The Scarlet Letter Analysis Essay
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Scarlet Letter Character Analysis
What influences an author to write a novel? Many authors have used their personal experiences and
ancestral backgrounds to influence the plot and events in their novel, to develop themes and
relationships. The events in an author's life affect the style and content of their literary works, which
is expressed throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne
's The Scarlet Letter
. Pearl being an outcast from the
rigid Puritan morals, and Hester's being independent and strong–willed challenges traditional
society. These aspects all mirror the author's emotions and hardships of his early life through the
literary element of characterization. Through the analysis of the main characters Hester and Pearl,
we see how The Scarlet Letter is a reflection of Hawthorne's
...show more content...
In short, I now and then catch an aspect of her, in which I cannot believe her to be my own child, but
a spirit strangely mingled with good and evil, haunting the house where I dwell". (American 430–
31)
Hawthorne is unable to cope with the fact that Una has qualities that do not conform to the standards
of a classic Puritan woman. A Puritan woman was viewed to be the weaker of the two sexes in both
mind and body and was inferior to men. Una's bold and audacious personality goes against this
belief, which Hawthorne found to be overwhelming yet intriguing. The foreign traits that she
possesses illustrate Hawthorne's perplexity towards Una and how he views her as a non–human
entity. She was merely a creature to Hawthorne's, that embodied all that was not Puritanism and
conformity. These traits are familiar because they embody the character of Pearl in The Scarlet
Letter. Throughout the novel
, readers can recognize that Peal is not like the other Puritan children in
her community. She is outgoing and possesses a slight masculinity that can be recognized through
her fiery attitude. Yet this behavior is unlike any Puritan has experienced before, causing some
Puritans to fall under the false pretense that she is a "demon offspring.". Her behavior is so unusual
to these commoners that she is often referred in
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Scarlet Letter Analysis Essay
Junhee Chung
A.P English Language
August 20, 2015 Novel Analysis Assignment
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Plot and Conflict
The Scarlet Letter is a story involving many symbols. The novel is set in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony in the 1640s, around the time colonization first took its place in America. The protagonist,
known as Hester Prynne is a newcomer to the colony. Hester is a married woman from Europe who
commits adultery in the colony gets arrested. Hester keeps the fathers identity a secret. One of her
punishments for committing adultery is to stand on the scaffold to be criticized. The other main one
is to stitch a scarlet letter on her clothes to publicly identify her as an adulterer. Soon after her child
Pearl
...show more content...
She is born out of wedlock in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Pearl grows up living in the woods
with only her mother. Pearl is a character who is brutally honest. Her honesty make the adult
characters ponder their actions and thoughts. Pearl is a flat and static character because she remains
constant throughout the story. Her personality does not change, and neither does her characteristics.
Pearl inquires a lot about the relationship between her mother and Reverend Dimmesdale. She is
also a harsh judger. One thing that Pearl does is she fixates on the scarlet letter quite often. Pearl is
very smart as she picks up that Reverend Dimmesdale is her father before anyone else. She asks
what it will change, "Doth he love us?". Pearl's internal conflict, whether she is aware of it or not,
has to do with her being born out of wedlock. She is born an outcast and born a product of sin. This
affects her more than she realizes. Pearl's external conflict is not having a father or someone else
other than her mother loving her. Pearl dislikes Reverend Dimmesdale after realizing that he is her
father because he will not acknowledge them in public. Pearl opens her heart a little more when he
dies on the scaffold after holding their hands together and confessing to the sin. Pearl is a constant
reminder to Hester of her scarlet letter both intentionally and unintentionally. Hester dresses Pearl
up just like her scarlet letter. (257
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Scarlet Letter Analysis Essay
"Women belong in the kitchen." "All women should be barefoot and pregnant." "Women are strictly
homemakers." These are a few of the commonly used phrases regarding the female role in society
that date back to the mid–seventeenth century. However, ardent supporters of gender equality have
surfaced in almost every culture where this ideology is practiced. Nathaniel Hawthorne explores this
inveterate societal conflict through his story The Scarlet Letter
. The main character, Hester Prynne,
is punished for committing adultery by being forced to wear a scarlet letter upon her bosom;
Hawthorne created a story sympathetic to the female cause and demonstrated, through Hester,
qualities of early feminism that later establish themselves during his
...show more content...
