The Scarlet Letter essays

79 samples in this category

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2 Pages 703 Words
All children bless their parents in their own unique way. Hester’s only daughter Pearl continues as a true blessing in Hester’s life. Hester the wearer of the Scarlet letter is punished for committing adultery with the minister. The setting in the book takes place in the 1600s Boston in a Puritan society so the people remain extremely harsh and treat...
2 Pages 1067 Words
The creation of “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written at a time when the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes became a huge movement in America. Femenist authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller had circulating works of literature, making women's rights a cultural discussion. Hawthorne had previously been labeled...
1 Page 438 Words
The Scarlet Letter and 'The Minister's Black Veil' were written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The main character in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, and the main character in 'The Minister's Black Veil,' Reverend Hooper, are both treated as outcasts for the same reason; they are thought to have committed a terrible sin. The two literary works lack similarities pertaining to genre,...
2 Pages 1073 Words
Imagine living a life, in today’s society, having one single letter define and determine everything you are and will be. Hester Prynne, a main character in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, experiences this tragic feeling of judgment, guilt, dignity, confidence, and much more. She endures this because of an affair, causing her to bear a child,...
1 Page 559 Words
One factor that Pearl exhibits is her family background which is parallel to Nathaniel Hawthorne's. Hawthorne’s ancestor, John Hathorne was a judge from the Salem Witch Trials. The ancestral ties with Salem heavily impacted Hawthorne as he was ashamed of his family. Similarly, Pearl, like Hawthorne, was born into disgrace as Hester Prynne bore her as a result of adultery....
2 Pages 961 Words
We all have a best friend, and that person is your best friend because you are so much alike. You spend every minute with that person getting to know then and after spending time with them, you start becoming like them. If they hurt you, you forgive them. However, the puritans were cruel when it came to sin, its punishment,...
2 Pages 975 Words
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a piece of fiction that illustrates an environment heavily luring religious themes that can portray a character’s morality and actions with such reasoning behind them. With the constant usage of sin, Hawthorne implements many mutual dilemmas for Puritan society and their outlook on the protagonists of the plot. Hawthorne suggests that sin is...
2 Pages 965 Words
“The best way to learn to be an honest, responsible adult is to live with adults who act honestly and responsibly” (Jarrett Web). These words are announced by Claudia Jewett Jarrett, author of Adopting the Older Child. She is a popular author of books about how to raise difficult children. This quote connotes that children that do not develop with...
2 Pages 1047 Words
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is more complex than a simplistic story of an adulterous woman. Nonetheless, if we study the piece in depth, we will find different points of view standing out. Due to its complexity, which makes it a great piece of the American Romantic Literature, it has been given several interpretations. The novel set in New England...
3 Pages 1396 Words
The scarlet letter is an American romantic drama film. It is an adaptation of Nathaniel Howthorne’s book that was written in 1850. The movie was directed by Roland Joffe and stars Demi Moore as Hester Prynne, Gary Olman as Dimmesdale, and Roland Duvall as Roguer Chillingworth. There are many similarities and differences in the novel as in the film, and...
1 Page 430 Words
The Scarlet Letter, written by Natheniel Hawthorne, reflects the literary movement of Romanticism through three distinguished characters within the novel to show the connection between the natural world and human emotions. Dimmesdale, who is disclosed to be the father of Pearl, is used by Hawthorne to embody the struggle of man between one's inner emotions and one's outer look in...
3 Pages 1547 Words
From courage, to sin, and even identity, the main character in the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, had to face many objectifying situations from her mistakes. Although real places and possible real events occured in the novel, the genre is considered historical fiction. The time period in which the novel was told in was the 17th century,...
1 Page 642 Words
In the contemporary era, people hold stereotypes toward the people they don’t know well and labeling them into certain characteristics, so it is necessary for us to learn about an ethnic group that is usually misunderstood by other people. Native Americans, however, as the original residence of America, often being portrayed in a prejudicial description. There are pieces of evidence...
4 Pages 1623 Words
Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter primarily centers around the deed of sinning, and the effect it has on those surrounding. Initially, we are presented with Hester Prynne, a young woman who essentially commits the immoral act of adultery. Consequently, those associated with this act of sin ultimately are further consumed by immorality than the sinner herself. Sin in...
2 Pages 1007 Words
Hawthrone begins The Scarlet Letter with a long introductory essay that generally functions as a prologue, but more specifically, achieves four significant objectives: outlines autobiographical information about the author, describes the conflict between artistic impulse and the commercial environment, define the romance novel and adds an imaginative literary device, the romantic pretense of having discovered the manuscript of The Scarlet...
2 Pages 1068 Words
Tryon Edwards once said, “Sin with the multitude, and your responsibility and guilt are as great and as truly personal, as if you alone had done the wrong.” Everyone sins, and everyone has been guilty of sin. Guilt can even drive people insane. In The Scarlet Letter the three main characters, Reverend Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and Roger Chillingworth, are portrayed...
2 Pages 970 Words
Hawthorne presents in the Scarlet Letter, that wrongdoing is uncovered because of the puritan culture who for the most part is God-center around during this time, a greater amount of God-focused than man-focused. Hawthorne is attempting to search out if the idea of wrongdoing can truly influence one individual's mentality towards the individuals around them. This point contends if Hester...
2 Pages 993 Words
All throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, the recurrence of key settings such as the town, the forest, and the scaffold help shape the plot. By repeating main scenes, the significance of these settings are stressed. Resilient to the constant adversity, main character Hester Prynne overcomes all challenges presented to her. The scaffold scenes provide a majority of the...
2 Pages 735 Words
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Pearl evolves from a mere portrayal of Hester Prynne’s scandal to the accomplishment of Hester’s endurance of contempt from their Puritan community. Hester gives birth to Pearl out of wedlock, therefore branding them as unethical and disgraceful. Hester raises impish Pearl all while wearing the scarlet “A” on her chest as punishment. Pearl constantly reminds Hester...
5 Pages 2483 Words
Pearl's Symbolism and Introduction in 'The Scarlet Letter' Throughout the novel many characters represent and symbolize many different things. One of the most dynamic character’s when it comes to symbolism is Pearl. Although many have analyzed Pearl as simply a symbol and not a character within the novel, the argument that she is in fact a true character that symbolizes...
2 Pages 908 Words
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter published in 1850 was a notably acclaimed novel that was one of the first mass-produced books in the United States, sold out just a few days after its initial printing. The book portrayed its protagonist, Hester Prynne’s story of guilt and repentance after she conceived an illegitimate daughter through an affair with the town’s clergyman....
6 Pages 2785 Words
Located in Boston Massachusetts, during the 17th century, the Scarlet Letter begins with a gathering of Puritan colonists around a local prison. The colonists in the story seem to be waiting for some sort of public punishment of a prisoner. The mood expressed during this very first chapter of the Scarlet Letter is filled with melancholy and somberness. The only...
2 Pages 1010 Words
A recurring idea of an individual and a society in the American Romanticism made its presence throughout this collection. Emily Dickinson's poem “Much Madness Is Divinest Sense, has a base formality that resonates with how individuals may react to their current societies standards. Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne and pearl in The Scarlet Letter, and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”, to...
6 Pages 2701 Words
Sin is as old as Adam and Eve, moreover there is no world without sin. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Genesis 3:1-24 ) The Puritans adopt that theory and believe that every person is born as a sinner but God...
5 Pages 2176 Words
The word and meaning of sin is a very prominent subject in the book The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne the author likes to delve deep on the meaning comparing it to the context of Puritan society. In puritan society, sin was taken as a bigger deal and a heavy burden on the soul. There was sin going on in Puritan...
1 Page 537 Words
In Arther Cleveland Coxe’s review of The Scarlet Letter, he attacks the great American classic by claiming it is offensive towards morality and marriage. Coxe is baffled at how Hawthorne, the author of the book, wrote a story that he believes to be degrading to other pieces of ‘actual’ literature. He even insinuated he thinks the book was written to...

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