Guilt has, is and always will be something that costs the world untold despair, pain, and suffering. Nathaniel Hawthorne's renowned novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a story about a girl named Hester Prynne who makes the terrible sin of adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who is Salem’s town minister. Once Hester becomes pregnant it becomes clear to the whole town what she has done. Typically, when a Puritan committed the sin of adultery they would be killed, but because some of the townspeople
seventeenth century Boston, Massachusetts, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the fortitude of the Puritan society as well as major imperfections of its beliefs and religion. Using his familiarity of the Puritan ways of life, Hawthorne not only expresses his fondness of the culture, but also institutes a concern for the judgmental and irrational behaviors that are enforced by the Puritan religion. Hugo McPherson has claimed, “Hawthorne’s rejection of the Calvinist view of human nature
rage or an endless depression, it stimulates a response. For Nathaniel Hawthorne a mid 19th century author, the emotions of guilt and shame triggered two actions. Primarily he cut the ties to his family by adding a “w” to his last name, due to the shame of being related to his great grandfather, John Hathorne, a judge at the Salem Witch Trials. These emotions arguably resulted in the creation of his best-known work, The Scarlet Letter, which vividly tells the story of a mother, Hester, and her struggle
The Scarlet Letter: The Effects of Literary Techniques Jane Austen once said “I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives”. Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of the life of Hester Prynne, an adulteress, forced to wear a Scarlet “A” on her bosom by the sinister Puritan society to mark her shame. As her husband seeks revenge for the unidentified lover, Arthur Dimmesdale
As Nathaniel Hawthorne began to pen The Scarlet Letter, the gender roles of America started to change in ways that had never been seen in its history. Just two years before the publication of Hawthorne’s novel, women from all walks of life had gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss their rights. This conference served as the foundation of the feminist movement and was the culmination of years of small steps for women in their quest for further rights. This fight for additional rights started
In Hawthorne's novel, there are a number of sub-themes, which can be expressed in the form of opposition and that are subordinated to a major theme, that of sin. Sin, Knowledge, and the Human Condition Sin and knowledge are closely related in Judeo-Christian tradition. In the Bible Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden because they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result of knowledge, Adam and Eve must admit that they have not listened, and that separates them from
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses an admirable character, Reverend Dimmesdale, in order to portray that being a hypocrite is one of the worst sins that one can commit. Hawthorne uses hypocrisy as a major theme of the novel. Consequently, Hawthorne is able to express his hatred of the Puritanical society, by proving to the readers that the majority of Puritans were hypocritical. Throughout the novel, poor Hester Prynne had to face the evil Puritans by herself, and bravely
Hester Prynne in the book of The Scarlet Letter. She survives through guilt, hopelessness, and loneliness throughout the novel. Like the letter A that is sown on her bossom, Hester is the symbol of sin in the Puritan society she lives in. Guilt is something everyone can relate to. It is something we all hate but is, sadly, inevitable. As Nathaniel Hawthorne says, “...guilt...once made into the human soul is never, in this mortal state, repaired” (75). Guilt is a never ending reminder. Even
frowned upon sins people were punished for was adultery. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, a young woman who is awaiting the return of her husband, and Arthur Dimmesdale, the town’s beloved minister, commit this unthinkable sin together. Hester is the only one of the pair who suffers the consequences, because she refuses to disclose Dimmesdale’s name to the public, and is not only forced to wear a scarlet letter for the rest of her life, but also has to stand on a platform
"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart." (Hawthorne, 2) In The Scarlet Letter, the leaders of the town are very stringent and sin is a big deal. Hester Prynne is caught in adultery and she is punished greatly because of it. She is shunned from society and considered a renegade. She does not try to be an interloper and there is always a hiatus between her and the townspeople. She