These feminists aimed to defend their silenced voices. One motive for the dissent of inequality could
have resulted from the strict government regulation of conformity. Everyone was trained to evade
individualistic thinking, which in turn, led to the questioning of leaders. "It was an age in which the
human intellect had taken a more active and a wider range than for many centuries before," (149).
This quote illustrates the possibility of a change in people's mind regarding the injustice towards
women. Hester represents the story's population that thinks freely. She is not content with fulfilling
the pre–determined destiny of a silent wife under Christ, and demonstrates it by challenging that role
and attempting to reorganize the archaic system in which she lives. The women of the town are
outraged by her actions, demonstrating that they are afraid that if women start acting out of passion,
the entire structure they depend on would dilapidate. Hester made it clear that it is possible to
survive outside of prejudice, which is still exemplified today. She displays that the idea of feminism
and the reasons leading up to it have not changed for decades. For all of these reasons, Hester's
feminist mindset became prevalent throughout the novel. She questions the place of women and
becomes heavyhearted when she realizes she does not possess the ability to make an impact. She
ponders whether being alive is worth the travesty she believes is engrained
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Scarlet Letter Literary Analysis
Aaron Kim
Weidman
Honors English 2
25 August 2016
Scarlet Letter Analysis The "Scarlet Letter", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about a woman
named Hester Prynne who has committed the heinous act of adultery. Throughout the novel, Hester
is condemned to wearing the letter "A", a.k.a. the scarlet letter
. Hester and her daughter Pearl are
shunned by the community while the identity of the man who committed adultery with Hester
remains a secret. In the novel, Hester's old husband comes to Boston to find and exact revenge on
that man. There are many uses of symbolism and allusions throughout the book. However,
Hawthorne most prominently uses the scarlet letter "A", Hester's daughter, Pearl, and Roger
Chillingworth as symbols in the book.
...show more content...
Pearl, like the scarlet letter, serves a reminder of Hester's affair. However, Pearl is more than just a
punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing. Hester gives her daughter the name Pearl "not as a
name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that
would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant "Pearl", as being of great price,–
purchased with all she had" (Hawthorne 69). In a way, Hester sees Pearl as a punishment, and even
believes that Pearl will have physical or mental defects because of her actions. Hester even
questions if Pearl is truly her daughter, constantly asking "What are you child?" or "Are you truly
my child?" Despite all this, Pearl is an important part of Hester's life and ultimately gives Hester a
reason to live. Hester's love for Pearl also bolsters her when she is tempted to give up. An example
of Pearl giving Hester a reason to live is when the ministers and governor try to take Pearl away
from Hester, Hester adamantly refuses and defends her right to keep Pearl. The ministers and the
governor change their minds when minister Dimmesdale says that they should "leave them as God
has seen fit to place them". Throughout the novel, Pearl mainly serves as a symbolic character. Pearl
is a reminder of Hester's sin, a punishment, and also a
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During the first half of the nineteenth century the Romanticism movement was starting to reach its
apex. However, one of its sub–genres would have a longer impact on literature. It was gothic fiction,
a genre that according to study.com "involved elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, but it also
included romantic elements of nature and very high emotion, such as fear and suspense, and often
concentrated on individuality". The most famous writer of gothic fiction during the early to mid
nineteenth century was Edgar Allen Poe. However, another writer around the same time also made
an impact. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 to an old New England family who can be traced
to old Salem. He is best known for his short stories like "The Birthmark" and "The Minister 's Black
Veil"; and the classic novel "The Scarlet Letter". He died in 1864 on a tour of the White Mountains
in New Hampshire. Most of his stories takes place during puritan Massachusetts. "
Young Goodman
Brown
" is such a story. It is about a young puritan man who has recently gotten married. At the start
of the story he is on a journey through the woods. There he comes a across a strange old man who
claims to know everyone in the colony. He also knows everyone's sins. Brown eventually sees a
ceremony for the devil. He sees people there he thought were the pillars of his community like
Goody Cloyse and The Minster. What scares him the most his that his wife Faith is there too. It is
revealed that it was
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Women or Men, is there really a double standard? The inequality between men and women was
even more prominent and obvious during the antebellum era. In The Scarlet Letter By Nathanial
Hawthorne there was Hester Prynne and in The Two Offers By Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, there
was Janette Alston. Both of these women, rose above the rest, through adversity, hardship, and
against all odds still came out on top, even during a time period that didn't appreciate a strong
woman
. In "
The Scarlet Letter
", Hester Prynne
, was thrown in jail and forced to wear a symbol of
her sin and lived on the outskirts of society for most of her life after, but even through all that she
did not break or run away she became stronger and it became a part of her identity. In The Two
Offers, Janette Alston is not necessarily the main focus of the story but was a wonderful symbol
during that time period. She becomes very famous for her spirit, where as her sister does the
opposite and gets married and tries to have children but passes away and instead of Janette, breaking
down because of this, she becomes stronger in the face of adversity and inevitably becomes an Old
Maid. These are just a few of the many examples of what our characters go through and how harshly
our society judge's women versus men, it is as if they are held to higher standards, and Hawthorne
and Harper create a vivid picture of what many women experienced during the beginning of the 19th
century.
