Alex Almer Mrs. Voshell Honors English 10 8 January 2016 Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Use of Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a large amount of symbolism in his book, The Scarlet Letter. “The characters and the action are soaked in symbolism” (Wagenknecht 61). Symbolism is the use of an object, character, or event to represent something else. Hawthorne uses the symbols in the book to convey the meanings of the story in a creative, interesting way. Hawthorne uses all of the main
Hester Prynne is the main female protagonist in the novel, The Scarlet Letter (1850) Hester Prynne is the main female protagonist. Written) by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and throughout the book, a hostile New England puritanical community alienates her. This is because she conceives and delivers a child, Pearl, out of wedlock as the result of a relationship with a man preacher named Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale whom she is not married to. The only apparent salvation for Hester is for her to reveal the name
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a romantic work of historical fiction published in 1860, explores the costs of duplicity and disguised guilt among the lives of individuals who struggle to embrace their self-awareness within a stern society. Set in the mid-seventeenth century in Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, the protagonist Hester Prynne bears the scarlet letter upon her chest. The letter A serves as an unceasing public shaming for her adulterous actions with the highly regarded Reverend
This sensation could very well be an insatiable guilt which can drive a man to the brink of insanity, and perhaps even to death’s door. Such tortuous feelings, especially when contained, possess an unfathomably immense danger. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale’s deteriorating physical appearance is caused by
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 with being condemned for a sin she committed
1. I empathize with 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
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
reputation. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, uses the, often horrible, decisions and reputations of characters to shape the story, moulding it into the classic novel both English teachers and students come to know and love. Nathaniel Hawthorne shapes characters such as Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale through their sins, their evolving mental and physical state, and their crippling lack of courage, their cowardice. Both Dimmesdale and Hester share together their sin, both commit
others with kindness.” Hester Prynne, the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, demonstrates the moral of kindness within her community. Her patience withstands many years until the townspeople actually agree to her as being a legacy. According to the conclusion, Hester’s return to Boston recognizes her intention to act as an influential figure within the community.
(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 has a baby while she is still married because her husband has been gone for years. She does not even know if he is dead or alive. She commits this sin with the pastor