Free Essays on Scarlet Letter

Scarlett Letter In the Scarlet Letter, the author uses many different types of symbols to show what he has experienced as a young man, and what he has to say about the society during his time. The different settings of the story are ways in which he describes his environment and how it has treated him as a child. One symbol he uses a lot was the scarlet letter. The scarlet letter takes on different meanings as the course of the story progresses. It also takes on various appearances and symbolism.The letter changes from meaning 3adultery2 into meaning 3able.2 Not only does the letter symbolize Hester1s punishment, but it also serves as different personal meanings to the various characters in the story such as Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Pearl to name a few. In the Scarlet Letter, there are many different forms of the letter A , not only that, but the letter A also acquires a variety of meanings. Hawthorne describes the prison as 3the black flower of civilized society2 (p.48) Here he uses the build ings to describe the crime and punishment of his early life. And by using the symbol of a tombstone at the end of the story, he1s probably trying to say that crime and cruel punishment could lead to your death. He also uses the grass plot, saying that it is 3much overgrown with burdock,....and such unsightly vegetation2 (p.48) which symbolizes the things that make people corrupt and why these lead to them being in prison. He also uses the wild rosebush to symbolize 3....sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.2 (p.48). The author also gives somewhat of a dim, chill, social, unkind atmosphere to Puritanism. In Chapter 2 he describes by saying 3like a black shadow...grim and grisly...with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand.2 (p.52).The letter A appears in a variety of forms and appearances. It is the elaborately gold-embroidered A on He... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Evil In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Writings Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter and â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter†, uses the concept of evil as a main theme in some of his stories. â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† is not a simple story focusing on a clear line separating good from evil. Instead, the story focuses on the gray area where good and evil overlap. In Rappaccini’s Daughter, Rappaccini, a scientist who â€Å"cares more for science than for mankind’, makes a solution to keep his daughter pure forever, therefore he is considered the evil in the story. In the Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth is considered the evil, even though one could argue that many of the main characters in the story are sinners or are evil including all of the townspeople. The concept of evil is also shown in contrast to the concept of good in both stories. In The Scarlet Letter, one can argue that it is a romance as well as an evil novel, same can be said with â€Å"Rappaccini’s Da ughter†, where they contrast between beauty and evil. In Rappaccini’s Daughter, the theme that any man who touches Rappaccini’s daughter, without his approval will die, gives the story a sense thrill and evil. Rappaccini’s love for science gives him an image of a mad scientist, who sacrifices moral values in exchange for knowledge. He distorts nature and corrupts his daughter in order to satisfy his arrogant pride. This may be considered as pure evil, but he does this actually thinking that his daughter would benefit from his scientific experiment. In my opinion, this was a quest for knowledge and the need for power. By isolating his daughter, Rappaccini knew he could keep her ignorant and dependent upon him. The immense power he has given his daughter is ultimately for his own use and not to protect her.... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter centers round the consequences of sin, especially shame and guilt. It is to be noted that the sin of adultery is, in itself, not the subject matter of the novel. In fact, the novel opens after the sin has been committed and Pearl, the offspring of the sinful, but natural, union is three months old. As Hawthorne himself states in the opening chapter, the novel is about human weakness and its resulting sorrow. Hawthorne's focus of attention is the effect the sin has on Hester and Dimmesdale. They constantly suffer from shame and guilt throughout the novel. Both of them lead joyless lives. Dimmesdale, however, suffers much more intensely than Hester. Hester is made to publicly acknowledge her sin. A scarlet letter "A" is permanently placed on her dress to symbolize her adultery, and she is made to stand on the scaffold with her baby for several hours of public humiliation. She becomes a social outcast of the Puritan society and lives in isolation on the outskirts of town. Pearl, her lively and uncontrollable daughter, is the daily living proof of Hester's sin. With pride, she dresses her daughter in brightly colored clothing and holds her on head up high. She also concerns herself with doing acts of charity and kindnesses for other people. Even though her life is difficult and drab, Hester, through her own doing, rises about the scarlet letter "A" on her chest. In complete contrast to Hester, Dimmesdale does not publicly confess his sin, and it eats away at him bit by bit. His health begins to fail, and his body is seized by nervousness. He hints at his sinfulness in the pulpit, but his congregation simply assumes he is being humble and honors him even more; this only increases his sense of shame and guilt. Chillingworth, who realizes that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father, adds to the minister's torture. Under the guise of help, the evil physician torments Dimmesdale daily. ... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Chapter One: The Prison Door Summary A large crowd of Puritans stands outside of the prison, waiting for the door to open. The prison is described as a, "wooden jail...already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front." The iron on the prison is rusting and creates an overall appearance of decay. Outside of the building, next to the door, a rosebush stands in full bloom. Hawthorne remarks that it is possible, "this rosebush...had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison door." He then plucks one of the roses and offers it to the reader as a "moral blossom" to be found later in the story. Chapter Two: The Market Place Summary The crowd in front of the jail is a mixture of men and women, all maintaining severe looks of disapproval. Several of the women begin to discuss Hester Prynne, and soon vow that Hester would not have received such a light sentence for her crime if they had been the judges. One woman, the ugliest of the group, goes so far as to advocate death for Hester. Hester emerges from the prison with elegance and a lady-like air to her movements. She clutches her three month old daughter, Pearl. She has sown a large scarlet "A" over her breast, using her finest skill to make the badge of shame appear to be a decoration. Several of the women are outraged when they see how she has chosen to display the letter, and want to rip it off. Hester is led through the crowd to the scaffold of the pillory. She ascends the stairs and stands, now fully revealed to the crowd, in her position of shame and punishment for the next few hours. Hawthorne compares her beauty and elegance while on the scaffold to an image of Madonna and Child, or Divine Maternity. The ordeal is strenuous and difficult for Hester. She tries to make the images in front of her vanish by thinking about her past. It is revealed ... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Hawthorne’s introduction to the Scarlet Letter explains his experience(s) in his native town of Salem. He specifies what his goal for the reader is going to be. Spending a lot of his time at the Custom-House (a governmental building in Salem) he describes the atmosphere and diversities of the people who walk up those granite steps. His reason for creating the Custom- House short novel was to introduce a group of short works as well as the long story which was not yet completed, however, his publisher James Fields encouraged Hawthorne to let â€Å"The Scarlet Letter† stand alone. In his native town of Salem, he describes the Custom-House as a sort of old, unattractive building. He elaborates the physical sense of the buildings exterior with the American flag that hangs vertically and the banner of the republic on the roof which he describes as it â€Å"floats or droops, in breeze or calm.† But he gives an in-depth description of the bald eagle that hangs proudly over the entrance of the building. He states â€Å"......to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings: nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle.† The many different people that came to the Custom-House as Hawthorne exclaims â€Å"made it a stirring scene.† as many as three to four vessels would arrive at a time usually from Africa or South America. They would come into the Custom-House tired and exhausted from long days on their voyages at sea.... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Scarlett Letter In the Scarlet Letter, the author uses many different types of symbols to show what he has experienced as a young man, and what he has to say about the society during his time. The different settings of the story are ways in which he describes his environment and how it has treated him as a child. One symbol he uses a lot was the scarlet letter. The scarlet letter takes on different meanings as the course of the story progresses. It also takes on various appearances and symbolism.The letter changes from meaning 3adultery2 into meaning 3able.2 Not only does the letter symbolize Hester1s punishment, but it also serves as different personal meanings to the various characters in the story such as Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Pearl to name a few. In the Scarlet Letter, there are many different forms of the letter A , not only that, but the letter A also acquires a variety of meanings. Hawthorne describes the prison as 3the black flower of civilized society2 (p.48) Here he uses the build ings to describe the crime and punishment of his early life. And by using the symbol of a tombstone at the end of the story, he1s probably trying to say that crime and cruel punishment could lead to your death. He also uses the grass plot, saying that it is 3much overgrown with burdock,....and such unsightly vegetation2 (p.48) which symbolizes the things that make people corrupt and why these lead to them being in prison. He also uses the wild rosebush to symbolize 3....sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.2 (p.48). The author also gives somewhat of a dim, chill, social, unkind atmosphere to Puritanism. In Chapter 2 he describes by saying 3like a black shadow...grim and grisly...with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand.2 (p.52).The letter A appears in a variety of forms and appearances. It is the elaborately gold-embroidered A on He... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Secret Sin Leads to Guilt In â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†, Hawthorne depicts a way of life that no longer exists in today’s society. It was a society of fear in a strict moral code. The morals, which were based on religious beliefs, were usually taken too seriously and gave birth to a generation of extremists known as puritans. Many puritans had ridiculously harsh punishments when a law was broken which caused many to live secretly. Secrets are never revealed or told to others in the puritan community. When Chillingworth says to Dimmesdale â€Å"Yet some men bury their secrets thus† it shows to what extent puritans would go to keep their sins hidden from the public (Hawthorne 130). The fact that Dimmesdale could not tell anyone what he had done for fear of punishment and rejection is clearly shown by Chillingworths’ tormenting comments. Once secrets were out everyone in the community knew about it immediately. Hester cannot even bring herself to tell her own daughter the true reason for the scarlet letter, which seems everyone but Pearl knows. Hester states, â€Å"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 daily basis without feeling guilty. Things such as adultery seem a trivial matter because it is not considered illegal. When the third matron says â€Å"At the very least, they should have put the brand of hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead† it shows how serious adultery is taken to the puritans. These strong beliefs ruined many people’s lives due to living a lie in order to escape the people’s harshness. Dimmesdale kept his relationship with Hester a secret, which ultimately kills him. If Dimmesdale had been able to speak freely of his sin, the guilt and stress that built up inside of him would have dimin... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter The Pariah â€Å"†¦The talk of the neighboring townspeople, who, seeking vainly elsewhere for the child’s paternity, and observing some of her odd attributes, had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring†¦Ã¢â‚¬  – page 95 of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Since Pearl had no known father, the townspeople gossiped freely of Hester and her Pearl. Because Dimmesdale was not revealed as her father until later in the novel, Pearl suffered the early years of her life as an outcast. Pearl was taunted and stared at by other children. She was even almost taken away from Hester as a toddler. Despite being born of shameful beginnings, Pearl overcomes her lowly status as an outcast; although she is labeled as the â€Å"witch child† of an ignominious mother, does not get a clear explanation of her origin until the day of her father’s death, and when she does, it changes her fate as the â€Å"under-dog†. Everyone has been teased in his or her lifetime. Some forms are harmless, and others are down right cruel. Teasing pertains to Pearl because she is teased unmercifully by the Puritan children. â€Å"†¦ The children of the Puritans looked up from their play†¦ and spoke gravely one to another: ‘Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter, and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!’† (98). Since Pearl senses that she is an outcast, she scares the Puritan children by jabbering indistinctly and making wild gestures while shrieking. This causes the nobles of the town to question Hester’s values in child rearing. Pearl, however, beats all odds and is a success story. Ard 2 The magistrate asks Pearl a simple question, â€Å"Canst thou tell me, my child, who made thee?† –(107). Pearl replies that she had not been made at all, but that she had been plucked off the wild rosebush that grew by the prison d... Free Essays on Scarlet Letter Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the course of the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify Puritanic and Romantic philosophies. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece. Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil,and shamed. The reader more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at all, places Pearl above the rest. She wears colorful clothes, is extremely smart, pretty, and nice. More often than not, she shows her intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl's favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees. (The reader will recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans.To Hawthorne, however, the forest was beautiful and natural.) "And she was gentler here [the forest] than in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it" (194)Pearl fit in with natural things. Also, Pearl is always effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the Puritans. Pearl is a virtual shouting match between the Puritanical views and the Romantic ways. To most, but especially the Puritans, one of the most import...