During the 19th century women were
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The Scarlet Letter: An Analysis of Puritanism and Sin
The Scarlet Letter is a modern classic of American literature written about controversy and
published with controversy. The main topic of the book, adultery, is written in a dark and sad way, as
Hawthorne describes injustice, fate or predetermination and conscience ( Van Doren, 1998) . No
other American novel of the time has such a controversial theme as Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter
.
The setting of Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is the seventeenth century Puritan New
England. But Hawthorne's writing for this book is heavily influenced by his own nineteenth century
culture. Hawthorne strongly believed in Providence. Hawthorne was descended from the
Puritan
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He describes them "as if hey were ghosts±. Gazing with harsh and intolerant criticisms at the
pursuits and enjoyments of living men." ( Bloom, 1986, p. ). Predestination, a belief of the
Puritan ethic that man's fate is set at his birth is also very much a part of the characters of the book.
The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, who committed adultery with Hester Prynne
, uses the statement,
"Were it God's will" when he asks for Roger Chillingsworth's advice on whether he should admit
publicly to the adultery . Dimmesdale says " I could be well content that my labours, and my
sorrows, and my sins, and my pains, should shortly end with me, and what is earthly of them be
buried in my grave, and the spiritual go with me to my eternal state, rather than you should put your
skill to the proof on my behalf" p. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale's affair becomes
the focus of the 17th century community in New England. Hester is the "fallen" woman who is
brought before the court of community opinion and justice. This Puritan community believes that all
men have fallen and all men are sinners (Bloom, 1986). Hester is made to wear the scarlet letter, an
A. This A represents adultery and it is Hester's badge of dishonor and sin and a symbol of her
failure. The scarlet letter is meant to affect the person wearing it by showing that they have sinned
an are, in the end, sorry for their sin. The letter has the opposite
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Scarlet Letter Character Analysis Essay
In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the story revolves around the lives and the
events of the following characters: Hester Prynne, who is the mother of an illegitimate child with the
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and is now being outcasted by her Puritan community because of it;
the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale who is the charming minister of 17th century Boston, the father of
an illegitimate child and has not had his sin revealed; then there's Roger Chillingworth who is the
estranged husband of Hester Prynne who has given up a life–long pursuit of knowledge in exchange
for one of revenge and evil. All of these main characters are important to the story of the scarlet
letter
, but the one who arguably has the most important and
...show more content...
Pearl's relevance in the novel could be initially mistaken for nothing more than a side character and
a minor detail, but after reading the entire story it becomes clear just how crucial her role is. Pearl's
existence is the sole reason for this story to even exist, for without her existence, there would never
have been any evidence or reason for Hester Prynne to be outed for adultery by her Boston Puritan
community. As a result, Arthur Dimmesdale would have continued to live out the rest of his days as
the beloved minister without the overwhelming guilt, and Roger Chillingworth would have most
likely continued to pursue knowledge or Hester Prynne. But, Pearl does exist and so does the story
of the scarlet letter, making her the single most important aspect of the
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Essay about The Scarlet Letter Critical Analysis
The Scarlet Letter Critical Analysis
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the direct descendant of John
Hawthorne, and a judge at the infamous Salemwitchcraft trials. The guilt that Hawthorne felt over
the actions of his ancestor had an enormous impact on his writings. In his introduction of "
The
Scarlet Letter
", Hawthorne accepts the guilt from his forefathers and offers to repent for their crimes
(Waggoner, 5). This unusual way of viewing guilt and sin is one driving factor in Hawthorne's
writing. The other, which is closely related to the first, is the relationship between men, and of man
to humanity as a whole. Many of Hawthorne's works center around what is right
...show more
content...
