moralists find Hester guilty of an unpardonable sin. Hester, on the other hand, does not think herself guilty as she responded to a natural urge only. She seems to be a free-will agent and defies the Puritan strictures. But at the...
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Mistress Hibbins is based on a historical figure, Ann Hibbins. Ann Hibbins was the sister-in-law of Governor Belligham and she was also executed in 1659 after being accused and found guilty of witchcraft. Her function in the novel is to be the exact opposite of the character of Hester. She symbolizes supernatural knowledge and evil powers. “Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be merry company in the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester...
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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous The Scarlet Letter is a composition that held a lot of meaningful perspectives exploring the seventeenth century. The Scarlet Letter was originally published in 1850 by Hawthorne pointing out the hypocrisy that the Puritans did and the number of people who were condemned for life because of their sins. The novel The Scarlet Letter invokes the pretense of the term “lawful” and arouses the heart of every people to look more closely to the double standard society...
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The Scarlet Letter, written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story based on the punishment of sin, exclusively, adultery. During this time Hawthorne was moved by the transcendentalist ideas and beliefs, which is evident in his work. The story analyzes Hester Prynn’s committed sin of adultery and the hardships she faced in the Puritan society. Hester went through many hard times; however, nothing could compare to the joy she felt when looking at her daughter, Pearl. Pearl is a...
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In the iconic book The Scarlet Letter the reader comes across a vague understanding of what it means to be an adulterer. A person who truly represents and shows a sin that most believe to be the absolute uncrossable line that should not even be spoken of unless necessary. Very few readers and fans of the novel understand what it means to be beautiful. A rosebush is merely a beautiful masterpiece created by nature. And in The Scarlet Letter the...
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Both The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Scarlet Letter written by Margaret Atwood, and Nathaniel Hawthorne respectively are novels that explore self-development within a dystopian society through a feminist lens. They also examine the idea of having self-consciousness under an extremely controlling and oppressive environments. Both of the protagonists, Offred from The Handmaid’s Tale and Hester from The Scarlet Letter derive their idea of the “self” and “self-consciousness” through more secular beliefs, over a higher spiritual world. R.D. Laing in Self...
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Feminism is defined by Webster’s as organized activity on the behalf of women’s rights and interests aiming toward political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (“Feminism”). It would stand to reason an author of feminist works of literature would create characters and storylines based on struggles associated with these ideals. Feminist viewpoints and feminist works are quite common, if not expected, in the 21st century, hardly raising an eyebrow of readers today. Such pieces tell stories of women’s suffrage,...
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Nathaniel Hawthorne, a great famous writer in the United Stated, was born a serious Puritanism family, his ancestors are prominent in the Puritan theocracy of 17th New England, thus readers can know Puritanism in his work. However, he expressed his different viewpoint in his works like The Scarlet Letter, the book’ plot develop in accordance with a beautiful wife derailed to a much-admired brilliant young clergyman, then the crime of adultery violate the mainstream consciousness of the society at that...
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Puritans aren’t anything like Americans today and there are many reasons as to why. Hester Prynne, a young Puritan unlike the rest, committed the sin of adultery. Throughout the book, “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the story of Hester unfolds. The struggles Hester faces of heartless punishments and publicly being shamed by wearing a letter on her chest for the rest of her life is emphasized throughout the book. Nothing like this could ever happen in society today. American...
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Abstract The impact of the traditions of the sublime and the picturesque upon American painting and the literature of the Romantic period has been frequently examined, but the importance of these traditions in determining the structure and elements of The Scarlet Letter, one of the chief literary masterpieces of the age, has been little noticed. In the following essay, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s depiction of the era after the post-classical age i.e. the seventeenth century is put forward, illustrated through...
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The fresco painting, The Fall and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, created by Michelangelo and painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, depicts the biblical story of Adam and Eve and their sin against God, due to the temptation in the form of a forbidden apple tree known for granting knowledge. The painting presents the viewer with the story all in one piece. On the right side, Adam and Eve are living in a plentiful environment. They...
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Have you ever reminisced about a bad doing that you had committed? If so how did you deal with it? How did others around you react and treat you afterwards? In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses the character Pearl as a representation of the sin that Hester had committed. Due to her actions the townspeople looked upon her with disgust and shamed her for her wrong doings. Hawthorne attempts to show how the guilt one has, and carries with themselves,...
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One of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s main purposes in writing The Scarlet Letter was to show that all people sin no matter who they are or what status they have. Hawthorne also makes it clear that people can learn from the consequences of their sin, and that sin can help a person change for the better. The Puritan community expects sinners to be punished by standing upon the scaffold for the townspeople to ridicule them. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale knows that his soul...
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Symbolism is a type of literary device that allows complex ideas to be explored and conveyed in a clear way for readers. As a result, it can have an impactful influence on the themes of a story. One author that utilizes this to enhance the themes of their novel is Nathaniel Hawthorne in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Through numerous encounters with symbolic objects, Hawthorne establishes a contrast between Puritan ideology and reality. While Puritan society often used symbols as...
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