It was the setting that drove Dimmesdale into silence. He feared Puritan justice coming down on his
high brow. Whatever love, fear, cruelty, or punishment one can find in this story is all based on the
extended meaning of setting: not just the time and place but the culture, the spirit of the time.
Without these elements of setting, there would be no great story.
Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl are the unwed mother and illegitimate child. Before the story
begins, we learn Hester had been married in Europe to a dried – up, pretentious, academic sort who
sent her ahead to America, intending to follow. He got hung up pursuing his fruitless studies, and
after a couple of years, everyone, including Hester, presumed he lay dead at the bottom of the sea.
Hester and her Puritan minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, had fallen in love and had relations. What
Dimmesdale never does have as the story progresses is the courage, or necessity, to own up to his
adultery or hid fatherhood.
While Hester is forced to stand for hours before the critical community, Governor Bellingham
directs Dimmesdale to use his priestly persuasive powers on Hester to make her name the child's
father. Hawtorne's prototype for his fictional governor and upholder of the law was a real
Massachusetts governor of the same name. In 1641 Bellingham married a woman already betrothed
to a friend of
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Analysis Of ' The Scarlet Letter '
In The Scarlet Letter a young woman named Hester is criticized and mocked for having a young girl
from an adulterous act with a sneaky pastor. The young girl will be named Pearl (named Pearl for
having cost a great price). Throughout the novel as the characters develop and change the plot of the
story develops into a riveting climax and an end no one could have imagined. Within the novel there
are five major scenes that build up to the dramatic ending of The Scarlet Letter
. The scenes in order
are the first time Heaster showed her face and stood on the scafell after she was released from
prison, when Heaster and Pearl met with the main men of the village to discuss Pearls fate, when
Dimmesdale (the young pastor) stands on the scaffold at
...show more content...
While standing on the scaffold she sees her husband sho has been gone for years, no one recognizes
Chillingworth but her and she feel ashamed for the betrayal she did to him. This scene is one of the
most important of the book because of the introduction of characters and the setting of the story. It
also shows the way Heaster feels towards the whole idea and gives small hints for what is to come
in the future of the book. In the second major scene of the book Heaster and now 7 year old Pearl go
to visit a couple of the top men in the village such as the governor, Wilson, Dimmesdale, and
Chillingworth. " The first half of the story has covered a space of seven years; the second half of
will cover no more than fifteen days" claims Malcolm Cowley (15). Heaster brought Pearl to them
so they could ask her a couple of questions about where she is from. They wanted to make sure she
was getting a proper education. Now Pearl was extremely smart and witty so she knew all of the
answers to their questions but decided to answer them incorrectly. Wilson was convinced and
wanted to take the child from Hester, dimmesdale protects her and says about how no one else but
Heaster could take care of such a smart and interesting child, Pearl then holds his hand and
Dimmsdale kissed her forehead. Heaster also states how Pearl is her everything and would rather die
before giving her up. This scene is important because it shows the love Heaster has for Pearl and
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Significance Of Pearl In The Scarlet Letter
Hester's daughter, Pearl, functions primarily as a symbol. She is quite young during most of the
events of this novel±when Dimmesdale dies she is only seven years old±and her real importance
lies in her ability to provoke the adult characters in the book. She asks them pointed questions and
draws their attention, and the reader's, to the denied or overlooked truths of the adult world. In
general, children in The Scarlet Letter are portrayed as more perceptive and more honest than adults,
and Pearl is the most perceptive of them all. At the first of Pearl's role in the story, it appears as
though someone so grounded in her beliefs, spiritual and mental, would never be dynamic in
character. However, that is not the case. This character
...show more content...
From an early age, she fixates on the emblem. Pearl's innocent, or perhaps intuitive, comments
about the letter raise crucial questions about its meaning. Similarly, she inquires about the
relationships between those around her±most importantly, the relationship between Hester and
Dimmesdale±and offers perceptive critiques of them. Pearl provides the text's harshest, and most
penetrating, judgment of Dimmesdale's failure to admit to his adultery. Once her father's identity is
revealed, Pearl is no longer needed in this symbolic capacity; at Dimmesdale's death she becomes
fully "human," leaving behind her otherworldliness and her preternatural
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Analysis Of The Novel ' The Scarlet Letter '
(TITLE) Nathaniel Hawthorn`s romantic novel The Scarlet Letter sets a literary example for
exquisite use of tone shifts, symbols, imagery, and figurative language. The novel tells the story of a
woman, Hester Prynne, who is guilty of committing the sin of adultery. Reverend Dimmesdale, the
town minister, also took part in this crime as well which resulted in the birth of their child Pearl.
Hawthorn`s fine use of symbolism, imagery, and figurative language help to guide the reader
through each of these During the course of the novel, Hester and Dimmesdale run through a series
of different literary tones; disgrace, renewal, and irony which are clearly illustrated through
Hawthorn`s writing. Throughout most of the novel, particularly in the beginning, situations
surrounding Hester has a disgraceful tone to them. Hester has committed the sin of adultery, which
is a very shameful and unacceptable crime. As a result of this, Hester must stand on a scaffold above
the town holding Pearl, the child born from this sin, and "On the breast of her gown, in fire red
cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the
letter 'A' "( Hawthorne 51). Being that the A attached to her clothing is representative of her crime
and sin of adultery, which she commits in effect resulting in the birth of her child Pearl. Along with
being publicly humiliated on the scaffold, the townspeople shun Hester as well. This is(LV)
disgraceful as the
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An Analysis Of ' The Scarlet Letter '
Adultery in Easy A Based of a Novel "The Scarlet Letter"
Saul Ibarra
English IV
South Texas Business Education Technology Academy
In the movie Easy A a cinematic film directed by Will Gluck is a comedy about a girl in high school
whose social life completely changes because of a small lie that dominates her image. This rumor
connects to Nathaniel Hawthorne
's the scarlet letter due to the fact that themes are drawn such as sin
and redemption.
Emma stone plays the protagonist Olive Penderghast and fits in the stereo typical quintessential
nobody, over looked and unpopular. Hester her only friend is the exact opposite, unlike Hester,
Olive's only sin was not the action of committing adultery but the action of lying.
...show more
content...
This is solely based upon that they happen to be women that sinned not men.
Both Olive and Hester serve as symbols of social disobedience in both eras. Although back then in
1642 Puritanical Boston the worst crime women could commit was adultery, both women were no
secret to the public about it. Hester is known for being embarked under a public punishment given
by her public society. Olive decides to take a different route in which other than denying the rumor
she embraces her given image, decides to buy and accommodate her new lingerie clothing with the
meaningful red letter A such as Hester herself. By adding red letter Olive is connecting her life to
the readings of "The Scarlett Letter" all while embracing the "sin" of adultery. Olive implements
these large Red Letter A's to make a social statement that if people truly and honestly think she is an
adulterer why not own it and have fun with the attention. She gets this idea based on the novel that
she is reading in high school The Scarlett Letter. The Red Letters A's serve as a purpose to announce
to public eye that she committed adultery and sin. Although back in the sixteen hundred's it was a
public punishment, in more modern times olive Penderghast uses it to make a social statement. Easy
A is about how society judges' teens for their sexuality especially girls. Olives exact words "I used
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The Scarlet Letter Theme Analysis
The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that takes place in the town
of Boston, Massachusetts in 1642. Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, commits the sin of
adultery. Because of this sin, she is "blessed" with a child named Pearl. Her punishment is to wear a
scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life, which affects the way the townspeople look and
act around her. Also, she must stand on the scaffold in the town for three hours for the whole town to
recognize her grave sins. The man who should be standing upon the scaffold along with her and
Pearl is the town minister, Dimmesdale. He is presented as a weak character because of his fear of
losing his beloved reputation as such a holy
...show more content...
Because of his pure evil, he is even seen as the Black Man. Hester questions, "Art thou like the
Black Man that haunts the forest round about us?" (Hawthorne 65). In the long run, the main sin of
adultery effects the main characters in different positive and negative ways. Furthermore, the sin of
adultery allows the theme of the nature of evil to emerge throughout the novel. The characters in the
novel often associate the Black Man with different people. Generally speaking, the Black Man or the
Devil, is the main expression of evil. This Black Man is associated with different characters
including Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Mistress Hibbins, Pearl, and even Hester. Firstly, Pearl
associates the Black Man to Dimmesdale. She asks, "And, mother, he has his hand over his heart! Is
It because, when the minister wrote his name in the book, the Black Man set his mark in that place?"
(Hawthorne 164). Pearl, for such a young age, notices how strange and suspicious Dimmesdale acts
and senses the evil within him. Furthermore, instead of direct associations with the Black Man,
Chillingworth goes through physical changes that can be compared to the characteristics of the
Black Man. By the end of the novel, he has become an uglier, darker, and more crooked version of
his former self from seven years back. His actions can also be compared to those of the Black Man,
where his actions are meant to spread evil. "The fact that he is so intelligent also makes him all the
more
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Critical Analysis Of The Scarlet Letter
Nicholas Nikbin
Dr. Gary W. Light
English 201–40
6 December 2017
Critical Paper of "The Scarlet Letter"
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" Nathaniel was a very dark, symbolic and interesting
writer of his time. Nathaniel Hawthorne's use of imagery, and symbolism gives the reader a taste of
identity, sin, death, hypocrisy, and feminism.
Identity is something a lot of people struggle with in society people want to know who they are and
what they are doing in life. In this novel of Hawthorne's, the main character Hester Prynne struggles
to find an identity, instead Massachusetts decided her identity for her. She is publicly shamed for
committing adultery, and is forced to wear a Scarlet Red–letter A on her clothing, so everyone
knows her as an adulteress. It gets a little deeper than that though, Hester is determined to change
identity that they have gave her she wants to be in control. Reading the novel Hester is a mother,
independent and smart woman. Society is constantly fighting her and decides to say that the letters
symbolism also means A for "ABLE", but as smart and resistant as Hester is she resisted the
interpretation. Hester feels that the letter symbolizes her past deeds and actions. Hester wants to be
the one to determine these events. Reading the novel at the end Hester gains control over her public
identity and her personal. She turns her A into a symbol of feminine repression and controls her own
identity and that she shouldn't live by what the society
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Analysis Of The Book ' The Scarlet Letter '
Katya Flaska
American Literature
Period 5
10 August 2014
The Scarlet Letter Book Analysis
1. The book is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn. The genre of the novel is historical fiction.
2. The preamble describes how the book came to be written. The narrator was a surveyor of the
customhouse in Salem, where he discovered documents he used to write the story. He uncovered a
manuscript with a scarlet "A", which contained the events recorded by a previous surveyor in the
1600s. When the narrator lost his customs post, he decided to write The Scarlet Letter using the
manuscript he discovered. The story opens with a woman, introduced as Hester Prynne
, being led
from the town prison with an infant, named Pearl, in her arms. The author focuses on the fact that
Hester has a scarlet letter "A" beautifully adorned on her breast. According to the people, her
husband sent her to America ahead of him but never arrived and Hester had an affair during his
absence. Although she is being publically scorned on the town scaffold, she refuses to identify her
child's father. It turns out one of the onlookers is Hester's missing husband, who is now a physician
and going by the name of Roger Chillingworth. He only reveals his true identity to Hester, but she
promises to keep it a secret. The novel then turns to focus on Dimmesdale, a respected but ailing
minister, who suffers from a mysterious heart problem. Chillingworth, who is ultimately seeking
revenge, tends to the minister's ailments
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Analysis Of ' The Scarlet Letter '
Nadia Innab
Mrs. Mogilefsky
English 3 AP
31 August 2015
The Scarlet Letter Questions
1. One of the author's purposes in delivering this literary piece to the public is to expose the
hypocrisy of society. For example, when Hester chooses to accept her Scarlet Letter instead of wear
it with shame, society looks at her as if there was something wrong with her conscience. Hawthorne
states, "This morbid meddling of conscience with an immaterial matter betokened, is to be feared,
no genuine and steadfast penitence, but something doubtful, something that might be deeply wrong,
beneath" (Hawthorne 77). When Hester decides to use her needle work as a way to express herself
and try to create a new identity with her letter, society thinks that there is something wrong with her,
even though they were the ones who made her wear the Scarlet Letter
. Another purpose of the novel
is to show how easily society can isolate an individual just because of a mistake they made or a
difference in their character. Hester Prynne deals with being an outcast after she made a mistake.
First, she is sentenced to prison, and she is extremely isolated in her cell. Then, when Hester leaves
the prison she is consistently judged and made felt different than the rest of society. Even though
Hester is considered an outcast in society, she embraces it and continues to live her life as best she
can.
2. Hawthorne's tone in the novel is direct, yet disconnected. He is direct in a way that he is to the
point and is
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The Scarlet Letter Essay
The Scarlet Letter Introduction The Scarlet Letter is a classic tale of sin, punishment, and revenge. It
was written in 1850 by the famous American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It documents the lives of
three tragic characters, each of whom suffer greatly because of his or her sins. Shot Plot The story
begins with Hester Prynne
, a resident of a small Puritan community, being led from the town
jailhouse to a public scaffold where she must stand for three hours as punishment for adultery. She
must also wear a scarlet A on her dress for the rest of her life as part of her punishment. As she is led
to the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd complain that
...show more content...
When Chillingworth asks Hester the identity of her lover, she refuses to answer. Because of this,
Chillingworth makes her promise never to reveal that he is her husband. After Hester is released
from prison, she goes to live in a small cottage at the edge of town. After a few years, people begin
to notice that her daughter, Pearl, behaves very strangely, and they threaten to take her away from
Hester. Hester takes Pearl to Governor Bellingham's mansion planning to plead for the right to keep
her daughter. At the mansion she is met by the governor and his three guests, Reverend Wilson,
Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Reverend Dimmesdale convinces the governor to
allow Hester to keep Pearl. Chillingworth, who has been living with Reverend Dimmesdale since his
arrival in town, begins to suspect that Reverend Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl. One evening
while Dimmesdale is sleeping, Chillingworth examines Dimmesdale's chest and finds something
which confirms his suspicion. From this moment on, Chillingworth devotes himself to seeking
revenge. One night, Dimmesdale is so tormented by his conscience that he goes and stands on the
scaffold that Hester had stood on seven years earlier. As he is standing there, he sees Hester and
Pearl walk by and he calls them onto the scaffold with him. After he acknowledges his guilt to them,
a giant red A
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Psychoanalytic Analysis : ' The Scarlet Letter '
Psychoanalytical Analysis Throughout The Scarlet Letter there are many Freudian symbolisms that
can be found scattered throughout this American classic. In nearly every chapter there is at least one
reference to a phallic or yonic symbols to demonstrate the longing for a male figure in both Pearl
and Hester's life, and the symbolism to depict the shift from id to ego. One of the earlier metaphors
to symbolize Hester's suppression is the scaffold that she stands upon in the first chapter of the
novel. Hawthorne writes, "she [Hester] ascended a flight of wooden steps" (page 76). The ascension
using wooden steps to get to the wooden scaffold is not only fairly accurate to the building materials
for the time, but it is also a symbolism to represent Hester's role throughout the rest of the novel.
According to Freud, "The material out of which something is made, is at the same time its mother–
part," (Freud Symbolism). Hawthorne writes, "It was, in short, the platform of the pillory; and above
it rose the framework of that instrument of discipline, so fashioned as to confine the human head in
its tight grasp, and thus hold it up to the public gaze" (page 76). This particular line is littered with
words that can be associated with what a penis looks like and how it is used. By using words like
short, rose, and, this one is awkward, tight grasp, one can see the symbolism found in the
symbolisms from just one line about the scaffold. This line represents that Hester is
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Analysis Of ' The ' From The Scarlet Letter '
Kianna A. Coley
Cooper
AP Lang & Comp
10 December 2014
Composition: Analysis – Chapter Nine, "The Leech" from the Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most iconic books in history; its storyline,
theme and literal characters have made an impact on the world of literature for hundreds of years.
What stands out the most in the book is the use of archaic diction and figurative language, which
serve to paint vivid, descriptive pictures of each character, specifically, Roger Chillingworth. In
chapter nine of The Scarlet Letter
, 'The Leech", Nathaniel Hawthorne uses setting, allusion,
metaphor, irony, diction, and tone to reveal Roger Chillingworth, the town "Leech's, evil, ominous
character displayed by his actions and words. Throughout chapter nine of The Scarlet Letter,
Hawthorne places Chillingworth in or near the cemetery by the widow's house, an ominous setting
that foreshadows his death. During the book as a whole, Chillingworth usually pops up in spooky
settings, such as Hester's jail cell, the woods, Dimmesdale's dark lit room, and the scaffold at night,
these all playing into the eerie nature of Chillingworth himself. Towards the beginning of this
chapter, it is suggested that Chillingworth had come to terms with the reality of his estranged wife,
Hester, having a child by another man, and was so distraught and embarrassed that he changed his
identity with a vengeance. "Unknown to all but Hester Prynne
... he chose to withdraw his name
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